Yves Saint Laurent

If I had been granted an opportunity to host a one-hour interview with North African-born haute couturier Yves Saint Laurent (1936 – 2008), I would have asked him five questions.

1 Who taught you how to be human?

2 From childhood to adulthood, I’ve met a ton of beige-skinned men and women who genuinely believed all darker-skinned women were unattractive and useless to society. Why do you think so many persons of your complexion—regardless of tax bracket, faith affiliation, political membership and geographical location—believe this?

3 Why weren’t you afraid of having darker-skinned women model your iconic designs, especially at a time when it was unheard of or seen as “risky” for someone of your skin tone and status to do so?

4 What advice would you give to your twenty-first-century peers who are unwilling or even afraid to feature darker-skinned models in their fashion shows?

5 What advice would you give to darker-skinned teenaged girls who wish to model when they become adults, yet are being programmed to see their existence as less than?