French Vogue Cover Features Rose Cordero, First Solo Black Model Since 2002 (PHOTO)

French Vogue will feature a solo black model on its March 2010 cover for the first time since 2002, Models.com reports. Rose Cordero, 18, is from the Dominican Republic and was shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

The last time French Vogue had a solo black model on its cover was in May 2002 when Liya Kebede posed for the cameras. The magazine caused a controversy by putting models in blackface last October.

Comments

[GHARDY]

10:46 AM on 02/22/2010

This girls black.

[RockyMissouri]

10:02 PM on 02/21/2010

She is a beautiful- no matter the color!!

[Solja]

02:48 PM on 02/21/2010

Here's a photo of Rose Cordero on the street, just going about her business, without the cover girl makeup. http://frillr.com/files/images/Ranya-Mordanova-&-Rose-Cord.jpg

People need to get over it. She was picked for her natural beauty (not her hairstyle). Make-up is part of high fashion, and so is creating an image of "beauty". It's still, by the way, in the eye of the beholder.

[Inanina]

03:31 PM on 02/20/2010

I googled her and found out that her skin is much darker than it is on the Vogue cover...Not sure the point of using a black model if you're going to lighten her skin complexion so much...The fashion industry is what it is. People should stop expecting it to be all 'kumbaya-ish'...The fact that is so exclusive is what make it attractive to people.

[Solja]

02:49 PM on 02/21/2010

She has foundation on. No one was trying to lighten her skin. Part of it is lighting and the other part is make-up. Get over it already.

http://frillr.com/files/images/Ranya-Mordanova-&-Rose-Cord.jpg

[lemondade]

05:35 PM on 02/19/2010

THANK GOODNESS!!!

THIS MODEL IS BEYOND BEAUTIFUL; SHE IS EXQUISITE. HOPE THERE ARE MORE WOMEN OF COLOR ON THE FASHION MAGAZINES AND IN THE FASHION RUNWAY SHOWS.

[OverIt]

03:45 PM on 02/19/2010

The girl on this Vogue cover DOES look like a black woman. Just NOT the black woman it claims to depict. The original model features have been photoshopped and airbrushed to such an extent that her own mother would walk by that magazine without a hiccup in her step.

[Solja]

02:52 PM on 02/21/2010

They haven't put a model on any fashion cover that WASN'T "photoshopped and airbrushed". It's a big deal when models or actresses go without make-up on photoshoots.

Even those who went naked for PETA were sprayed to rid them of all real body deficiencies. They left any weight on them but any scars, etc. were covered. That's part of life in the fashion world and also the media.

[saami]

03:01 PM on 02/19/2010

i worry about our kids seeing these perfect models with flawless skin, perfect features and not totally natural and them seeing them as ideals that they need to measure up to. People come in all colors, shapes, sizes, facial features whether they are Asian, African, Africa -American, European, Latin, etc. We need to promote the beauty inside and not trying to look like a perfect computer enhanced, air-brushed model. If you skin is too dark, too uneven in color, too freckled, to flushed, etc. you feel bad about yourself. Most models when see in person without the makeup and all the manipulation of lighting, computer enhancement are not that pretty.

[LuckyLT2]

12:29 PM on 02/19/2010

Almost looks nothing like her.

[negirl]

10:57 AM on 02/19/2010

She is Afro-Latina from Dominican Republic. Very pretty.

[joceeco]

02:10 AM on 02/20/2010

Whether Afro-Latina, Afro European etc, still Black!!!

[ABXNOMORE]

10:41 AM on 02/19/2010

That's awfully big of France. This model is beautiful but the issue is not that her skin tone is light. Blacks have a whole range of skin tones as do whites but she does not have typically African features. I don't think she really represents the look of the larger majority of black woman. IMO, if France was finally going to put a black woman on it's magazine cover then they should have picked a model who exemplifies the look of a more classic black model.

[FrenchWomenDont]

12:31 PM on 02/19/2010

This model is black and she represents herself. What is the problem? We are all unique.

[maiali]

01:08 PM on 02/19/2010

Exactly what are "typical African features?" I see countless Africans in New York whose features vary. I see Senegalese and Ghanaians with straight, so-called "European-looking" noses, etc. Africans have the most diversity in terms of facial features of any people on the face of the earth.

[sheaintsayin]

03:48 AM on 02/19/2010

Wow, I wonder what the model thinks of her brand new self! I guess it is just a matter that her natural beauty, while apparently good enough for the runway, was simply deemed not good enough for the cover in terms of magazine sales.

[Solja]

02:57 PM on 02/21/2010

You sound ridiculous. She is probably very proud of that cover. She's a professional model. She was made up and posed for this photo. She knows what she looks like. In fact, she saw the photo's before they hit the cover page.

She looks like herself, only with more makeup.
http://frillr.com/files/images/Ranya-Mordanova-&-Rose-Cord.jpg

[jdiary]

01:41 AM on 02/19/2010

I should preface this comment by saying that I'm very excited about this and will pick up several copies of the magazine. She's really quite lovely. HOWEVER, if you click on the link to Models.com Report and on to her portfolio, it's clear that the photos for French Vogue have been lightened. She's much darker in the candid, non-cover photos in her portfolio. I was suspicious when I first saw the Vogue photos b/c although I recognized her face, I thought to myself 'this must be some other model' b/c the model I was thinking of was darker. So they have taken one step forward; the question is with the photo lightening how any steps backwards have they taken?

[Kate Walsh]

03:12 AM on 02/19/2010

Yeah, I just checked that out actually. They definitely altered this picture of her to make her look more "white" either with photo shop, lighting, or make-up. It also looks like they thinned her nose too.

[cmugs]

09:13 AM on 02/19/2010

i dunno. the pic on her profile has a matte finish and the lighting is very different so its hard to say though not beyond the scope of reasonable speculation. regardless she's a stunning model

[Solja]

03:00 PM on 02/21/2010

I disagree. It's a combination of foundation and lighting. No one tried to lighten her skin. Otherwise, she didn't need to be on the cover. They've been putting all white models on there so what would keep them from continuing that?

She looks like she's made up and the lighting lights up the middle of her face, as intended for the cover. http://frillr.com/files/images/Ranya-Mordanova-&-Rose-Cord.jpg

The problem is that people are used to seeing white faces and those faces don't reflect the light. Black skin does.

[boazwife]

01:23 AM on 02/19/2010

Black people come in every shade of human pigmentation possible, from the palest of white to navy black and every human hue in between. Our features range from west African, patrician England and every global feature known to humans.

[texhall00]

10:48 PM on 02/18/2010

trust me no body and I mean no body looks like that on a normal day. For the picture its make-up, lights, hair, lights and and and plus and more plus then everything comes together and creates this amazing beautiful picture.

[DnDCfromChi-town]

10:46 PM on 02/18/2010

http://www.style.com/peopleparties/modelsearch/person6392

these are better

[Solja]

03:02 PM on 02/21/2010

The closer the photo of her, the lighter her skin looks. That should tell us that it's the lights bouncing off her skin. From a distance, her skin looks darker, but from close up (where lighting is necessary), she gets lighter.