text: I cannot express the importance of representation enough. Especially for black women such as myself. Black women are told constantly that they need to conform to a Eurocentric standard of beauty to be seen as feminine or glamorous. If you have straight hair and a lighter skin tone, it’s seen as more docile, quite, and traditionally feminine. If you have darker skin and kinkier hair, you’re seen as ghetto, unkempt, loud mouthed, and traditionally more masculine. Which leads to women of a darker skin tone being underrepresented in the media. Especially vintage/pinup media. It’s very said that this ‘50s mentality is still held by the small minded few - but, there’s a women that goes by the name of Candace Michelle, who wanted to show the world that black women are and can be just as glamorous and feminine as any other women (whether the mainstream media chooses to acknowledge it or not.) I spoke to her to get her views on this topic.