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Duh! Of Course Fashion's Racist
The French Vogue blackface brouhaha is nothing new. The Daily Beast’s Elizabeth Gates on Michelle Obama, Anna Wintour, and fashion’s long history of horrible race-relations.
I would love to say I was surprised when Carine Roitfeld turned the latest issue of French Vogue into a modern minstrel show, giving over hours of makeup prep time to the transformation of model Lara Stone from little Dutch girl to imitation black woman. But I wasn’t. I wish I had been so moved by the spread that I took to the streets and demanded that my beloved local newsstand banish the issue. But I didn’t. It’s hardly worth the effort to use this moment to proclaim, again, that “the fashion industry hates black people,” in Kanye West-style. To be perfectly honest, beyond wishing Steven Klein and Carine Roitfeld had used their collective genius to actually create something new, I brushed this off as just another day in high fashion—racism included.
When I really sit back and consider the spread, I’m actually a bit impressed that Roitfeld had the gall to push fashion’s history of racial discrimination to the forefront of her magazine and leave it out there for the world to discuss without an explanation of her decision.
Jaded though I might be, I would be fooling myself if I thought the draftsmen behind fashion’s most beautiful things were ever going to be sensitive to race, black women, or how they represent our cultural history. In fact, I’m not exactly sure why this was a shock to anyone. Are racial tensions supposed to have magically healed since Americans elected Barack Obama to be our president? Surely not, when it seems clear to me that many people, both here and abroad, are still confused about what to really make of his election anyway and have taken to testing boundaries across the board like a bunch of prepubescent teens: Beer Summits are held to solve race matters; Republicans have become hecklers shouting “you lie!” as if the president deserves the same treatment as an NBA player; the Norwegians offered up the Nobel Peace Prize as if it was a slice of pie.
• Jacob Bernstein: Back to Blackface?
As far as I’m concerned, the world at large has become altogether too comfortable with the bending of boundaries, and while a model in blackface over in France is certainly striking to some, it’s hardly a departure from fashion’s normal treatment of black women. And lets just get this out of the way now: Yes, I am black and I love it. Yes, I voted for Obama and I idolize Michelle. Yes, I am thrilled there is a black family in the White House and above all I truly think he was the best candidate on the ticket and that he deserved to win. It is simply that I wasn’t among the delusional majority that thought his election was an end to discrimination or racism and I never, for one quick second, thought that his election (or the attention Michelle’s outfits warrant) would put an end to fashion’s Jim Crow laws, which have consistently banished black models from most runways, apart from Baby Phat, “Ebony Fashion Fare” and Sean Jean.
Perhaps I can say this with such confidence because the fashion community doesn’t exactly deny this, having recently brushed off the likes of Naomi Campbell (a black model who actually does get work, regardless of her age) when she sprang into a tirade about the recession causing designers to further deny black models a spot during New York Fashion Week. Or maybe I can say this is because I’ve seen it firsthand over the last eight years as I worked my way around the fashion industry doing damn near everything except modeling. I’ve dressed models, worked at design companies, attended design school, worked as a milliner, sat in on run-throughs for Oscar de la Renta collections, juggled nine coffees at once for thirsty fashion editors, hand-delivered notes to Karl Lagerfeld’s hotel, looked after a socialite’s Yorkie as she was she was getting fitted for her wedding attire, and once found myself in an elevator with none other than Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, to whom I stammered a compliment about her daughter and was rightfully ignored. The only thing that all of those experiences have in common is that I was often the only black woman in sight, the exception being when I attended Parsons and was among a hearty number of four black students. At first it almost seemed unfair that I had somehow crossed over the velvet rope when I certainly wasn’t the only qualified young woman of color.
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Elizabeth Gates is a style correspondent for The Daily Beast. She is a graduate of The New School University and a former intern at Vogue magazine.
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That's some kind of a zombie transformation. I've never seen anything that ugly. Thank God there's no black girl that disturbingly looking.
