I didn’t notice this before, but something (the Rihanna Vogue cover) led me to searching for the Beyonce Vogue cover and now I’ve got a few questions for the Vogue editors. I’m a black woman and I love my figure as much as the next girl, but is it a coincidence that both Beyonce and Rihanna have appeared on the April cover of Vogue, that’s been conveniently titled ‘The Shape Issue?’ I think not. It’s the holy grail of all fashion magazines, but right now, from where I’m standing, I’m accusing Vogue of pigeonholing the extent of their coverage of black women to being all about curves. I suppose most people won’t think it’s a big deal or anything, but with twelve months out of the year, Vogue could do a little better than sticking a black woman on the cover of their April issue every other year for the last four years, or a black man if we expand that range to five years. Yes, I realize Halle Berry was on the September 2010 issue’s cover, but as so many people love to point out, Halle seems to have carved out a niche and a world of her own. In the last decade, black women have been on the cover of Vogue seven times, Halle Berry counts for two of those. So what gives Vogue? What’s with black women in the Shape Issue?
