Detail of the July issue of Italian Vogue
I recently picked up a copy of the July Italian (”A Black Issue”) Vogue to see what the big deal was. There are few places better than the fashion rags to see the current state of fashion/editorial art, so at the newstand I occasionally reach over the Economist or Fader to crack open a Vogue to see what photographers like Annie Lebowitz or Steven Meisel are up to.
The editorial images in Vogue.it/07 feature many African diaspora models past and present (including Somali/Canuck Yasmin Warsame and Ugandan/Angelino Kiara Kabukuru). The concepts are not self-consciously ethnic, they are of beautiful women who happen to be Black (personal fave is an homage to Grace Jones and Jean-Paul Goude). There are are features (in Italian, natch) about Black women of note (Donyale Luna the first Black cover model, Michelle Obama, Ebony editor Linda Johnson Rice, South African Afro-soul diva Simphiwe Dana, and art from Kara Walker and Wangechi Mutu). However, as has been pointed out elsewhere, it is hard not to notice that most of the ads feature non-Black models. Unsurprisingly, the August issue of Vogue Italia is bereft of Black models a reversion to form, even on a mock tribute to Yves Saint Laurent who was one of the first designers to feature Black models on the runway as well as being the first to use a black woman as a fashion muse (Martinique born, Paris resident Mounia).
Ugandan-born model Kiara Kabukuru is among the models featured in the July issue of Italian Vogue
Evolution of cover image of of Grace Jones’ album “Island Life”
Like the image above, Grace Jones, the icon not the person, was a myth-making collaboration between Grace Jones the woman, and Jean-Paul Goude a French-born, New York-based illustrator, photographer, choreographer, costume designer, art director. Grace Jones (born Grace Mendoza in Jamaica) was a model and a budding disco singer, when she met Goude via Andy Warhol in the now legendary NYC downtown culture scene. In her live shows she was playing off her strong masculine features to present an androgynous, outrageous persona to the gay boys who were the mainstay of the disco scene of the time.
Together they built on the androgyny and played up the geometry/angularity of her masculine features (via hair and clothes) recalling the abstract forms on African masks that had so inspired European modern artists like Picasso. Jones and Goude also remixed all the cross-cultural influences (African-American, Puerto Rican, Jones’ own Jamaican background) coursing through the neighborhoods of New York. Add in Goude’s mentalspace and his personal obsession with the exotic/primitive/erotic aspects of African beauty filtered through his French sensiblities. Throw in the raw, sex and drug-fueled creativity/experimentation happening in New York at the time, sprinkle in the then new technology-driven music called New Wave. And unleash the whole mess in a cocktail of costume, props, fashion, performance, body movement, hair, video, music, attitude.
Grace Jones: Demolition Man, part of a performance art piece called “A One Man Show” from 1982
The results of this collaboration introduced a new post-modern archetype of the black woman in pop culture. It joined Josephine Baker, Lena Horne, the Supremes, icons who came before and Erykah Badu after. The image of Grace Jones was postmodern in how it fought sexual, racial, gender stereotypes and taboos by embracing and de-fanging them, postmodern in how it defiantly resisted any attempt at categorization since it was the dizzying combination of so many things.
I recently read the book “Jungle Fever” and came away impressed by Jean-Paul Goode’s groundbreaking art. But it was disturbing to read how he was so open in admitting his obsession with the exotic and erotic qualities of Black women and how much he let it drive his creative work. At best it was naive and presumptuous, at worst, racist. But really, artists are successful to the extent they make real what is going on inside their heads, making it both specific and universal, timely and timeless. In that respect Jean-Paul Goude was wildly successful, objectification of notwithstanding.
Jean-Paul Goude: Retrospective Those of us of a certain, cough, age must remember the surreal Chanel Egoiste ads.
Tuesday July 08th 2008, 1:35 pm
Filed under: fashion, race
Very interesting take on the lack of diversity on the runways and editorial spreads of the fashion world. The nouveau riche consumers of fashion live more in Dubai, Moscow and Shanghai, less so in New York, London and Berlin; in places that know nothing of (or could care less for) the 30 or so years of efforts its taken to expand the definition of beauty in the West.
Kamitsis said she believed the white-out of black girls was because labels had become more important than creativity in contemporary fashion. “The product is what counts, the product is more important than the model’s personality.
Today’s style, in contrast with times when to be different was what counted, was “more uniform, more neutral” and designers themselves subjected to marketing strategies and zero-risk production diktats.
“The market for fashion goods, emerging nations such as China, Russia, the Arab world, are countries that are not specially known for favouring social or cultural mixes,” she said.
“White models are without a doubt the easiest ways of attracting these clients.”
According to Renee Dujac-Cassou, who heads Paris’ Crystal models agency, “blue-eyed blondes have always been the dream type. It’s as simple as that.”
“A beautiful African woman is not the dream type, neither is a Tibetan or a Chinese princess.” The number of non-white models parading on catwalks, she said, “will always be extremely limited.”
