Essence Cover Features Iman, Naomi Campbell & Liya Kebede (PHOTO)

Amid controversy over hiring a white fashion director, Essence has put three black supermodels on its 40th anniversary cover. Critics like Michaele angela Davis said the appointment of Elliana Placas to the fashion director post "hurt, literally, spiritually," while Najwa Moses asked, "How could such a prestigious title who is deeply rooted in its target audience let someone who is not even apart of the African Diaspora detonate our image? How can a White woman dictate and decide what style and beauty is for the Black woman?"

In any case, the September issue features Iman, Naomi Campbell and Liya Kebede, representatives of the mag's 40 Fierce & Fabulous Women. Check out the cover below.

Comments

[NavyMom44]

09:09 PM on 08/09/2010

This just proves the point this woman does NOT deserve the job, OMG she photoshopped Iman so much she looks sick....this cover just proves my family was correct in canceling the 23 subscriptions to the magazine

[anghiari]

12:43 PM on 08/10/2010

Great...now go buy Vogue...black folks (and I'm black) can get so self indulgent at exactly the wrong moment...but folks who never had power, have no concept how to get it or keep it or use it..but they do know how to have hurt feelings...please. grow up!

[Nettrice]

07:33 PM on 08/10/2010

Just because you're black does not mean you actually love black people. You're just bashing the often bashed.

[killerbarbie]

04:06 PM on 08/09/2010

beautiful women, unncessarily photoshopped!

[NYCannibal]

01:32 PM on 08/09/2010

Oh Hi, Naomi. Two words: Charles Taylor.

[anghiari]

12:44 PM on 08/10/2010

Naomi ...a few words...you are one of the most fabulous supermodels ever...!

[heroine addict]

11:57 AM on 08/09/2010

Some artists are so good at what they do that they could transcend the race issue in this case. But the ONLY way a white woman could fill that role as well or better than a woman of color is of she were that 1 in a million talent. Clearly, viewing the cover, she is not.

If she can't present three of the most beautiful women in the world with more originality and skill than this cover shows she should be replaced.

[NavyMom44]

09:09 PM on 08/09/2010

Exactly, I've NEVER seen Iman look so sickly.....

[paganmist]

09:48 PM on 08/08/2010

Essence used to be a place where a black woman or man could actually achieve the position of "Fashion Editor/Director" for a major fashion magazine.

That was a part of the point - a place where blacks could get a fair shake in the fashion industry - not just as models, but as executives and power players, in a fashion industry which locks them out.

So yes, I understand why people are upset. Essence has made a white woman the fashion director, but will other magazines return the favor? Not likely. There is one black male currently in a position 3rd from the top in Vogue, I think.

There hasn't been a black female fashion editor of any of the major magazines - Vogue, Elle, etc.

If there isn't a magazine that tries to find black talent and give them a shot, then how are they supposed to GET a shot, when the major magazines aren't willing to give it to them?

This is the only reason that I am upset about this. Because I was under the misconception that blacks could get Fashion Director positions at other magazines, so there is no need for Essence to focus on hiring blacks.

But that isn't true. There's still an obvious discrimination going on. And now the one magazine where an ambitious black person could get a leg up in the editing world chose to give such a break to a white person - who already has 50 million magazines to choose

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

09:26 AM on 08/09/2010

The only recourse is for black women to stop buying the magazine until they hire a black person in that position.

Fight with your wallet. Call...cancel your subscription (if you have one).

The owners will get the picture.

Griping about it here isn't going to convince them to rectify the situation.

[NavyMom44]

09:11 PM on 08/09/2010

Thank you my entire family canceled all 23 of our subscriptions and are seriously thinking about boycotting the advertisers of Essence.

[anghiari]

12:56 PM on 08/10/2010

Oh please...I think this attitude silly. I am black and I have never had a subscription to Essence, was never my fashion bible, no fashion magazine is or was. The world is getting smaller and this whine about this magazine being your only refuge says you haven't been looking around at a changing world. Essence is a business and I just wonder what it growth has been over the past five years? There are a lot more brown, black women in this country than African American women, women with different fashion tastes.. I personally never really like Essence's fashion statement...too much bling for me. Wonder if Essence has taken a page from Oprah's fashion layouts...they feature women of every color across fashion preferences. The world is never gonna be fair and if black folks keep standing around behaving as if every change is the first unfair thing they have encountered then shame on them. The world is changing quickly, nobody gives a good damn that you want your fashion magazine all black...how does all black help the profit line these days? The world is changing and if the one profitable black women's magazine does not understand that change...well! I personally am going to write Essence and say Bravo...these people did not make this decision lightly and without much thought and I think it behooves a bunch of you to give that some thought...

[Outsiders Insight]

04:36 PM on 08/08/2010

Estee Lauder got it right! I use their products all the time. They have a variety of
tones and colours for all skin types. From my perspective, it's not about black or
white or asian women, but about what WOMEN need to look their best. If the new
editor at Essence has this outlook, she'll be just fine.

