BONAE L'AMOUR

Posted on June 09, 2013 with love...

Joan Smalls & Karlie Kloss at the 2013 CFDA Fashion Awards

Super cute moment with 2 of the most major high fashion models at the moment!

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Posted on May 21, 2013 with love...

Kasia Struss (Women NYC & Paris) after the Balmain F/W 2013.13 show

2 words to describe Kasia in that outfit: Damn Hot! This is an example of flawless model’s street style. Loving Kasia in her Rodarte jacket too!

It is of course always a pleasure to photograph the gorgeous and sweet Polish model. Anyway, I have to further thank Kasia for what she did before these pictures were taken. On that day, I was crossing the streets and talking to her, and a careless driver almost hit me, but thankfully Kasia pulled me to the side. You can say Miss Struss saved the photographer that day. ;)

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Posted on May 21, 2013 with love...

Malgosia Bela (Next NYC, Elite Paric) after the Balmain F/W 2013.14 show

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Posted on May 20, 2013 with love...

Joan Smalls (@joansmalls of @IMGModels) after the Balmain F/W 2013.14 show

Very sharp streetstyle from one of the world’s most beautiful women. Ranked #1 by models.com, Joan is currently in the H&M, Prabal Gurung, and Versace Spring/Summer 2013 campaigns. She also has a coveted long term contract with Estée Lauder cosmetics, which is the booking every top model in the world dreams about. Joan’s success however did not come overnight. It took years of hard work, not giving up, perseverance, dedication, influential support, and strategic management for her to get where she is today.

Joan continues to be one of the most in-demand models in the world. Earlier this month, the Chanel Resort 2014 show was held in Singapore. Of the 80 looks and 42 female models sent down the prestigious Chanel runway, only 1 of the models cast in the show was Black. That model was Joan Smalls. Her presence added the much needed diversity factor. However, we live in a world where it is undeniable that diversity is essential to our progress as a whole society and young women look to fashion to help shape their idea of beauty, worth, and existence. It is imperative that casting directors and designers become more open to cast more models of color. Joan’s position in the modeling world makes her a huge role model to all young aspiring Black models around the world. Seeing her and other top Black models cast on the high fashion runways and in prestigious editorials and campaigns gives females of color all around the globe a way to relate to fashion and beauty and provides them with someone who looks similar to them for inspirational and aspirational purposes.

The discussion on diversity should never stop. However, along with ongoing dialogue, people who have issue with the lack of diversity in fashion should also be proactive in buying magazines when models of colors are on the cover and in writing to editors, PR managers, and influential people about the casting of models of color.

For my part, when I am in the streets, I always am on alert for the Black models after the shows to photograph them because visibility is important. As a person working in casting, I am always presenting and recommending models of color - Black, Asian, Hispanic, etc. - into the mix. I refuse to ever give up on promoting diversity and challenging a world that continues to support a very bland and vanilla standard for beauty.

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