What say you...

[melonpecan]

...about couture blackface?

Hey Glamazons,

Just as models of color begin to make strides in the industry, French Vogue releases a controversial shoot with model Lara Stone in Blackface for their supermodel issue via Jezebel Magazine. Photographed by Steven Klein, the spread has proven to be controversial as blackface, a popular minstrel act in the 19th century, was implemented to humiliate, subjugate and perpetuate dangerous stereotypes about African-Americans.

What I find more troubling is the fact that French Vogue chose to use blackface instead of an actual black model for this shoot, particularly since models of color are notoriously overlooked for editorial shoots, ad campaigns and runway appearances.

Furthermore, not a single woman of color appears in the entire supermodel issue but I suppose, Lara Stone's painted face represents diversity. (Sarcasm)

See images from the spread below and let me know what you think: is French Vogue's decision to shoot Lara Stone in Blackface racist? Is the controversy surrounding the shoot justified? Do you think French Vogue painted Lara Stone in Blackface to avoid using an actual black model? Does this shoot satirize African heritage and culture? Was it simply a misguided attempt to appear edgy or creative with no racial significance?

Sorry if this is a repost...http://blogs.essence.com/glamazons/2009/10/french-vogue-does-contemporary-blackface.html

 

[crannybee]

​

 

[onyxfemme]

I saw this on the main board.....This is in very poor taste on the designer part.

 

[melonpecan]

I saw this on the main board.....This is in very poor taste on the designer part.

Yeah, I fell asleep; posted this; and then turn to the main board and what do I see?



But like I said over there the dudes that put this together are so full of themselves they have to be crazy to think this was even the right thing to do let alone beneficial to their bank accounts. Who in their right mind would find this sexy to buy the product?

I don't mean 'oh they did something insensitive, I won't use their product'. No, if she is selling the dress, after looking at the picture, the dress does not look appetizing? Could this be the Black women in me? Or just common sense? I don't know. I'd like some of the women and men of other races to comment on this too; nothing in the picture is attractive- the girl, the clothes, her pose, nothing.


But then there is the photoshopped girl from the Ralph Lauren ads...fashion seems to be on roll...

 

[shaddy47]

my son spit on this thread

 

[onyxfemme]

I guess my thing w/ this is like you said...Why not just use a black model??? This was very insensitive and will only cause poor public relations for their company...

 

[SickMyDuck]

Wow. Unbelievable.

Who could ever think this was a good idea?

 

[Andeyhollawho]

Fuck them crackers.

 

[Mo-Better]

This is where the models themselves need to take a stand. Black models need to boycott this designer and consumers also need to send a message by leaving his merchandise on the racks and shelves.

Our voices never seem to be heard but if you want their attention hit them in the pocket.

 

[followup]

I'm more concerned about the use of the N word by black people

 

[Mo-Better]

I'm more concerned about the use of the N word by black people

You mean misuse and your concern is valid.

 

[sean69]

Y'all might be over reacting just a tad bit? Hmm?

Once again, I envoke an old Ibo proverb my mom's mom used to say...roughly translated to the best of my abilities of course...


"They said the church caught on fire and burned down and you're asking whether the priests beard caught fire too?"



Let it marinate a bit ...

 

[Lady-Wiz]

wtf

 

[Blunt]

You mean misuse and your concern is valid.

Is there a proper use for it??

 

[thoughtone]

Whites just can't leave it alone.

 

[melonpecan]

Sean stuff like this has been going on for a while in the fashion industry. What surprises me is that this is the second big profile incident in one week.

Publicity? Maybe.

But as a whole can one set of individuals be that dumb? It seems as though there might be a league of dumbass fashion execs and they pick a day and month to exhibit their stupidity. We might forget about this incident in a while, (before it pops up again), but the fact reamains that something needs to be done about such attidutes and general actions on the part of a select few because of the audiences they tough( yes i know this was gramatticALLY INCORRECT)

 

[Blunt]

What "black" characters is the model portraying? Looks more like just an experiment with the color brown. She could've just as easily have been painted something else, and probably has been in the past. Models are colorized all the time. I don't see a "mammy" there.

I think it should be less about the color used in this spread and more about what is being depicted. That was the whole problem with minstrelsy. It wasn't only about the crude BLACK shoe polish make-up but also about the attitudes it represented.