I beg to differ. Yes, it's hideous makeup, but there plenty of black women, and white, who are that "disturbingly looking", and much more so.
Irrelevant, roadhunter.
It is disgusting and ridiculous that French Vogue would photograph someone in blackface. I thought only fratboys in the backwoods of SC did that.
For sure the PR flak who dreamed this up who is going to be generously rewarded for a major success.
Well said. Honest. Insightful.
Yet again Ms. Gates (who is bi-racial, not black as she states) pushes the Black Person As Victim pedagogy. According toher twisted, vapid, and entirely racist diatribe, if a black chick doesn't become a successdul model, then it's White Person Racism.
Get a grip. Racism is not an issue in this country except by Blacks against Whites. Whining like a wee girl doesn't change that fact.
You're the one who is racist.
You also need to learn how to spell, punctuate properly, and learn how to put the appropriate amount of space between your words.
About the bi-racial thing. I must point out the obvious, and it relates to the President as well. West Africans are very dark skinned. Most African Americans have lighter brown skin than most West Africans. Part of the legacy of slavery is that most all African Americans have the blood of many people, most especially Caucasian blood.
I'm of African, Japanese, and Cherokee blood. However if you look at me on the street, most Americans would say that I am 'black'. Previous generations labelled anyone who had one drop of African blood in their veins as 'black'. My Tanzanian and Ethiopian friends here in LA are viewed as 'black'.
It is entirely appropriate for Ms. Gates to refer to herself with the same label that has been historically and consistently applied to people with her ethnic background and appearance.
SpeakEnglish, you're an idiot, plain and simple. Go read the Drudge Report or turn on Fox News or something. Or maybe you should go learn how to speak English (interesting screen name choice by the way).
al-nafs: Most African Americans have lighter brown skin than most West Africans. Part of the legacy of slavery is that most all African Americans have the blood of many people, most especially Caucasian blood.
-------------------------------------
Al,
Elizabeth Gates IS bi-racial and not from slavery. Her White mother married her Black Father of her own free will. Slavery was outlawed by the time her parents were married. She simply has issues with her White mother and decided to call herself Black. In every article she writes, she goes out of her way to prove that she is Black. Which is her right, it simply doesn't erase the fact that 50% of her DNA is White and that she has the blood of her White mother running through her veins. If she were 100% Black, she wouldn't be a writing for TDB.
Oh my goodness! There goes Crymeariver AGAIN! What is this person's problem? Get off it! The author clearly doesn't have a problem with her white mother, but YOU certainly seem to have a problem with HER.
crymeariver
Al is right. Yes Gates is bi-racial but you would not know that unless she told you. She is perceived as black and that is how she identifies herself. And it is true that whites consider those that have even a minimal amout of another ethnicity in their background as non-white. Don't get mad at us because you refuse to recognize that fact.
djanimaequeen,
Al was claiming that Elizabeth Gates looks bi-racial due to a history of racial-mixing during SLAVERY. I simply gave him the FACTS of her heritage. That she looks bi-racial because her mother is white and her father is black. It was a correction of his false statement.
crymeariver needs to lay the heck off. take your personal attacks somewhere else. you, too, SpeakEnglish. thinly veiling mean and insulting comments as 'pointing out the obvious' is highly unproductive. if either of you have something constructive to contribute, do so. otherwise, your kind of negativity is unwelcome and unwarranted.
Not being welcomed in the world of fashion seems to me to be a badge of honor. I don't think there is a group of more horrid people on the face of the earth.
neverlate:
so very true! Anna Wintour is the fashion world's perfect symbol: Dressing people gives you the divine right to ignore those who compliment you.
Oh, and thanks Tina Brown. I do appreciate Ms. Gates' voice and perspective.
Al Queda, the Taliban, Wall Street Bankers, the French, college football coaches, Roman Polanski supporters, the cast of Desperate Housewives and/or Grey's Anatomy, etc?