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL: Provoked by the paucity of black models (and other models of color) on the runways and in the ads of haute couturiers, Italian Vogue has decided to feature only black models in their July issue. From the article:
Under its editor, Franca Sozzani, Italian Vogue has gained a reputation for being more about art and ideas than commerce. Ms. Sozzani also doesn’t mind controversy.
She said that, as an Italian, she has been intrigued by the American presidential race and Mr. Obama, which was one source of inspiration when she and Mr. Meisel began discussing, in February, the idea of an all-black issue. Also, she was aware of the lack of diversity on the runways in recent years and the debate it fueled last fall in New York, where Bethann Hardison, a former model who ran a successful agency, held two panel discussions on the topic.
TRAINSPOTTING: spotted this Candace Feit image, especially the black borders with the dual “v” notches on the left frame that indicate they were taken with a Hasselblad medium format FILM camera. Yes, film is not dead yet, digital supremacy notwithstanding.
Creole. The result of the collision of Africa and Europe. In music, that collision has created what John Ryle called the soundtrack of modernity, which links the Swedish middle-aged man who loves Miles Davis with the Japanese youth who wants to be a b-boy. The result of that collision along with the almighty dollar now form part of the DNA of this thing we call global culture.
Is it the need to reconcile the technological and the human, tradition vs. modernity, civilization vs. primitivism, the seemingly mutually exclusive past and present that gives the culture created by africans all over the diaspora its vitality (soul) and its universality? Whatever, but as the sampling of the media i have been consuming in the last couple of weeks shows, the results are always interesting.
Q (”Interviewer”): Do you consider yourself a painter or a Black painter?
A (Jean-Michel Basquiat): Oh, I use a lot of colors, not just black …. It’s more a Creole, you know … what I mean by Creole is that … it’s a mix of Africa and Europe … you know in much the same way an African in Haiti speaks French.
cover of “BEYOND DESIRE” exhibition catalog
Inherent in all desire is a measure of fantasy, which guides our eye and forms or deforms our image of the ‘other’. Here fashion is a superb gauge. It is accessible, driven by unlimited fantasy, free from any form of politically correct thinking, decorative and superficial, yet, at the same time, it is deeply rooted in our cultural and social subconscious. BEYOND DESIRE shows how two cultures can each adopt the visual language of the other as their own and how their respective longings are projected through fashion and clothing in their fantasy image of this ‘other’.
gnarls barkley: going on
the styling of this video is a kind of “DRUM/soweto” meets “london working class/punk” aesthetic. the look was actually inspired by an, um, inspired fashion spread created by brooklyn photographer clayton cubitt and stylist rene garza called lagos calling
there is an non-pixelated/cleaner version of the video here.
jorge ben: ponta de lanca africano
Jorge Ben drew from the sambas of the hillside slums of Rio de Janeiro and American rhythm and blues to create an original style. He created the most organic fusion of North and South American forms of African music. This affinity is being demonstrated again by the enormous popularity of rap music in the slums, and only in the slums, of Rio. Jorge Ben was also a highly original lyricist who combined street language with images drawn from African and Christian mythology and esoteric literature.
Arto Lindsay in liner notes for “Beleza Tropical”.
herewith, in no particular order some observations on ideas, trends, programs, music, magazines of note for 2007 here at casa forota, organized as a randomly ordered year end list.
music: east african urban music arrives: although i have limited exposure to music from home, i was quite impressed with collections like urban africa club and nomadic wax’s nomadic mixtape vol. 2 east african hip hop beatdown where music from artists like necessary noize, professor jay, peter miles, xplastaz and others highlighted the fact that east african music has reached a creative watershed where hip hop/dancehall + sheng + bongo flava = globally aware music that distances itself from the pejorative term ‘local music” that has hung over the imitative music available until quite recently.
ideas: the term “afropolitan” enters my lexicon. as described by author taiye tuakli-wosornu a nigerian-ghanaian writer based in New York City, an afropolitan has a hard time answering the question “where are you from?” why? they have lived in multiple places outside africa (boston, brixton, berlin), claim some part of the continent as home (metaphorically) but inhabit a physical/mental space that encompasses all the places they have lived.
print/web: quality africa-related lifestyle/entertaiment magazines online and off: colures, kitu kizuri, jamati, mimi magazine and pan-african clutch magazine all published to highlight the doings of afropolitans in the worlds of art, music, film, fashion, business. trace (now a fashion mag) and clam were there before, but they still best capture the cutting edge of this quintessentially 21st century experience.
music: global album of the year. migration/globalization are annihilating all kinds of cultural/racial/whatever barriers. with “kala“, maya arulpragasm just dives into it all, equally embracing bhangra, dancehall, africa, australia, digeridoos, hip hop, punk, bollywood, politics, guns, violence, boys to create an album that is a hallmark of the dizzyingly disorienting cultural times we now live in. personal highlight: “hussel” a collaboration with ghanaian/brit afrikan boy sounds to me like the de facto soundtrack for new (illegal) immigrants from everywhere hustling and grinding to get a foothold in their new homes, all while trying to evade deportation.