 

[thoughtone]

What "black" characters is the model portraying? Looks more like just an experiment with the color brown. She could've just as easily have been painted something else, and probably has been in the past. Models are colorized all the time. I don't see a "mammy" there.

Pure conjecture!

I think it should be less about the color used in this spread and more about what is being depicted. That was the whole problem with minstrelsy. It wasn't only about the crude BLACK shoe polish make-up but also about the attitudes it represented.

What ever the reason whites are hell bent on making fools of Blacks.

 

[Mo-Better]

Y'all might be over reacting just a tad bit? Hmm?

Once again, I envoke an old Ibo proverb my mom's mom used to say...roughly translated to the best of my abilities of course...


"They said the church caught on fire and burned down and you're asking whether the priests beard caught fire too?"



Let it marinate a bit ...

I fail to see how a white model in black face is an overreaction. This is an insult to black people worldwide regardless of where the incident took place.

 

[melonpecan]

What "black" characters is the model portraying? Looks more like just an experiment with the color brown.

That's the whole point. If it was an experiment with the color brown, then why not have someone who is brown? If they wanted to use red then use red. White- well the whole industry has nine pennies from change of a dime to figure that one out. Green, then use green. But why try to recreate what is there? Other than to cause some sort of controversy or to just be purely ignorant.

 

[Mo-Better]

That's the whole point. If it was an experiment with the color brown, then why not have someone who is brown? If they wanted to use red then use red. White- well the whole industry has nine pennies from change of a dime to figure that one out. Green, then use green. But why try to recreate what is there? Other than to cause some sort of controversy or to just be purely ignorant.

You have your answer is right there, controversy gets recognized. The same way sexy looking women are used to get a average everyday product noticed, controversy does the same thing. Hence the photo getting posted here on SOL. Had the girl been black it may not have been noticed but a white girl in blackface crosses the line.

 

[Blunt]

That's the whole point. If it was an experiment with the color brown, then why not have someone who is brown?

Then it wouldn't be an "experiment." It would just be business as usual and meaningless in terms of the concept. This was apparently about transformation and altered perspective.

If they wanted to put "whiteface" on a black model (who's distinctly "black"-featured) then the effect might be the same. They just happened to go this way.

This has NOTHING to do with featuring more black models. This photo spread wasn't about using a white woman when a black one would've been more appropriate. The concept required a white model.

 

[Rudey]

Why do ppl still argue with this guy?

 

[onyxfemme]

Ummm you said it right there sis....

That's the whole point. If it was an experiment with the color brown, then why not have someone who is brown? If they wanted to use red then use red. White- well the whole industry has nine pennies from change of a dime to figure that one out. Green, then use green. But why try to recreate what is there? Other than to cause some sort of controversy or to just be purely ignorant.

 

[melonpecan]

You have your answer is right there, controversy gets recognized. The same way sexy looking women are used to get a average everyday product noticed, controversy does the same thing. Hence the photo getting posted here on SOL. Had the girl been black it may not have been noticed but a white girl in blackface crosses the line.

Exactly. But why do you suppose the timing is right? Though for some it's not in the same context but the unskinny photoshopped chick story dropped in the same week. I think there are some ulteriar motives going on in this business, (though are they racial? I don't know), but the fact remains that the pictures are ugly.

But still- black, white, green, purple- does it sell the clothes?


I might post the photoshopped chick later and see if the misrepresentation of her sells clothes here. Personally I'd much rather buy the dress on her from the pictures I've seen that show's her body as is.

Then it wouldn't be an "experiment." It would just be business as usual and meaningless in terms of the concept. This was apparently about transformation and altered perspective.

Nothing about this is art nouveax. Or however the hell it's spelt.

Why do ppl still argue with this guy?

It's fun?

First, I'm pretty sure he is a she. Second, it does come with some valid points here and again. However, I don't care.

 

[Mo-Better]

Exactly. But why do you suppose the timing is right? Though for some it's not in the same context but the unskinny photoshopped chick story dropped in the same week. I think there are some ulteriar motives going on in this business, (though are they racial? I don't know), but the fact remains that the pictures are ugly.

But still- black, white, green, purple- does it sell the clothes?


I might post the photoshopped chick later and see if the misrepresentation of her sells clothes here. Personally I'd much rather buy the dress on her from the pictures I've seen that show's her body as is.

