Yeah, I had to go d*k head Kanye West on this but oh well! So I have been reading Lucky since they first came out. While I do not have a subscription due to the fact that I moved way too much throughout my college years, and really, who wants to go through all those address changes every sememster; I would not get a subscription anyway. As a young woman of color, it is nice to see not just pretty, afforadable clothing, but it is nice to see hair and makeup tips that are more inclusive than "olive" being the darkest skin tone they cater to in these makeup articles. Hello! African Americans are the number one consumers. They had better recognize!
Lucky dislikes anything, curvy, (too) dark haired or over 35. (I am only considered curvy at 34-25-40)While I am unaware of their number one niche group, I can read and I can definitely read between the lines. One can tell when they are not wanted, desired, underappreciated, whatever. I LOVE the clothing, makeup, deals, espcially the stickers and all that jazz in the magazine, but I stopped buying because of their lack of diversity. Beauty comes in more than one shade. Now, I know the question, "What about Essence and Ebony magazine? You have those." Do not even get me started!
I was in a pinch and needed a fashion fix so I purchased Lucky hoping that just maybe there would be someone black, someone with (gasp, natural hair!) features like me in the magazine besides one or two advertisments. In the June issue of Lucky, there are four people of color- a mother daughter advertisment for Target, white folks favorite black woman, Halle Berry in an advertisment for Revlon and a small article: "Reader's Choice: The Ingenue." Lucky can make excuses such as, "there are no black models," "black women are not interested in our magazine" or whatever lame excuse they can come up with. The truth is, there are loads or African American women looking to Lucky magazine for fashion advice and instead of Lucky moving forward in this post segregation, Kum by ya moment, Lucky needs to have a come to Jesus, or at least Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior (that takes up almost one line of typing!) I will not be "judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character" moment.
Does this mean I ought to turn a blind eye and just look at the clothes? Last time I checked were a fashion and beauty magazine.
Beauty IS skin deep and unfortunately Lucky is rather shallow. I do not need the deep political articles of Vogue, the do it yourself, cut this coupon to save a measly 20% of Woman's World. What I need is a magazine with diversity, pretty women, awesome clothing, unbeatable prices, up and coming designer recognition and someone like me! Yes, I take personal offense to not seeing faces like me more often (or at all for that matter ) in Lucky. At times I wonder if I am personally assaulted and disregarded puposefully.
I am so disappointed that I can no longer support your magazine. As wonderful as it is, it can be better. I am not the only one who feels this way and Lucky is not the only magazine with issues. I will be like the people who drive me crazy at the supermarket. I will just flip through it in line and put it back in the wrong place while I load my tomatoes, ice cream, salad dressing and way too many items to be in the 12 items or less line on the conveyer belt.
Yours in fashion, beauty and the struggle,
Maya J.
owner of SewFly by CarolRenee
PS. I will continue to discontinue buying this publication and will spread the word via Facebook and Twitter until the mass satisfaction from a strong consumer base is met.