film: ousmane sembene RIP. [ny times registration req’d] the father of african cinema, all other african directors will be measured against him. he was driven by the insight that film was the most powerful method to convey education/entertainment to africans without the formal education to read books. one of the tragedies of his passing must be that his films commenting on post-colonial african society/politics (xala, moolade, faat kine) were never seen widely outside art movie houses in cities like new york and paris during his lifetime. i managed to catch xala at a recent sembene retrospective here in NYC. if you missed it, some of his films are available on netflix.
race/television: pbs’ brazil in black and white. overt racism is receding everywhere (”it never existed in brazil”, as they like to say). however, social/economic exclusion of black folks in brazil and elsewhere is as plain as day. but how to redress this inequality using policy when there has been generations of racial mixing with african descendants and the identification with “blackness” is sometimes a personal/cultural choice, versus a genetic one? relatedly: the debate in the US on a certain presidential candidate’s blackness.
art/museums: “eternal ancestors, the art of central african reliquary“. brilliant exhibit at the metropolitan museum in NYC that displays sculptural pieces that fired the imaginations of the early 20th century art avant garde (among them picasso). inspired by these innovative, expressive religious artifacts from central africa, these artists found a way to break modern art from its representational (renaissance) roots. the exhibit runs until march 2nd, 2008 go. see it.
rappin hood, one of brazil’s premier hip hop artists, states simply, “i’m black”. it seems an unremarkable assertion in a land where more than half of brazilians can claim african descent; where samba and capoeira have heavy doses of african influence. the largest population of african descendants outside africa lives in brazil. we all believe the mantra repeated, unchallenged, across latin america “there is no racism”. but after watching the latest episode of “wide angle” on PBS brazil in black and white, that turns out to be a profoundly complex statement. brazil is finally waking up to the realization that poverty in brazil has a color: that color is black. the government under luiz inacio lula da silva is trying to right that wrong by instituting affirmative action to get more blacks in colleges/universities and in the corporate world. but while the problem is clear, the solution isn’t; who is “black” in a country that is so racially mixed? how do you decide who is black, without creating arbitrary standards?
and this is not just a brazilian problem. a multimedia presentation from the miami herald “a rising voice: afro-latin americans” shows that things are changing all across latin america, as this most racially diverse region re-examines the notion of identity and its effect on social and economic equality.
racial identity and racism in latin america are quite different from the brand that i am familiar with that splits cleanly along the black/white divide and affects all on the wrong side of that line equally (badly). in africa or america you are black or white (which confuses some mixed race kids as they are neither). but in latin america being black is sometimes a choice; based on social/cultural factors as well as pigmentation. this means more nuanced definitions of darkness. to wit:
“To many Dominicans, to be black is to be Haitian. So dark-skinned Dominicans tend to describe themselves as any of the dozen or so racial categories that date back hundreds of years — Indian, burned Indian, dirty Indian, washed Indian, dark Indian, cinnamon, moreno or mulatto, but rarely negro.
The Dominican Republic is not the only nation with so many words to describe skin color. Asked in a 1976 census survey to describe their own complexions, Brazilians came up with 136 different terms, including café au lait, sunburned, morena, Malaysian woman, singed and “toasted.”"
whatever the labels, the resulting racism means that black people are overrepresented in the favelas and jails, and underrepresented in the corporate world, and in colleges/universities.
black latin americans are starting to re-assert their blackness/africanness. in addition to fighting for affirmative action afro-brazileiros, it includes doing things like preserving garifuna culture in honduras or activism to ensure land where quilombos or freed slave settlements were established are preserved as such.
“i’m black”. it’s a simple label, but it is a label that belies the the mind-boggling diversity of the people who claim it. also it doesn’t highlight the often conflicted relationship black people all over the diaspora have with that label and its connotations. i am most fascinated to see how public policy in places like brazil will be used to re-dress black racism and inequality.
in 1971 eric monte and mike evans wrote a script for 2 characters who first appeared on the show “all in the family”. those 2 characters were spun off into the sitcom “the jeffersons”. in 1971, eric monte and mike evans pitched a humorous story about a black family struggling to get by in the cabrini-green projects of chicago where monte grew up. in 1974 that script became “good times”. tired of fighting norman lear and the show writers on how to keep the show true to the reality of inner city life, he quit the show after the first season and went on write the semi-autobiographical “cooley high”. that seminal film was spun off into a tv show called “what’s happening!!”; although monte had minimal involvement with that show, beyond writing the initial script.
it is amazing to think how much impact one man had on changing the tv landscape, post civil rights struggle. before he appeared there were few significant real black characters on television. after he left, aside from the cosby show, no other show on network tv has broken new ground in portraying the realistic AND positive experience of being black in america (monte even claims he gave the idea of that show to cosby executive producer marcy casey). and like many revolutionaries, he did not benefit from the fruits of his efforts. when this npr interview[audio] was done in 2006, he was living in a homeless shelter, blackballed from hollywood for being “hard to work with” (read: fighting against stereotypical black characters, fighting for control over the direction of shows he had created).
