Running breathlessly between opening two new GlamTribale shops, delivering a new collection to Giant Steps Gallery in Philadelphia, and keeping the websites afloat, I must pause for a moment to comment on this white women in dark skin topic again. 

‘African Queen’ Dust Up

Last week we had Ondria Hardin playing ‘African Queen’, lensed by Sebastian Kim for Numéro 141. I wrote then — and will write again this morning in response to Charlotte Cowles for the Cut and also Fashion Copious’ commentary about it being ‘lame’ to question darkening the light skin of fashion models to appear black — that I tend to land on the side of artistic freedom on this complex subject. Personally, I would never do it and the only reason that I don’t condemn it is because America is so politically-correct at this point, that we are on the verge of becoming creative robots with no juice in our brains. 

Charlotte Cowles wrote:

No black models walked in A.F. Vandevorst’s show in Paris today, but several of the light-skinned girls appeared on the catwalk with their arms and hands painted black. Obviously, this looks bad. (When will fashion LEARN?) If the Vandevorst designers really wanted that visual effect, why not just have everyone wear gloves?

Is it ‘lame’ as FC suggests to point out this fact? No. It is never ‘lame’ for people to question the relationship between branding, marketing, images and their real-world impact on peoples’ psyches and especially the female psyche which is bombarded daily by the business strategies of mostly white men worldwide. 

Also, Charlotte never suggested that Raf Simons is racist as FC suggests in quoting “someone at Fashin”. I think John should read This Story Stinks: 

The Web, it should be said, is still a marvelous place for public debate. But when it comes to reading and understanding news stories online — like this one, for example — the medium can have a surprisingly potent effect on the message. Comments from some readers, our research shows, can significantly distort what other readers think was reported in the first place.

But here, it’s not the content of the comments that matters. It’s the tone.

In commenting on photographer Sebastian Kim’s apology to the controversy around ‘African Queen’, FC’s headine was ‘I Would Have Gone With ‘Fuck Off”. Now that is enlightening commentary, if I ever read one!

Sebastian Kim issued a statement saying:

I would like to apologize for any misunderstanding around my recent photos for Numero France.  It was never my intention (nor Numero’s) to portray a black woman in this story.  Our idea and concept for this fashion shoot was based on 60’s characters of Talitha Getty, Verushka and Marissa Berenson with middle eastern and Moroccan fashion inspiration. We at no point attempted to portray an African women by painting her skin black. We wanted a tanned and golden skin to be showcased as part of the beauty aesthetic of this shoot. 

It saddens me that people would interpret this as a mockery of race.  I believe that the very unfortunate title “African Queen” (which I was not aware of prior to publication) did a lot to further people’s misconceptions about these images.  It was certainly never my intention to mock or offend anyone and I wholeheartedly apologize to anyone who was offended.

Fashion Fascism and Libertarian White Men