It is the biggest and brightest spotlight in the world of fashion. A gateway to supermodel stardom and the pinnacle of style and elegance. The cover of Vogue is a big deal. 

The magazine has just revealed next month's cover: a "momentous" all African line-up that Vogue says will redefine what it means to be a model.

For years the industry has faced charges of racism and a lack of diversity on its covers and runwaysFashion shows where designers showcase their clothing and accessories.. Vogue's editor Edward EnninfulThe Ghana-born stylist says "racism is part of my life" and was once questioned by security entering his own offices. vows to "give more space to African beauty" with a feature that celebrates models from across the continent.

It took British Vogue 50 years to put a Black model on its cover. In 1966, Donyale Luna was photographed with her hand over her face to disguise her ethnicity. Another 21 years passed until Naomi CampbellIn 2013 she formed a group called Diversity Coalition that named and shamed designers that failed to hire models of colour. landed the front page in 1987.

Vogue's editor says Black models are not a trend that can be "thrown away after one season". He says he wants to nurture and invest in a new generation - and prove high fashion can change for the better.

Some believe the beauty business has turned a corner. In September 2018, Rihanna fronted UK Vogue and Beyonce starred on the US cover. Following the box office success of Black PantherThe Black Panthers were a political organisation dedicated to fighting police brutality. They frequently clashed with police forces and came under attack from the American state., the industry was ready to celebrate Black talent.

In 2020, the murder of George FloydAn African-American man who died in Minneapolis in May 2020 when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. and the prominence of the #BlackLivesMatter movement kept the issue in the spotlight.

"There is no coming back from this," says Italian designer Pierpaolo Piccioli. "The constraints and unreachable standards of beauty must be defeated."

The trailblazing model ImanIn 1975, she was a Somali refugee living in Kenya when she was hired by a fashion photographer. She became the world's first black supermodel. is triumphant; "All hail our African models with their jet-black skin, impossibly long limbs and natural hair, full of joy and absolutely no compromise."

Not everyone is celebrating. Some say racism runs deep through the fashion industry. Its editors, designers and stylists are mostly White and they sell to a mostly White audience. They say Black models are used as for their "shock value".

Kalkidan Legesse is one such critic. "Racism is at the heart of fashion," she argues. "Of the 74 million textile workers worldwide, 80% are women of colour." They are poorly paid and work in unsafe conditions, whilst the fashion brands make big profits.

The conventional wisdom in fashion is that "Black covers don't sell". It might be a foolish assumption, says media expert Charles Whitaker, "but this is a business where people sort of follow each other."

Social media shows how wrong the industry has been. Rihanna has the fourth-largest Twitter following and Beyonce is in ninth place on Instagram with a huge 232 million followers. Far more people are paying attention to these two Black fashion icons than are buying Vogue magazines.

Fashion historian Frances Corner says: "there is no one bible" anymore, describing online fashion as "democratic". But it is still the fourth biggest global industry. It affects all our lives, from catwalk to high street. Fashion is the business of deciding what is and isn't beautiful. And everyone has an opinion about that.

Out of style

Yes: Fashion sidelines Black people, but it also promotes an idea of beauty that is young, thin and able-bodied. It leads to eating disorders, anxiety and depression and makes ordinary people feel ugly.

No: Fashion is a form of art and fantasy. There is no longer one big industry with a single standard of beauty. 

Or...?: The fashion industry is part of wider society. If we want to make fashion fair and ethical, we must challenge our own prejudices and ideas of beauty.