Vogue Italia July 2008

Vogue Italia has been praised for making steps towards diversity in the fashion world, especially after they published the “Black Issue” (July 2008), the “Black Barbie” supplement issue (July 2009) and a “Black Allure” photo shoot (Feb 2011)--all issues or shoots that only featured black women.

The overseas fashion manifesto is back again with a "Black Beauty" shoot for June 2011.The current tribute is a shoot styled by Giulio Martinelli with an accompanying article written by Claire Sulmers.

But some readers wonder if these shoots aren’t just a way to segregate the models, and argue if the magazine was really about inclusion and diversity, they’d simply have more black models throughout the year, rather than cramming them all into one issue or shoot every several months.

“I can see the ‘tokenizing’ argument, and do feel that there are many ways Vogue Italia (and other magazines) could be a little more nuanced in their treatment of minorities," Sulmers wrote on her blog, Fashion Bomb Daily. “But, I do appreciate efforts to acknowledge black models (and black writers), and think these editorials are the beginning steps to full inclusion.”

What’s your take on Vogue Italia’s all-black shoots and issues?