Here's a Paris fashion scoop: in 2012 black people have at last started to dress well, adhering to "white fashion codes". French Elle is at the centre of a race-row after a column praised black people for their new trend of dressing smartly, adding that in Obama's America "chic" has become a "plausible option" for a community until now wedded to "streetwear". But don't fear, the "black-geosie" usually add "ethnic" touches from their "roots", such as a turban. Only a few years after French Vogue blacked up white model Lara Stone and was surprised anyone might question it, and one of France's top actors, Valerie Lémercier, appeared in a hit film about a white cosmetics boss who turns black due to a skin disease, the French blogosphere has risen up in outrage. The blog, Afrosomething slammed the colonialist approach, the former Miss France, Sonia Rolland, who is mixed-race, lamented the piece on Facebook, and US fashion bloggers despaired. Elle's editor apologised that the piece had been "misinterpreted".