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While Liya says ideally the world of fashion would focus exclusively on makeup and clothes, not social inequities, she is nevertheless hoping to inspire others. "I'd love it if young girls can see me and say, 'She's done it, and so can I.'" And her agents think she has done something unique, as Estee Lauder is a prestige brand--that is, one that can be bought only at high-end department stores and not the corner Wal-Mart. Similarly, Gucci's Ford, who is widely praised for his seeming inattention to the color of a model's skin, has signed Indian model Ujjwala Raut to represent Yves Saint Laurent cosmetics, and Lancome has hired Japanese-German-British Devon Aoki and Nigerian-born Oluchi.
Few people would be surprised to learn that models are judged by a criterion as superficial as the color of their skin, and it's debatable whether fashion is significantly more racist than other industries; the images it projects, however, are inarguably more pervasive. "When you think back on an era," says Iman, "it's the pictures, not the words, that you remember, which is one reason fashion and beauty should be put under a microscope."