Is anyone else getting tired of seeing white models painted in blackface? Because I certainly am, and this recent editorial spread from French magazine Numéro called "African Queen" is absolutely infuriating! Ugh. The spread features 16-year-old blonde, blue-eyed model Ondria Hardin seen with much darker, bronzed skin posing in a vibrant, African-inspired garment. Honestly, they really couldn't have just used a real black model?
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The saddest thing about this is that it proves that the fashion industry has a long way to go when it comes to ethnic diversity. There aren't enough opportunities out there in modeling or in fashion for women of color to begin with, but to go ahead and use a white woman in an "African Queen" spread is really inexcusable, borderline racist, and extremely discouraging for all the young black and Latina women out there trying to pursue careers in these industries.
Yes, I'm aware of the fact that a large majority of the fashion models in the industry are still mostly white, but do you mean to tell me that Numéro really couldn't find a SINGLE black model to pose as an "African Queen" for the spread? Sorry, but I find that pretty hard to believe.
Think about the message this is sending to young girls of color. They look through magazines and don't see women like themselves on the pages, and it could become easy for them to think that they're not all that pretty. They can start to think that women that look like them are not considered beautiful enough to model. That even in a spread that's supposed to be glorifying that dark skin and diversity is beautiful, we still need to see a white model imitating us for it to truly be considered attractive. Sorry, but this makes me absolutely sick to my stomach!
The fact that yet another publication found it appropriate to put a white model in blackface proves that the fashion industry still believes that it's always more suitable to cast anything but a black girl (or woman of color) in a spread even if the editorial was meant to praise diversity. If jobs like these aren't going to go to women of color, then what fashion editorials can we actually expect to see them in? From the looks of it, not many. And that makes me sad.
Image via Jezebel.com
