I hate to say this, but as much as I love Tyra Bank’s work ethic, I always seem to be at loggerheads with whom she crowns as the winner of America’s Next Top Model and who she eliminates along the way. ANTM alumna, Toccara Jones, is a prime example of my ambivalence with Banks.

As the photos from the epic all black issue of Vogue Italia continue to make their way Stateside (Fashionista were nice enough to scan the issue sans Toccara though), I’m even more convinced that Tyra and her judging staff haven’t quite perfected the algorithm to finding ANTM.

Toccara Jones, who was surprisingly dispatched in Cycle 3 for lacking the persona needed to prosper in the fashion industry, was shot by Steven Meisel in the landmark Vogue Italia issue and all I can say is the shots oozed all the personality Tyra and co said Toccara lacked.

Fully clad in foxy furs and racy lingerie pieces, Toccara’s poses with an allure that makes even the dimly lit, gritty garage that surrounds her strangely warm and welcoming. In short, Toccara fittingly affirms why she happens to be amongst the only three ANTM contestants to ever feature in a Vogue publication (Cycle 6’s Mollie Sue Steenis-Gondi and Cycle 7’s Anchal Joseph have also graced the pages of Vogue)!

As a plus-size model, Toccara’s fame since ANTM is a promising gesture for aspirants of modelling (ahem, Whitney Thompson of Cycle 12) who are endowed with a similar physique. Hopefully Jodie Kidd’s modeling career will have the same luck as Toccara if she [Kidd] continues on her recent plus-size trajectory!