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Wednesday 14 October 2009

Is this 'Black Face'?



































~Painting white people black for the entertainment of other white people is offensive in ways that stand entirely apart from cultural context.~

French Vogue did a shoot with Dutch model Lara Stone and black people are angry about it. Lara was painted black.

The general consensus is that the 'fashion world' does not have respect for 'black models'. They are wondering why a black model was not hired for the shoot instead of painting a white girl black.

Is this disrespectful to the black world or is it just artistic?

22 comments:

NaijaScorpio said...

Wow... how can people still be this ignorant in this day and age. I am baffled.

Anonymous said...

pls people should grow up n stop seeing racist in everything. wen i saw it i thot it was artistic but even more i was like okaaayyy!!! they r now talking..painting a white model black means only 1 thing. black is beautiful! hot chocolate rules!finito. so pls all my naija babes enuf with d hot movate o. lol

Anonymous said...

i personally think its wrong maybe offensive.. really what's there motive?

N.I.M.M.O said...

It is in really bad taste.

Myne said...

I can see the artistry but hmmm, still thinking. Why would they do that?

Renaissance chic said...

Artistic? No way!!! Tell me your joking just asking that question. See it might not appear to be hurting anyone but to me, this is just a throw back to the old days of racial insensitivity. Don't tell me there was no black model who could take pictures as good as this white girl painted black. It is just an attempt to once aagain ridicule black people as incompetent.

http://fulfillingmyresolutions.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

@ ifeoma odogwu
I am suprised that u think a white woman has to be painted black b4 u know that black is beautiful. Darling, black has always been beautiful whether they accept that or not. And painting a white woman black is not the same as using a black woman cos she still has those white features that can't be painted over.

Anonymous said...

let's try this: how about they did it just to show that a white person can look just as beautiful black and vice-versa. in other words beauty is not determined by color. it is distributed evenly among all races and colors. one is not beautiful because of the colod of one's skin. i don try?

Anonymous said...

i think it is art. and just one question to those who find it offensive, don't you think it is offensive to the caucasian and indian women whose 'hair' you were all the time thereby hiding your real hair in order to pretend to have caucasian hair. is it offensive? or is it being experimental?

'let he without sin... and those who live in glass houses... '

Yankeenaijababe said...

@Linda

Funny I was watching this on CNN this morning, what a shame when society behaves this way. They are just plain ignorant knowing a black woman could have represented the model. So annoying when french vogue behave in this manner.

Tatababe said...

I seriously think it's just artistic....

O.A.Eddy said...

Why not just hire a black model. Nothing artistic about it. Just plain racist to me.
It is a fact that black models are some of the least represented races on fashion catwalks but still a magazine decides that they will paint a white model black. Just looking back to the olden days when they used black face for white actors because nobody wanted to see a real black person on television, shows you that there is nothing artistic about it, not then and not now. It is just plain racism.

Iyaeto said...

I call it annoying nonsense!!
All in the name of seeking attention . It would be really nice if Ebony/jet mag could paint an African in white or pink paint and use it as a cover for one of their editions.

Anonymous said...

ask their faahion editor...he must have an explanation which may sound right or wrong...then, we can pick up the tails of the gist...we're getting wobbled here.

Anonymous said...

No really we shld not start the talk of racism...They are just cheap and stupid because if they really need a black model y not pay for her to model instead of painitng a person black...And yah Black has always been beautiful...

LoLu said...

Experiments? Creativity? I guess they could have painted a black model white too. yes!
Its something they must plan on doing very often so this is just a test-water I guess.
Its ok to me. As far as they are able to say this is a white model painted black, No troubles. Afterall, how many times have we as black women tried to 'become white'?

Really cool layout u got here Linda.

Anonymous said...

I have mixed feelings about this. Sometimes, you have to know people's motives, maybe they are discriminating or they are just been artistic. Maybe they don't want black models, and thought why not be creative here. Everything is not black and white.

One thing I'm also learning sometimes the obvious doesn't mean anything, but the less obvious are the ones that are actually implying something. Basically, painting a white body to a black body might not be implying racial discrimination.

mag duru said...

linda, its utter disrespectful and insensitive for the sake of fashion or money.
wake up!

Anonymous said...

enuf with d racist comments! u already no wer i stand.

Anonymous said...

Yep all this f*&K8ng minorities know that the black race is the ruler of all(blastmode)

Anonymous said...

I think we as a world have got this whole color thing completely wrong, for a start, no body is truly black, we are simply people of dark complexion or others are a people of lighter complexion, nobody is black, get it people, i am not offended, if they dare try painting her brown, then we go enter the same trouser.

Anonymous said...

in d world that we live in, with the issue black people have with beauty, with slave trade and with the way black people have been looked down upon since time immemorial this was ignorant and done in bad taste...

If we lived in an Equalitarian society then maybe we would have looked at this from an artistic view...but till then this was done in bad taste

@Ifeoma Odogwu...u for real?

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