Yet another great piece from Elizabeth Gates. You are a smart young lady, Gates. Hey Tina Brown: Give this girl a column where all she does is tell it like it is. Bravo. Again.
Ms. Gates,
As you mentioned, the artists in question did not have any interpretation outlined for the audience of this "so-called black face model." Pray tell how you know this was the artists intent. To me, the model looks beautiful and does not remind me of any "throwbacks" to the black-face era. How do you know this wasn't a silent commentary on the over-tanning of women? I have read a few of your articles and it seems you jump to the conclusion of racism very quickly. More avenues could be explored...
~anArteye
The model looks horribly ugly and disgusting and it is definately a throwback of blackface. That's like somebody putting a swastka on the cover of a magazine and saying that it's not about the Nazis. Art is interpreted differently from person to person so it really does not make any sense to expect that everyone who has had the misfortune of seeing this crap would interpret it in exactly the same way the artist does. It does not matter what the artist's intention was, the editor should have been a bit smarter on how it would be interpreted by others.
Please explain further your evidence on how "[the image] is definitely a throwback of black face." I am curious about your evidence. Please provide any evidence that this image is indeed meant to elicit this concept. I felt that neither the author, nor the commentators have provided any evidence for this claim. It is all rather disappointing. No matter what judgement value we put on the art, whether we think it is "beautiful" (as I said), or "horribly ugly and disgusting" (as djanimaequeen said), there is still no evidence that it is meant to represent "black face."
Great article! Ms Gates justifiably excludes fashion from the concerns of the broader world and gives the reader a reasonable perspective of the function it serves.
Would have been great had they used a black model. Are there any? The ones there are airbrushed to look white. It seems the fashionista's love it. They want to make black ugly unless they control it. What a joke.
"and we are not saved..."
Alek Wek is from Sudan and one of the most fabulous models working.She 's not airbrushed to "look white".However I do agree that fashion industry needs to become more culturally divisified.
Fact: Even black people consider lighter skinned blacks to be more attractive.
If it's really true that black folks consider lightger skinned women more attractive then that's a problem in their community.,but to say magazine editors are the ones making AA models "whitewashed "is unfair.When I was growing up with dreams of modelling..Beverly Johnson. Barbara Smith and Iman were just some of the women I wanted to emulate.
Um white people get tans to look darker. Is that a problem in the white community? Get a life, there was also a black model in this same spread in "white face." The whole "black face" thing is an American issue and has nothing to do with the French.
Grow up people, when are we going to stop acting like 6 year olds on the playground?
bigwurzz:Get a life, there was also a black model in this same spread in "white face."
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Actually you are wrong, there were ZERO black models in the entire spread. It was the SAME model that was put in BOTH "White face" and "Black face".
This is not technically "Black face". "Black face" is coloring ONLY the face a completely UN-NATURAL dark color not seen in the real world, drawing exaggerated facial features on the person and doing stereotypical "Black" goof-ball things meant to demean. The video of the "Jackson Jive" is an example of real "Black face"
In this situation, they did a realistic dark-brown tanning of the ENTIRE body without spoofing facial features. The problem however is instead of hiring a BLACK model to pose, the magazine just took a White one and gave her a dark-brown all-body tan while retaining her White features. I think it's WORSE than "Black face" because it came across as though they couldn't "find" a Black model that looked good-enough so they had to darken the skin of a White one. So you get the dark-skin but maintain the "pretty" European facial features and body-type. THAT'S why there were NO real Black models in the entire issue. It's their super-models issue and there are plenty of Black Super-models last time I check. And all of them completely beautiful and probably paid less.
Ms. Gates missed the point. The only color the fashion industry looks at is green. Everything else follows.
People of all colors buy high end fashion. If a white girl can sell it, so can a Black girl.