Melon, I'm sorry I don't have an answer to your question, right now I can only speculate but I'm leaning towards it being deliberate. In my dealings with white people there's always existed the possibility of the "ulterior motive." Although I think the timing possibly was coincidental you can never be sure and knowing how racist the fashion industry has always been.

But be sure of this, that picture is distasteful and no sensible black person should consider doing business with anyone or any company that's this insensitive.

 

[owl]

Y'all might be over reacting just a tad bit? Hmm?

Once again, I envoke an old Ibo proverb my mom's mom used to say...roughly translated to the best of my abilities of course...


"They said the church caught on fire and burned down and you're asking whether the priests beard caught fire too?"



Let it marinate a bit ...

We are dying over here, homie.

You see it.

You drop a line among the educated, and not one fully understood the capacity with which you were alluding to.

You have to understand, white supremacy completely invades your thinking. It pardons nothing. Every morning you wake up black in that mirror is an attack on your very soul.

It is easy to point out the model in black face, the burning beard, as you have suggested.

But to face the Great Babylon, even for my wretched rebellious soul...it is a very consuming thing, my friend.

I understand fully why death has become such an appealing respite for my Arab brethren...they are such an intelligent body of people.

My people have no sense of unity.

NONE.

We just don't get it. We don't see it. We are the most abused people on earth.

We are a raped women who willingly copulates with her rapist.


And when the family calls to support us, we lie, and defend the rapist.

Eh...what do I know, right?

 

[melonpecan]

I feel you Mo.

Owl I get you, (and I sorta addressed Sean's post earlier), but I didn't want to genuinely focus on the issue of race here for a reason- because it's sooo obvious this was concocted by a bunch of racist, elitist Europeans who could have thought to promote these pictures with it's startling message.

(Exactly what that message means to me I will keep that to myself. It's something I'm not ready to get into yet.)


But that is a bigger battle that will take more than the restructuring of the fashion community to win.




Trust me when I say if I see a burning beard I'm worried about the school house next to the church that kindled the man with the facial hair. But if it's one thing I have learned, (especially from this place), you pick your battles. The time will come. In the meanwhile I do what I can with my girls and those impressionable around me until it does.

 

[owl]

I feel you Mo.

Owl I get you, (and I sorta addressed Sean's post earlier), but I didn't want to genuinely focus on the issue of race here for a reason- because it's sooo obvious this was concocted by a bunch of racist, elitist Europeans who could have thought to promote these pictures with it's startling message.

(Exactly what that message means to me I will keep that to myself. It's something I'm not ready to get into yet.)


But that is a bigger battle that will take more than the restructuring of the fashion community to win.




Trust me when I say if I see a burning beard I'm worried about the school house next to the church that kindled the man with the facial hair. But if it's one thing I have learned, (especially from this place), you pick your battles. The time will come. In the meanwhile I do what I can with my girls and those impressionable around me until it does.

The literature of war can be misleading.

Anybody who has actually worked with a general knows that the battles are the war.

Like a sports event.

Every pick is a battle, but the battle is the game. Every interception, every sack is a part of the game. You are told to think battle, but you never forget the encompassing reality of what you are facing daily. You are trained to focus on the moment, but you never forget that you are down by ten, and your team needs to win this game for the championship.

Malcolm probably never knew he would be great.

Everyday, you walk this mile toward liberation. You hope your day means something to somebody. The pain you carry on your back is what you try to get out of your mind. You never think that, hey, one day somebody will be thinking about me. Somebody will be inspired by my daily pain and problems.

Somebody will need to think about what I've conquered here to get through their days of pain. And although I've mastered hell, I know that my heaven lies within some body who needs to think about the insanity that I have survived to get them over.

That is unity.

"We are all in, altogether now."

My tears are your tears.

Just one tear.

Just one tear.

Love...

 

[melonpecan]

I like the way you think owl...we must talk again later...

 

[thoughtone]

Then it wouldn't be an "experiment." It would just be business as usual and meaningless in terms of the concept. This was apparently about transformation and altered perspective.

If they wanted to put "whiteface" on a black model (who's distinctly "black"-featured) then the effect might be the same. They just happened to go this way.

This has NOTHING to do with featuring more black models. This photo spread wasn't about using a white woman when a black one would've been more appropriate. The concept required a white model.

The biggest white supremacist apologist on BGOL!