2. Tyson Beckford (Jamaica/Panama)
It is somewhat painful to put a man in the number 2 spot when there are so many stunning women to be recognized–too many to be contained in a top 10, in fact. But let’s be honest, Tyson is the only male model who can claim the supermodel title–the only male model who has ever reached household-name status in fact. All that for a Jamaican brother from the Bronx who was discovered by the Source Magazine! Plus, he is just so clearly the Homecoming King to Naomi’s Queen. Like Naomi, Tyson’s Afro-Caribbean genes are leavened with a dash of black chiney, and these two by themselves are enough to put the Fear of a Black China into any eurocentric ideals of beauty that are still lurking around the fashion world.