[anghiari]

01:02 PM on 08/10/2010

Exactly ladies and for all of your screaming about the cover...the white fashion director is NOT THE EDITOR AND THE FINAL SAY ON A COVER IS THE EDITOR...THE FASHION DIRECTOR BRINGS THE EDITOR IN CHIEF...A GROUP OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PHOTO SHOOT AND TOGETHER THEY DECIDE with the editor the final final say ...and I expect that Susan Taylor and folks who have been around Essence for a long time were involved in this first shoot...so please stop the ranting about the white woman...

[Rallaa]

04:06 PM on 08/10/2010

Fanned and faved!

[Eloise Fuller Putnam]

02:09 PM on 08/08/2010

(fixed typo)

Sorry. I think the cover isn't even good. Iman looks beautiful, but Naomi and Liya not so good. I am sick to death of white women thinking that we are different. That our hair is different and not thinking of us as sisters. Some are not guilty of this behavior, but most are.

I stopped buying makeup in department stores because white women would argue with me about what colors I wanted for foundation !

Vogue magazine has statistics that demonstrate a loss in sales when they feature women of color on their covers. Why on earth does that happen? Essence should have been able to hire a woman of color or a man for this job.

I could be wrong. I don't know anything about this particular fashion director. I hope I'm wrong.

[copelli21]

10:57 AM on 08/09/2010

But we ARE different. The problem is when people think there is something wrong with those differences or that being different somehow makes you inferior.

Our hair IS different. I am natural. My hair needs differ from other black women and most certainly white women. That doesn't mean it's less, it means that the tips I may fine a "white" periodical may not work for me. Our skin is different. Black women are more prone to hyperpigmentation. So there are products that may work for a white woman, and not for us.

There's nothing wrong with that. We can be "sisters" and have these differences.....which defines us as much as the common ground that we share as women.

[imaginaryfriends]

11:04 AM on 08/09/2010

Nicely said. Thank you.

[anghiari]

01:10 PM on 08/10/2010

Something tells me that Essence is beginning to take a page from Oprah's magazine...which was so highly successful for so many years...she lost some subscribers of late, but she proved that she could produce a magazine that could appeal to all women...Not all black women think the same, dress the same or appreciate the same thing. I totally disagree with most of the rants on here about hiring a white female do be the fashion director...I think its great...I think it makes whites start to see that a female market is a female market and I think Michelle Obama's rise has changed a whole host of things like white magazines and tv commercials featuring more blacks...I think the idea of the President's wife liking J crew has made loads of manufacturers who thought blacks don't like preppy or whatever rethink those decisions. I think Essence is thinking about its survival in the next 20-30 years ...and ufortunately at this point there are not enough black folks who can bring what Essence thinks it needs at the moment. So What? You want people to be color blind, now black folks have decided not too...

[Eloise Fuller Putnam]

01:07 PM on 08/08/2010

Sorry. I think the cover isn't even good. Iman looks beautiful, but Naomi and Liya not so good. I am sick to death of white women thinking that we are different. That our hair is different and not thinking of us as sisters. Some are not guilty of this behavior, but most are.

I stopped buying makeup in department stores because white women would argue with me about what colors I wanted for foundation !

Vogue magazine has statistics that demonstrate a loss in sales when they feature women of color on their covers. Why on earth does that happen? Essence should have been able to hire a woman of color or a man for this job.

I could be wrong. I don't anything about this particular fashion director. I hope I'm wrong.

[1088]

10:00 AM on 08/08/2010

Somehow I have the feelings, that Essence will be turning into a Michelle Obama bashing hate fest soon!

[Kiabell04]

08:05 PM on 08/08/2010

Give it time.....it will.

[berserk]

09:37 AM on 08/08/2010

Oh another problem is that Essence is no longer black owned.

[berserk]

09:36 AM on 08/08/2010

I through with Essence as well. I admit I kinda gave it up when they did a story about how black women should consider man sharing. But on occasions if someone I like was on the cover I would browse through it. Honestly I think it is time for a new editor, I think that would solve some of the problems with essence.

[luvangelHussein330]

01:16 AM on 08/08/2010

Essence magazines has black supermodles, stars and other wise on ther cover ever month. I doubt the editor now being white has anything to do with it...besides the media wanting to keep the drama going. I know one thing is for certain. Should I notice a hint of "unessenceness" of the magazine I will never pick up another

[Queen Cassandra]

12:25 AM on 08/08/2010

Where is Tyra Banks !!

[Morena]

03:22 AM on 08/08/2010

The cover says 40 and firece. I'm nont sure of her age, but I don't she 40 yet,

[Sunflo]

04:21 PM on 08/09/2010

Neither is Liya Kebede. She's 27.

[cbates]

12:11 AM on 08/08/2010

I'm sure the stakeholders would like for this magazine to become a cross over.

[cbates]

12:09 AM on 08/08/2010

Damage done.

[anghiari]

01:11 PM on 08/10/2010

Please its a business...not a hobby...