Friday, May 23, 2008

BET's Fashion Blackout to talk about black models in the fashion industry


Visit any newsagent and you'll see that almost exclusively there are scores of blonde and brunette, white women gracing the covers of Britain's biggest magazines. Whether its fashion, beauty or lifestyle titles; British magazines rarely feature women of color in their pages, which is a telltale symptom of much larger disease plaguing England's multi-cultural society. In the first ever news special for its audiences in the United Kingdom, BET reveals that people of colour in the U.K. are experiencing a "Beauty Blackout."

Premiering Monday, 26 May at 8:30 p.m., BET News correspondent Sharon Carpenter speaks with stars like Jamelia, Alesha Dixon, Nicola Hughes (Rock Rivals, Porgy and Bess) , as well as industry opinion-formers like Britain's Next Top Model judge Gerry Deveaux and other insiders; for a look at the colour-challenged fashion and glamour modeling industry from all perspectives. The special also delves into the disturbing ways in which England's beauty ideal affects average women and young girls in their everyday lives.

Carole White, co-founder of Premier Model Management admits, "We'll have a load of castings where they'll say -- 'no black girls'." Through this timely and comprehensive news show, BET brings to the forefront these important issues facing the British Black community regarding standards of beauty, the impact it has on women of colour, and the troubling reasons why "mainstream" British society has never considered black women beautiful.

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