SHAUN ROSS

Shaun Ross is a stunningly gorgeous 17 year old Bronx-born black fashion model. He is also an amazing dancer. What is so unique about Shaun is that he is albino. His gorgeous, full, Afro features are contrasted by his alabaster skin, green eyes and blond hair. His lithe dancer's body is the perfect canvas for any photographer's or designer's work. Shaun was recently featured in the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times and is making a lot of headway in his burgeoning modeling career. In the articles, he speaks of teasing by kids and classmates, which to me, is heartbreaking. It particularly angers me when blacks participate in any form of discrimination (race, color, economics, size, immigrant status, sexuality, etc) because we know the resulting pain all too well. He seems to have traversed it pretty well and is turning his specialness into a commodity. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am sure his success is like salt in the wounds of the haters.....and they should suffer!

Shaun in many ways reminds me of Alek Wek. Alek is one of my ALL TIME favorite models, not only because of her beauty and her sweet spirit, but because Alek represents a challenge to and shift in modern beauty aesthetics for blacks globally. Alek was in-your-face BLACK - no apologies, no regrets, no escaping it. Many blacks were forced to face their own self hatred. Alek's career was in many ways a little civil rights movement in and of itself - breaking down barriers, broadening views and beauty ideals and beating a path for the next round of pretty little chocolate girls.

Shaun makes you think and feel when you look at him. He makes you question preconceived notions of color, race and beauty. I think it is just as ridiculous to say "I don't see color" as it is to judge or discriminate against someone because of color. His color is part of his beauty - another gorgeous shade in the vast and ever-expanding spectrum of black beauty. It is that very same beauty, as rare and singular as it is, that should be celebrated and embraced. And to top it all off, this kid is GOOD.

I really wish him all the success in the world. Social soapboxes aside, I am sure this kid just wants to model and dance and be young and beautiful and fabulous. He will.

BLACK ICONS?!?

I don't know where I got this from - what is this and why? I take it that it is some riff on breaking black stereotypes. Starring supermodel, Roshumba (her body was working!).

SERVIN' FACE - JUDITH JAMISON

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Give me body!!!

WORDS OF WISDOM

Kudos to photographer extraordinaire Nick Knight for telling it like it is. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?". We should be past this by now.

LIGHTER, CAMERA, ACTION.....

Now I love me some Bey, but baby girl, what in the hell is going on? Beyonce Knowles has a new campaign with L'OREAL Feria hair color and it seems as though they found a blonde, Swedish woman named Inga to fill in as a body double for Baby Bey. Now I love creative expression and artistic freedom as much as the next fashion designer living in NYC, but, come on now! If that photo were any lighter, you would only be able to see Bey's corneas.

Now this is the thing, we do not know if Bey and Mama T have photo approval as a clause in their contracts. This may ALL be the fault of L'OREAL. Bey never struck me as a person that hates her blackness - just as a girl who likes blonde hair. Does the love of blonde hair, light, skin, straight noses and light eyes speak to a deeper issue? I actually believe it may. It still amazes me that Americans are still stuck on this damn color issue. Blacks and whites in America can still have the field/house slave mentality when it comes to color. Amazingly enough, blacks all over the world experience this phenomenon - the lighter you are, the more beautiful you are, the less threatening you are, the smarter you are - the closer you are to being white. Many have embraced this as their own ethos. Sad.

Many blacks in Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean have ingrained, deep-seated issues with self hatred fostered by our collective and individual histories and by images of beauty in the media. I think it speaks volumes that far too many blacks (of myriad backgrounds) question the beauty of an Alek Wek or an India Arie, when the beauty of their lighter peers is instantly absorbed into the collective conscious. Now don't get me wrong - this is NOT hateration for my lighter sister and brothers. I think my life is actually enriched by acknowledging the beauty in ALL people, no matter if they are white, tar black, high yella, short, fat, skinny, bald, unbeweavable or have polka dot skin and striped hair. I do not want to cut myself off from any of God's beautiful handiwork. The real kiki of it all is that beauty truly does come from within - the outside, including our skin and hair, is all drag.

I love Bey in all of her blonde fierceness - I just hope that her Blonde Ambition isn't sending the wrong message to all the little Lakeishas and NayNays out there. I hope that these little girls (and boys too) - no matter how dark, nappy headed, broad nosed, big bootied or thick lipped they may be - will see the absolute perfection in their beauty. I hope they realize that GOD made them exactly how they are and that He only makes masterpieces. Their true beauty lies in their hearts, minds and spirits. When we can truly embrace that, we won't see our fellow man as ugly or as less-than.

A couple of years ago, Kiri Davis, a young black NYC high school student, created a film that documents the horrible stereotyping that we as blacks do to ourselves and that this form of self hatred starts with our small children. Please watch:

Now my take on it is that L'OREAL isn't thinking about the Coretta-Scott-King-ness-of-it-all, they are thinking solely about the coins. Corporate America and the American media could care less that a seed of self hate may be planted in a little colored girl in the projects in Fort Green, Brooklyn because all she sees is 'the other', never herself. In fact, it is that seed of self hate that will grow into a raging monster that cannot buy enough weave, perm, Ambi and hazel contacts that will keep these guys rich and keep her poor in the richness of her true self.