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More interesting fashion & race controversy brought to you this time by Mario Epanya (I'm on a roll two posts in a row). Mario Epanya is a Cameroon born and Paris based fashion photographer. He did a series of photoshoots in order to pitch Vogue Africa magazine to Conde Nast. Conde Nast is the publisher of Vogue and many many other publications (including the New Yorker and Wired).
This was the response:
To see more of his covers visit his facebook group: Vogue Africa by Mario Epanya
What was Conde Nast's reasoning? I've heard rumors of them blaming the internet and magazine sales being down. That doesn't seem like good reasoning to me, since Italian Vogue's Black Issue flew off the shelves in 2008. So everyone is outraged and claiming that Vogue is indeed racist. My question is why do we need Vogue to make an African magazine? This Day (an African publisher) publishes Arise Magazine quarterly. Arise magazine centers on African fashion, music and culture. This Day saw a need in the market and filled it. I think that everyone who is so outraged and focused on convincing Vogue to for lack of better terms "let us have a magazine" should focus all of that energy into starting your own. John H. Johnson started Ebony in 1945 because there were no magazines that addressed black American culture. 60+ years later the magazine is still in publication.
Lesson: Stop waiting for people to give you opportunities. Make your own. I hope that Mario continues his work and starts his own 'zine.
Chay$
4 comments:
That's right, Chay. GET OUR OWN!
Thank you for this excellent post and I fully agree. We don't need vogue to make a magazine for us when we have the creativity and power to do it ourselves.
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