Vogue Debuts Docu-Series Highlighting Impact of Black Models
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"Supreme Models" released two episodes this week with the rest dropping every Monday in October.
Vogue and YouTube have released a new docuseries titled Supreme Models that's centered around the evolution of Black supermodels and beauty icons and their impact on the fashion industry, the civil rights movement and broader American culture.
According to a press release obtained by The Root, the 6-part docuseries premiered the first two episodes on Vogue's channel on Sept. 26. Following episodes will drop every Monday of October. The show is based on a book by the same name, "Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion," written by journalist Marcellas Reynolds.
In 1966, British Vogue was the first to put a black model, Donyale Luna, on the cover. It took another eight years for American Vogue to feature Beverly Johnson on the cover. In 2011 Vogue published its "Vogue Model:The Faces of Fashion book" and it lacked "recognition of the triumphs," Reynolds told VoyageLA. An angry Reynolds wrote a scathing review on Amazon: "Where is Veronica Webb, muse to Herb Ritts, who is one of the few black models ever to receive a cosmetics contract? Or Liya Kebede, the current face of Estée Lauder, who had an entire issue of Vogue Paris dedicated to her. And where is Tyra Banks? The model mogul! Few models have been more successful than Tyra!"
The Vogue book spanned the 90-year history of British Vogue, one of the most diverse fashion magazines in the world, yet only featured two Black models (Iman and Naomi Campbell)—accurately representative of the "slights people of color regularly deal with because no one tells our history," said Reynolds.
In the eight years between when the Vogue book was released and 2019, when Reynolds published his book, he researched and interviewed over 70 Black women who made the fashion industry what it is today.
"There is nothing like a Black model on the runway," the narrator says in the trailer. Editor-In-Chief of British Vogue Edward Enniful adds "we're not going back to the old days of just one token model."
Karwai Tang/Getty Images
The docuseries was created in partnership with YouTube Originals and YouTube’s Black Voices Fund and presents "the story of iconic black women who revolutionized fashion. We can't move forward without black creativity. How could you not love this melanin?"
Episodes will feature the experiences of Iman, Roshumba Williams, Karen Alexander, Halima Aden, Veronica Webb, Joan Smalls, Aweng Chuol, Precious Lee and more.
“I hope that Supreme Models becomes a beautiful part of the conversation surrounding diversity and inclusion in fashion,” Reynolds added.
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