Shimmering Dress with Shawl in Liquid Silver

Toccara Jones Strikes a pose for RocaWear “I will not lose” campaign.

Singer Jill Scott is on the cover of Essence.

Here’s and excerpt from an interview with Mo’nique from Essence.com
You’re also celebrating your junior year with your F.A.T. Chance beauty pageant. How was it taping the show in Paris?
It was absolutely life-changing for me. We did high-fashion photo shoots, walked the runways of Paris and did nude body painting.

Wow, so you let go of all your inhibitions in France. How long did it take you to muster up the courage?
Well, I’ve been nude before. When I visited Exuma, Bahamas, it was extremely private and isolated, so I would take my bathing suit off and I enjoyed that feeling. After doing it the first time on a remote island, I said I wanted to enjoy this feeling whenever I feel like having it and I felt like having it in Paris. And the Parisians were looking at us like, “Whadahell? What are we supposed to do? I’m like, “Get some more paint Sugar because you got to paint all of this.”

So you weren’t nervous about letting it all hang out?
Not for my body, but for what people might do or say. It was thinking, “I don’t want to have to cuss nobody out in Paris.” But in all fairness, I think that if anyone knew millions of people would see them naked they’d be reluctant at first.

So did any of the women get cold feet?
The night before and the morning of you could feel the tension and see the emotions on their faces when I told them that we would be getting naked in front of cameras and a crew. What they didn’t know or see was that I was going through the same emotions. But the moment we all had to drop our towels, I watched those women and myself walk into freedom. It was very emotional for all of us. We laughed and we cried. It really chokes me up because when you see it, you don’t see unattractiveness or shame from the women, all you see is true beauty.

::UPDATE::

Mo’nique graces the cover August Ebony Magazine

Joanne Borgella is on the cover of the Spring 2007 issue of Mahogany Magazine. Inside the mag are great photos of Joanne and updates about her life after winning Mo’nique Fat Chance.

Visit MAHOGANY-MAG.COM and read the article.