That is exactly right, the industry would not be racist at the expense of profits. If the public demanded more people of color in the magazines, the industry would supply them. If people really want to change it they should boycott the magazines until there is a positive change, I wish I could help but I've never bought a fashion magazine.
Dear Elizabeth,
I think you have had some brilliant thoughts in your article above, and I am not sure either what were Mrs Roitfeld's expectations with such a cover. However, I don't think anyone on this page does care about your crusade against the fashion industry, which I am sorry to say, sounds more like a boring testimony of your frustration. Exactly the frustration though shared by many, I agree, of not making it into fashion, or slightly the same, of not reaching your goals, and therefore feeling frustrated...Besides, if everybody knows, or should know how sexist, racist, anti-black people, and misogynous, the fashion industry is, then why do you feel the need to cover two full pages telling us again?
You mentioned Ana Wintour as not a polite person, or naturally ignoring people, but this is exactly her character in this fashion-galaxy! The less human she looks and sounds, the more inaccessible she appears, and this is just how fashion people want to be seen!
Now, when it comes to representativeness of black people, afro-americans, french-africans, africans, I totally agree with you! It's still far from acceptable not to have more politicians, TV anchors, journalists...represented on the social scene. But instead of reveling into the old same complaint, why don't we seat together with everyone whom feels concerned, and we discuss how to improve the way people of color, no matter which one it is, are represented in our society? Why don't we do that? Please right a column and start the discussion!
We need ideas before we can take actions, and you should know that if you believe in President Obama.
Thks
Njoy-d-ride -
Missed the point of what? She is addressing yesterdays OUTRAGE over the photos of a dutch girl in black face. How could she have missed the point. Fools are clearly everywhere.
Again - great job gates
Their values are not ours. Do you think this would have happened if Michelle Obama were not first lady? Ask Roitfeld what her intentions were, you may be surprised.
And to think that is a projection of beauty and sexiness! Poor Ms. Stone looks like something I'd have to put through a car wash first. She even looks dusty. Maybe they should try blue, like that X-men mutant lady-now THAT's sexy. Or green, flourescent green. But if you aren't going for a pop-art effect, leave it alone, all tones are beautiful as is.
Elizabeth Gates the professional race girl, just like daddy! wah wah wah
rhonda1309 - nepotism is for next week's column, sweetie. let's reserve our snark for those that truly merit it.
excellent perspective, mz. gates. and can we talk about the dutch santa claus' blackface 'elf' assistant, black peter?? look it up. fascinating.
Perhaps it's " Junk In The Trunk " Envy ?
Maybe it's easier to create a dress
to fit an ASSLESS white girl with a " Boy Like " figure,
than it is to design something to
fit someone who actually HAS AN ASS !
Huh? I've seen many white girls with plenty junk in their trunk and I'm black with no ass. This about blackface not ignorant stereotypes. FOCUS.
bbc-ranger: "That's some kind of a zombie transformation. I've never seen anything that ugly. Thank God there's no black girl that disturbingly looking."
But isn't that the point? This image isn't racist, it denounces racism. It criticizes the ideal that to be beautiful, black women should look white. By flipping the situation around, and giving a patently white girl dark skin, we can see she looks disturbing and awful. In other words: pretty black women should look black to be beautiful; they shouldn't aspire to have white features.
Remember this is French Vogue. The history of racism in France just does not include blackface the way the American history of racism does. People are not "allergic" to it the way Americans are, it's symbolic value isn't the same, because it isn't part of French history. And this means that it's culturally available for subversion in France in a way that it isn't in America. And Americans need to accept that and not judge the use of blackface according to American cultural reference points.
That's a lame argument. Black entertainers have been escaping from the U.S. to France for DECADES due to racism. The French are VERY much aware of our history of "Black face" for entertainment. That's why they tired to avoid the comparison by doing a full-body tan with more realistic colors. However in the end, it simply points out that instead of hiring a REAL Black model with Black features, they decided that brown skin with White facial features was more attractive. That's just insulting and wrong.
