An ode to the daily usurping of classist, European beauty standards by a generation of empowered Black women redefining a beauty and sensuality at once all their own, and appropriated for mass consumption.

In the summer of 2019, the VAGUE community embarked on a multi-locational creative project exploring themes of a collective identity.

As our first flagship undertaking, we wanted to illustrate the very foundation of our community’s existence: a visual tribute to the uniquely powerful chorus of strong, diverse individualities collaborating across race, discipline, cultures, borders.

But Brown Skin Girl — the fifth scene in this VAGUE anthology, aptly titled the Communion — was very much for the Black women in the community. It was the summer of the hot girl before we knew what a hot girl was; before Beyonce blessed us with the soundtrack to our vision board for the carefree Black-British womxn. For the climax of the Communion, we wanted to centre the experiences of the Black female majority in the Crew: a response to the European beauty standards we are subjected to so often it’s continued relevance in cultural discourse today feels especially tedious. But one with the wit and charm of England’s Mancunian population wherein our surrealist homage was set.

Renowned as one of the most boisterous British cities north of London, Manchester is home to a vibrant youth culture largely driven by young Black women marrying intelligence and independence, with zero regard for the oppressive consequences of their forebearers’ erasure from media and history.

This unapologetic, tongue-in-cheek, resistive quality offered inspiration in the form of reclamation. Reclaiming animal print, reclaiming doorknockers, reclaiming wigs atop a crown of the kinkiest curls, chemically straightened locks, a clean shave — what business is it of yours? Anything and everything that was once weaponized to synonymize Blackness with ghetto is instead worn as a badge of temporary, meaningless honour.

Because with them or without, these Black women stay true to themselves. What you see, regardless of the package it may come in that day, is exactly what you get. You do not determine the framework of their self-expression, nor can you continue to guess at its meaning from a timeworn library of stereotypes and racist psychoanalyses any longer.

It’s her world. You’re simply living in it.

credits

faces

ayomide abolaji, becca wong, claudia uzokwe, nene nkeyi, oreoluwa aderemi

crew

creative direction, styling, words — karina so

photography — suji so.

beauty — mnna mohammed

production —vague

wardrobe — vague threads