After the British Times posted their story about the influx of blonde models in ad campaigns and on the runway, we agreed. At first. Obviously all the girls dying their hair any range of blonde as of late comes to mind.
But then we got to thinking.
This runs way deeper than the hair-color topic. There are countless girls who do not fit in the blonde hair, blue eye category that are currently making huge strides in the modeling industry. There’s Chanel Iman, who has already made a name for herself, but is now branching out into acting as well. Arlenis Sosa, in a matter of a year, earned a Lancôme contract and became BFF with both Oscar de la Renta and Anna Wintour. Liya Kebede was the sole model for J.Crew’s April catalog, and partnered with the brand to sell her children’s line of clothing, Lemlem. Ubah Hassan closed the Ralph Lauren show in September 2008 and became the face of its ad campaigns, even chatting with Iman about her experience. On top of everything else she’s done (Sport’s Illustrated, Lancôme, Pop), Oluchi Onweagba was featured in the first issue of Love dressed in Lanvin. She’ll also be hosting the West African version of Next Top Model. In Spring 2009, Sophie Théallet used all black models for her runway show, and Christian Siriano chose Sessilee Lopez as his muse for his Fall 2009 collection. New York Look featured Liu Wen as the Next Rising Star in 2009, as she posed for the Vogue Paris calendar the same year and walked in the Spring 2009 couture shows in Paris. While the Vogue Italia All Black issue hit newsstands in July 2008 and featured Liya, Jourdan Dunn, Sessilee, and Naomi Campbell, there are rumors that another magazine will attempt to create their own stunning cover with Chanel, Jourdan, Sessilee, and Arlenis. Lakshmi Menon graced her own 12-page editorial in the May 2009 issue of Vogue, showing the audience her homeland of Goa. As well, she’s a model for Givenchy and was featured in the 2009 Vogue Paris calendar. Du Juan won the Ford Supermodel competition in 1999, and has since replaced Agyness Deyn as the face for Giorgio Armani, modeled for David Yurman, and posed for the Pirelli calendar in 2008. Tao Okamoto was recently the hair muse and inspiration for Phillip Lim’s Spring 2009 show for his 3.1 Phillip Lim line, as each girl walked down the runway with Tao’s bold bob, and now she’s the face of Ralph Lauren.
Don’t even get us started on all of the gorgeous brunettes that walk the runway and star in countless ad campaigns.