The entire super-model issue had ZERO Black or Asian women in it. Sadly I can't even think of one Asian woman that has made it to "super-model" status but there are SEVERAL Black super-models that could have been used.
Great Article. I meet a lot of young people who say they want to be models. I know a few young girls who are constantly pursing it. They never make it pass the video ho's offers
Did you stop to consider that the fashion industry is marketing mainly to white people because they make up the vast majority of people in the USA, England, and France?
And what about Naomi Campbell?
And, by the way, Obama is as much white as he is black. I'd say more so, actually.
Wow. I'm waiting, with baited breath to hear your explanation for that last line.
I'm assuming it goes something like this: Obama is more white than black because he's articulate, educated, refined, and dignified. He speaks with excellent diction and he successfully achieves subject-verb agreement.
Of course these are the exclusive properties of white folks, right? I mean black folks, "real" black folks don't exhibit such characteristics. Our monopoly is on poverty, disenfranchisement, and broken English, right?
And your problem with Obama being more white then black is??
Roitfeld is a true artist. i think its too ironic that in 2009 its hurtful to people to see this kind of thing. Remember that stupid Wayans brother movie(white girls)? total racist crap and no one said a word. its time to lighten up on withen all races or realize racism goes both ways.
I'm sure they were just trying to emulate the stunningly gorgeous Michelle Obama, black face is chic, don't you know.
how come liberals are now pushing Obama's white side, NO, NO, he's the first black president, he's ALL, yours, no pushing him on us now. I'm sure ms gates agrees, she loves them and her daddy does too!
Ya, Sophia, all the white girls want a big ass! lol
I don't understand why black / asian girls can use white make up to lighten their skin to look white and the other way around is racist.
Plus the statement on the cover of Vogue could actually mean the oppposite of what the author is saying. It could mean that it's chic / fashionable to be brown / black (prob thanks to the Michellomania). That's how I interpret it.
Mamama,
ever heard of a tan? People DO darken their skin in real life. However, this spread used excessive dark-brown make-up all over the body to LOOK like a Black girl with White features.
That would be like bleaching all color from a Black girl and placing her in Ebony magazine so you can still display her Black facial features. Instead of simply hiring a White girl with White facial features. YOU would be outraged if Ebony magazine did that and would (rightly) call them racist.
Rhonda:
In all seriousness: why are you so hateful?
Rhonda:
Speaking as a man for all men, we do like a girl with a nicely rounded apple ass :o)
from one foot soldier to another, I hear you miss gates. with respect to some earlier comments, exactly how is/are she/we whining? many industries have gray moral areas especially when it comes to race - ESPECIALLY Black people. and it's ALWAYS been in the name of money, that's why its so f-d up. i'm a (former) token wall streeter, token entreprenegro, token doctoral student. don't get it twisted: Black people are still as profitable to everybody else (except us?) today as we were during the blatant, unapologetic Jim Crow era. Now it's simply not "cool" to be racist, so people don't own up to it anymore. No worries, Blacks have evolved too. I don't need Big Media to call a spade a spade (pun intended) for me; we know racism when we see it and pick our battles accordingly. Kudos to the author for keeping us in the loop lest we become assimilated (everyone should respect their own and other's culture) or sedated...this photo shoot was about making money offa Black features without having the burden of an actual Black person; call it what you want but it's commonplace to me....
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BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL.
BenParis: She did reach her goals. She was hired at the daily beast and it says "style correspondent" under her name. And she's under 26. How old might you be?
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Well, I don't consider myself a racist...far from it. I do understand the history of racism in America, but did not consider what Roitfield did as anything more than art. Maybe I am missing something since I am not black. What I am saying is maybe it is nothing more than just art since art is not necessarily something that is always beautiful. It can be something that is shocking, ugly, or controversial.
Thank you.
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