Images. Abi Ishola Celebrates Black Women Who Are ‘Beyond Classically Beautiful’ With a Photo Series Shot by Kunle Ayodeji.

Abi Ishola,Kunle Ayodeji


A few months ago The New York Times published a review by out-of-touch television reviewer Alessandra Stanley of the ABC show How To Get Away With Murder. The racist, tone-deaf piece, which opened with “When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called “How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman,” went on to refer to Viola Davis, the star of the series as “less classically beautiful” than black actresses like Halle Berry.

Many black women took to twitter posting pictures of themselves or of darker complexioned models, celebrities, and other notable women with the hashtag “lessclassicallybeautiful.

Journalist and fashion blogger Abi Ishola decided not only to reclaim the phrase, but to take it to another level writing,

I was immediately inspired by all the beautiful brown women who took to twitter to show off their own beauty with the hashtag #LessClassicallyBeautiful in solidarity with Viola Davis, but as I thought about how diversely beautiful black women are, I couldn’t accept that label. From there, the idea for “Beyond Classically Beautiful” was born.

Ishola enlisted the help of her husband, photographer Kunle Ayodej, videographer Duane Ferguson and stylist Yetty Bames to create a photo series and accompanying video to celebrate black women who are “Beyond Classically Beautiful.”


Abi Ishola,Kunle Ayodeji

Abi Ishola,Kunle Ayodeji

Abi Ishola,Kunle Ayodeji


Head over to Scripts and Sightings for more. “Beyond Classically Beautiful” shirts are also available on Etsy.