In vogue without ‘Vogue’
Snubbed by fashion and beauty mags, black women build community online
When former Miami New Times editor Patrice Yursik launched her blog, Afrobella, in 2006, her only expectation was that it would serve as a vehicle for self-discovery.
As an African-American woman, she was frustrated that she couldn’t find beauty resources in mainstream media that could give her informed opinions on the kinds of products that worked on natural hair or which brands of foundation flattered darker skin tones.
Before long, Yursik found herself an integral member of a fastgrowing community of black women taking their experiences online when Vogue, Glamour and other editorial staples of American beauty and fashion failed them. Ten years and more than 70,000 subscribers later, the rest is history.
“Over time, it evolved from a whimsical passion project into something that wasn’t available for me in the marketplace,” Yursik says. “I created the magazine that I couldn’t find on shelves.”
Maeling Murphy, a materials scientist with an engineering doctorate from Georgia Tech, founded her blog, Natural
Chica, for many of the same reasons. Launching her site in 2008 as a “hair diary” to chronicle her transition from relaxed to natural hair, Murphy wanted to build a resource for the natural hair community that wasn’t readily available in print.
Yursik and Murphy are not alone. Over the past 10 years, hundreds, if not thousands, of African-American women of all hair textures, skin tones, body types and backgrounds have turned blogging and social media into vessels for sharing their diverse beauty and fashion experiences.
According to Tanisha Ford, author of Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Poli--
tics of Soul and a professor of black American studies and history at the University of Delaware, bloggers are part of a centurieslong tradition of black women using media to create spaces for conversations about beauty that does not adhere to the blonde, white and blue-eyed variety.
During the early to mid-20th century, Ford says, black women, beset by segregation and discriminatory practices at department stores and dismayed over the lack of positive images, used magazines like Ebony and Essence (which still exist) to proffer an alternative to the standard, white American beauty model.
In many ways, blogging and social media grant the same type of exposure, but on a much wider scale.
“Blogging for me is an extension of that long history,” Ford says. “It’s really refreshing to see (African American women) using the blogosphere to reach people in ways that perhaps more traditional forms of media cannot.”
Even though Jim Crow laws no longer prohibit African-Americans from shopping where they choose, many women are turning to blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram over brick-and-mortar stores to find products better tailored to their needs.
Marie Denee, founder of plussize fashion blog The Curvy Fash
ionista, is one such woman. Launching her site in December 2008 as a way to promote what she thought would be her first plus-sized boutique, Denee’s blog now boasts a quarter of a million followers worldwide.
As a result of this new generation of influencers, Denee suggests, there has been an increased representation of products both in the media and stores that cater to African-American bodies. Yursik echoes this sentiment. “More and more, what I’m seeing is women taking the reins back from mass retailers and media,” Yursik says. “Blogs have allowed us to create our own brands, our own platforms and in some cases, these have rivaled the popularity of what exists in the mainstream.”
“I created the magazine that I couldn’t find on shelves.”
Patrice Yursik