For Tomi Talabi, vanguard is direction. It’s a phrase she landed on when thinking about how to celebrate the people defining the next frontiers of beauty. Since 2020, Talabi has championed how Black beauty shapes the industry through her platform The Black Beauty Club; and now, she’s introducing a new initiative with the launch of the inaugural Beauty Vanguard 50 list, which seeks to celebrate influencers, tastemakers, and thought-leaders across beauty, film, art, and media.
“Beauty does not move in isolation,” Talabi told Vogue. “It is shaped by the wider culture around it. So vanguard can look like a founder creating a new standard, an image-maker defining visual grammar, an editor shaping the record, or a cultural force shifting behavior at scale. Vanguard is impact plus authorship.” To fete the unveiling, The Black Beauty Club hosted a dinner party at WSA on Thursday evening dedicated to spotlighting the innovators on the list, presented in partnership with L’Oreal.
The 2026 Beauty Vanguard list is split into five categories, with a handful of honorees in each. Actors Tracee Ellis Ross and Halle Berry are recognized as Canon Builders for their brands Pattern Beauty and Respin, respectively; British Vogue’s Chioma Nnadi and Funmi Fetto have been named Cultural Architects; musician Kehlani and multidisciplinary artist Skylar Marshai as Culture Drivers; hairstylist Jawara Wachope and photographer Nadine Ijewere as Image Makers; and model Anok Yai and gallerist Hannah Traore make up the New Vanguard. The evening also paid homage to trailblazers Tina Knowles, Golloria, Dawn Sterling, and Naeemah LaFond, who received a customized award created by Tiffany & Co.
For Talabi, the dinner was both for professional and personal purposes. “The Black Beauty Club started as a concept to connect founders to the right support and opportunities, but it grew into an inclusive beauty community because the gap was bigger than content,” she explained. “It was about access and building something durable enough to shape what comes next. By creating high-trust spaces in which Black creatives across categories can come together, you open the door for collaboration, partnership, and opportunity.”
There were laughs heard around the room as guests sipped on custom SirDavis cocktails, and enjoyed a menu of sea bass, crab cakes, and roasted vegetables. Whether attendees recounted the past or spoke about the future, it was clear how much the communal moment meant to them. “This dinner makes our mission visible and durable,” Talabi acknowledged. “It is a recognition moment, but it is also a cultural correction.”
This is what she hopes for, for this year and beyond: “I’m most proud that The Club has become a place people return to; not just attend once. And that it keeps raising the standard for how Black beauty is held.”
