These poeple are phenomenal! They've done so much for the world of fashion and for the self image and esteem of young black girls (and boys) everywhere. From the lighter skins to the very dark, these supermodels have highlighted and displayed different facets of 'black beauty' and are a force to be reckoned with in fashion. Obviously there aren't nearly enough black faces out there but every few years more and more stunners are discovered and are blazing their own trails that are incredible to watch.
For me the super models that have made an impact on me are:
Tyson Beckford- THE male supermodel. Best known for his work at Ralph Lauren. Who almost single-handedly put male models on the map. Has featured on tons of catwalks and music videos.
Noemie Lenoir-Has worked with huge brands like L'Oreal and Victoria's Secret. And featured in many movies and music videos.
Selita Ebanks- Is the HBIC at the Victoria's Secret empire. She has also featured as 'the fallen phoenix' in Kanye West's 'Runaway'.
Naomi Campbell- an absolute powerhouse. She's the highest paid black supermodel of all time and was the first black woman on the cover of French Vogue. At 41 she still commands the catwalk.
Tyra Banks- She was the first black model on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimwear Edition, GQ and the Victoria's Secret catalog. She is now an extremely successful businesswoman and TV personality.
Iman-She was a muse for many great designers including Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein and Yves Saint-Laurent. She founded 'Iman Cosmetics' focusing on shades for ethnic women. She is also a philanthropist.
Chanel Iman- She's on many runways and magazine covers. She also became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2010.
Beverly Johnson- She was the first black supermodel on the covers of US Vogue, French Elle and German Cosmopolitan. She's also done a lot of TV work.
Naomi Sims- Often lauded as the first black supermodel ever in the late 1960s. Her Life Magazine cover (1969) was exhibited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sadly she succumbed to breast cancer in 2009.
Alek Wek- Sudanese-born super power who has walked the runway for Chanel, Donna Karan and Christian Lacroix (amongst others). She now designs handbags called 'Wek 1933'.
Veronica Webb- She is the first black woman to sign a major contract with a cosmetics house (Revlon, 1992). She's graced many a runway and magazine cover and done feature films
Liya Kebede- She is the first back supermodel to be the face of Estee Lauder. She has appeared 3 times on the cover of US Vogue. She's a phenomenal model, actress, businesswoman, designer and philanthropist.
Charlotte or CC as I call her in my mind coz we're best friends has got to be the most beautiful woman alive. She is absolutely stunning! And stylish... With Grace Kelly as a grandmother, why am I really surprised..?
She speaks several languages
Is an editor of 'AnOther' Magazine
Is super stylish. Karl Lagerfeld loves her and she, him.
This week's country obsession of the week is being scaled down to city of the week. And I think I'll stick with City of the week. Don't think whole countries do it for me...
This week I focus on Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It's the poetic spanish language
It's the sultry latino men (who dip chocolate by the way)
It's the tango which I think is one of the best latin dances ever
There is (apparently) an amazing nightlife and awesome shopping
I have never been but it's definitely on my top 10. Can't wait to explore this gorgeous South American city.
"E.T." is a song by American recording artist Katy Perry from her third studio album Teenage Dream (2010). Written by Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Ammo, and produced by the last three, it was released as the album's third promotional single on August 17, 2010. The song was later announced as the album's fourth single and released on February 16, 2011. The single version features vocals by American rapper Kanye West, who also appears in its Floria Sigismondi-directed music video, which was released on March 31, 2011. It is the most recent track to top both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Dance Club Play charts simultaneously. Over a "stomp-stomp-clap" beat similar to Queen's "We Will Rock You" (1977), "E.T." is an electronic ballad that tells of "falling in love with a foreigner". Extraterrestrial metaphors are used throughout, and West continues these metaphors in his two verses, making heavy use of Auto-Tune at times.
Katy Perry "ET" Song ft Kanye West
Though the song was widely noted for its darker and more mature theme, in contrast to Perry's conventional works, critics were overall mixed in response. West's presence on the single also received divided opinions. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100—the fourth from Teenage Dream to do so—for four non-consecutive weeks and is Perry's fifth number one on the chart. It has peaked within the top five in New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland, as well as within the top twenty in ten other European countries.
The decision to write "E.T." came after its beat was accidentally played in the recording studio—it was originally intended for American hip hop group Three 6 Mafia. Admiring its acoustics, Perry chose to work with the track, wishing to write a "futuristic, alienistic song". Following up to the release of Teenage Dream, "E.T." was released as the third and final promotional single on August 17, 2010. In December 2010, Perry asked fans for their opinion on Teenage Dream's next single, through the social networking site Twitter. Speculation arose that "Peacock" would be its next single, but "E.T." was eventually announced as the record's fourth single through her Facebook page. The announcement was accompanied by the single's artwork, which features Perry with cat eye make-up, bangs, and a sequined top. The single version features vocals from American rapper Kanye West and was released on February 16, 2011.An album track of three minutes and twenty-six seconds, "E.T." is an electronic pop and hip hop ballad, with elements of teen pop. BBC Music described the song as a "rave-influenced quasi ballad". It was written by Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, and Joshua Coleman, and produced by the last three, with Gottwald and Coleman credited as Dr. Luke and Ammo. According to sheet music from Alfred Music Publishing, the song was originally published in F minor and follows a slow tempo of 76 beats per minute in common time.
