On July 1, a black friend went into a New York City magazine store and, unprompted, was asked if he was seeking "the diversity issue" of Italian Vogue. "Everyone has been asking for it," the clerk promptly explained. This incident isn't supposed to be a story of racial profiling, but an illustration of the significance of an all-black issue of Vogue within the fashion-aware community, particularly in New York and among blacks.

The New York Times's Cathy Horyn has written poignantly about the issue, interviewing the main photographer, Steven Meisel, as well as Italian Vogue's editor-in-chief, Franca Sozzani. Asked about the genesis of such unprecedented coverage, Sozzani says that she was inspired as much by seeing black girls on the streets of New York as by Barack Obama's stunning rise and visibility.  read more »