Marcellas: “Because I am a classist, I am an elitist when it comes to certain things, right? So, I got in trouble because I did a talk for the Jane Club, which is this really sort of exclusive women’s club here in LA, and I said that a woman who was five foot two and 300 pounds could not be a model and all of these women in this era of political correctness jumped in and said, how dare you tell somebody they can't have their dream and da-da-da-da-da… I was like look, I'm saying that the definition of a real model is somebody who is from this age to this age, this height to this height, this size to this size, and has an agent and works for varied clients and is able to do editorial, runway, this, that, and everything else, but if you want to say you want to be a model… get on Instagram, get 5000 likes, get sponsored by Fashion Nova, which is a line of crap, and you can be a model. You're not really a model and then there's nothing you can say that's going to make me think you are a model and there's nothing you can say that's going to make me say that you should walk into a casting and be in the same room with Veronica Webb, Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede, blah blah blah, but if you want to say, you're a model… you don't have what it takes, so there's that”

Melissa: “Well, I feel like that exact same language could have been used and has been used towards the black women you have in your book?”

Marcellas: “WOW! No, you not gonna hit me dead in my eye!”

 

In this week’s very special (re)wind episode, THE IDEALISTS. podcast host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa, revisits her conversation with celebrity stylist, entertainment journalist, filmmaker, and author of Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion, Marcellas Reynolds. Marcellas is joined by Veronica Webb, supermodel, actress, writer, and the first African American to land a major global cosmetics deal. Veronica appeared on covers of Vogue, Essence, and ELLE Magazine as well as on the runway for Victoria's Secret and Chanel. In this episode, Marcellas and Veronica explore self-love as a means of survival, the rarity of excellence, and how to use fashion as armor.

in the episode:

  • Marcellus leads off with the highly contrarian view that being a model has lost its exclusivity. It’s lost that which makes it special, that which makes it a highly prized profession, that which makes it glamorous... if anyone with an Instagram account can call themselves a model. Alternatively, Veronica offers up her contrarian notion that women need to be conceited—conceited about their intellect, their beauty, and their style because the world has a way of beating down a woman's confidence and she needs that belief, that genuine conceit, as her armor.

  • Next, they discuss how we’re conditioned so often as children to apologize, or to downplay our accomplishments, abilities, skills, and our very beauty. For both Marcellas and Veronica, it was about having strong women in their lives growing up, building up their inner narratives, encouraging them to dress up for the parts they ultimately want to play in life—and how fashion became a vital tool for that.

  • Building on that, they discuss how to surround yourself with those who build you up, and who can help see your vision through. How can you also self-build? How can you show up in the world as you would want to be treated? How can you see yourself in Marcellas’ words, as a “unicorn in a field of cows?” Self-love had been a mode of survival for Marcellas, but now being able to write about these powerful black women, giving accolades to those who so deserved them has become more gratifying than anything for him.

  • Lastly, they share their audacious visions for the world. For Marcellas to keep telling bestselling stories about people who are marginalized so that it’s easier for the next gay black boy to walk into a publisher and breakthrough. For Veronica, it's for people to realize that black women are ever on the rise.

Resource(s):

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