Perry's voice spans E♭4 to D♭5. According to Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times, "E.T." carries influences from Barbadian singer Rihanna and features Perry using a "hip-hop diva's stutter". The song's instrumentals have been described as "a mishmash and bleeps and blips with a driving drum track". Darryl Sterdan of the QMI Agency noted the song uses the "stomp-stomp-clap" beat from Queen's "We Will Rock You" (1977), while Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted similarities to productions by Ryan Tedder. Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone felt the song was similar in sound to hard rock ballads by Evanescence. Following its single release featuring West, on March 5, 2011, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number twenty-eight with 110,000 copies sold. "E.T." reached number one on the chart on April 9, 2011 in its seventh week, ending the six-week run of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" to make Teenage Dream the ninth album in the history of the chart to yield four number-one singles. This achievement marked the fifth number-one for Perry and the fourth for West. The song stayed at number-one for three consecutive weeks and returned for a fourth following its American Idol performance, selling 344,000 copies, which according to Nielsen SoundScan, marked a new weekly high for the song. The song has sold over 300,000 digital copies in a week thrice, becoming one of four songs in history to achieve this. "E.T." also reached number one on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, number ten on the Adult Pop Songs chart, and number thirty-eight on the Latin Pop Songs chart. As of April 2011, the song has sold over 2,489,000 in the US.
On the Canadian Hot 100, the song re-entered the chart at number eighteen following its single release. It reached its peak of number two on April 23, 2011. The single has charted in Ireland at number five, and has become a top ten hit in Germany and Italy, a top twenty hit in Austria, Belgium (Wallonia), Denmark, France, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, and a top forty hit in Belgium (Flanders). On the UK Singles Chart, the single peaked at number three in its eighth week, becoming her eighth top ten hit there. Elsewhere in Europe, the song charted in its solo version at number twenty-two on the Slovak airplay chart, number twenty-seven on the Dutch Top 40, and number twenty-eight on the Czech airplay chart.Perry has performed "E.T." at several venues, including as a bonus song for her Walmart Soundcheck set, and at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan on December 10, 2010 for Z100's Jingle Ball. The song has also been included on the set list of the California Dreams Tour, Perry's second concert tour. The song was released as a free track on Katy Perry Revenge 2, a game for the iOS application Tap Tap. A lyrics video for the single was posted on Perry's website on March 16, 2011. After playing "We Will Rock You", West performed "E.T." without Perry at the 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Perry performed the single on the tenth season of American Idol on April 21, 2011. Carried by background dancers, she wore a flickering outfit and was joined by West, who was previously unannounced.
"E.T." has received mixed reviews from professional critics. It has been noted for bringing out a different side of Perry, with a darker, deeper, and more mature tone. This was praised by BBC Music's Al Fox who enjoyed the contrast from her conventionally upbeat pop tracks like "Hot n Cold" and "California Gurls". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly felt Perry showed strength on the song, comparing its sound to a combination of American rock musicians Lita Ford and Trent Reznor. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine disliked the track's inscrutability and said that "E.T."'s backing track was reminiscent of t.A.T.u.'s "All the Things She Said" (2002). Now's Jason Richards called the song "awkward" and Sputnikmusic's Rudy Clapper dismissed its attempt at a more mature sound, calling it "cheesy". Bill Lamb, writing for About.com, gave a three-and-a-half star review out of five: he was disappointed with the lack of a defined hook, remarking the song could have had more potential and that its "edginess builds without release." Reviewing the remix, critics were divided over West's appearance. Kaplan lauded the track as a "great duet", praising the vocals of both performers, a statement echoed by Lamb, who felt West's verses intensified the song. Further, Entertainment Weekly's Brad Wete felt the song was improved with a male perspective. Digital Spy's Robert Copsey gave a review of four stars out of five, but felt, on the other hand, that the rapper's contribution added nothing to the track. Amos Barshad of New York felt West's alien metaphors went into "strange directions".
Every week I'll post amazing pictures of countries that I'm dying to visit or have visited and reeeeally enjoyed...
To start I'm going with Croatia.
I am absolutely in love with this place and I've only ever been through photographs. My wish is to definitely visit Croatia. I don't know how navigating this country as possibly the first black person they've seen will go but I'm willing to try.
This country has sandy white beaches and crystal blue seas that compete with the best.
Also the buildings and architecture are to die!
Istria is where I'm dying to go. It's often compared to Tuscany in it's landscape and ancient Roman architecture. Also would love to visit the famous walled city of Dubrovnik.
Just in case you're not familiar with its location: it is neighbours with Slovenia (which is neighbours with Italy), Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Zoe is 12 days older than me. 12 DAYS!!! She would've been way too cool for my school. But I believe we would've been best friends. I really do.
She is awesome for so many reasons but her DILF of a father is Lenny Kravitz and she is the first (and probably only rock star daughter that has sprinklings of black). This automatically ups her cool factor ;)
She is apparently an actress... I don't care for her movies. It's her attitude and style that put her on this 'list'. Her mother and father are also totally cool.
Let's just make this post about her whole damn family coz no one has a better looking father than Zoe and a more interesting mother. Lenny, will you marry me?! Screw best friends, I'll be Zoe's step mom. And Lisa you cool too. Too cool for Cosby... in your mind. I think Lisa and Lenny got divorced because there's only so much dope that one house can have.
Obsessed with Zoe and Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet
Noemie Lenoir
Selita Ebanks
Naomi Campbell
Tyra Banks
Iman
Chanel Iman
Beverly Johnson
Naomi Sims
Alek Wek
Veronica Webb
Liya Kebede
