V is for V

In a far, far away LAnd at a not so good noihsaF loohcS (hold mirror up - - you get the point) was a cafe that sold overpriced sandwiches to underfed girls. Too poor for bologna, this under-privileged boy from two valleys east found the treasure of a lifetime. Stuffed between Marie Claire and Harpers Bazaar was V, a glossy wafer of fashion, art and culture. At that moment, my 19-year old brain sashayed into magazine nirvana and never turned back.

It's true. I am addicted to ready-to-wear, music with a cashew twist, and naughty films - - all in two-dimensional form, of course. My passion for magazines, particularly V, along with Flaunt, Eye and Butt (yes, you in the knows, it is technically a zine - but tack on a "mag" and we can both be happy) started unexpectedly, as most things should. My fascination with magazines of this nature is that they capture the essence of "what can be,” those things we call trends. However, unlike many other fashion magazines, V profiles musicians, artists, typographers, art schools, writers, directors and wannabe models; all done with crisp layout and beautiful photography. Above all, V offers an imaginative prospective into an all too archaic industry that frequently ignores the Mr. & Ms. No Names.

Is caramel the new black?

Every wednesday night my roommate and I gather round the tube and watch the one show we insist on watching live, rather than having TiVo do the work: Project Runway. I admit, it's highly entertaing and Heidi Klum's accent Auf's me. Recently, we've noticed a "How To" ad repeatedly broadcast during the show. It concerns a Tresseme make-up artist applying foundation to a light-skinned black woman, or as I would call her, Caramel colored. Now my roommate brought up a very interesting question in the form of a joke. As the make-up artist instructs viewers to place a lighter concealer on before applying the foundation, my roommate responds "now why can't she go darker? Everything is always about light, light, light."

Now forget about what you know about applying foundation and concealer (don't ask me how I know this, but I do) but I felt he made a good social commentary within his witty candor. Last night he ventured further, saying how the media depicts light-skinned black women as more beautiful than their darker skinned counterparts. He used Beyonce Knowles, Halle Berry and the caramel colored model used in the ad as his examples. Naturally, being the house dissenter, I chimmed in that some of the most beautiful black women are darker in complexion, for example, Iman, Naomi Campbell, Alek Wek, C.C Pounder and Whoopi Goldberg (YES, I love Whoopi). Akward silence followed for the rest of the evening and today I found myself thinking, perhaps my roommate is right in saying that dark complexioned black women are not viewed to be as beautiful as lighter ones. Now, I am at a disadvantage in that I am not black nor am I a woman, but I had to admit, I see his point. I mean look at the women I used as my examples, three of the five are supermodels, and the other two are just my personal favorites but not typically viewed as beautiful women by the media.

So really, is caramel the new black?