VIDEO | IMAN AND UBAH HASSAN DISCUSS THE FASHION INDUSTRY'S STRUGGLE WITH DIVERSITY

Veteran model Iman sat down with rising star and fellow Somalian Ubah Hassan, the spring face of Ralph Lauren, to discuss the struggles non-white models face in the fashion industry.

Sneak Peek: Vogue Italia's All-Black Issue

The much talked about All-Black Issue of Vogue Italia is set to hit European newsstands next Thursday and the US shortly there after. The fold out cover boasts the likes of Liya Kebede, Sesilee Lopez, Jourdan Dunn and Naomi Campbell.

Famed photographer, Steven Meisel, along with Editrix Franca Sozzani give their answer to the fashion industry - a world in which racial prejudice has long existed. Quashing the stigma of fashion mainstreams shallow and pedantic depictions of beauty in their failure to hire black models for shows and magazine features. All the faces are black, and all the feature topics are related to black women in the arts and entertainment.

Other models to be featured include Alek Wek, Alva Chin, Arlenis Sosa Pena, Chanel Iman, Gail O’Neil, Iman, Karen Alexander, Tyra Banks, Veronica Webb, and Yasmin Warsame.

Iman to Appear on Vogue Italia's First "All Black Issue" - She Doesn't Want Black Models to be a 'Caricature'

Picture: Getty Images
Supermodel and host of Canada's Project Runway,Iman, is set to appear on the cover of Italian Vogue's first all-black issue. However she has her reservations about its impact. "I still don't like us (black models) to be a caricature," she told New York magazine this week. "They'll think, 'Okay, we did it.' And then they're done with it, and we'll have to wait till next year." She also asserted that black models were "nonexistent" last year and she feels that the fashion and beauty industries are out of touch. She continued, "I can only say that one of the reasons is that models have never had unions, so there is no one to say, 'This isn't right.'"

She's also avid supporter of Barack Obama for president... "I've been an American citizen for nearly 30 years, I've been an Obama supporter from day one! I met him two or three years ago at Oprah Winfrey's house, and I've been supporting him since then. In my lifetime this is happening."