14 DAY TRIAL // Dutch model Lara Stone is featured in a 14-page spread in the October issue of French Vogue magazine, in what is meant to be a celebration of the fact that she’s not a size 0. While it might look like the iconic Vogue is joining other publications that have decided to feature models who are more like real women in terms of weight, the spread has ignited quite a fury, as Stone is featured in blackface, the New York Daily News informs.
Vogue is certainly not a stranger to causing a stir, having taken in the past artistic expression to lengths few other publications would ever dare to go to. However, critics wonder whether the latest spread – which doesn’t in the least offer an explanation for the blackface – doesn’t rather verge on racism. The conclusion they seem to have reached so far is that, yes, it does.
“French Vogue has gotten into some more haute controversy. This month’s issue of the fashion magazine features a photoshoot with white supermodel Lara Stone in blackface. No stranger to shocking shoots – it recently featured a faux-pregnant model smoking a cigarette – the magazine enlisted photographer Steven Klein to shoot the 14-page spread, styled by editor Carine Rotifeld. The story that goes along with the photos praises Stone for her ‘radical break with the wave of anorexic models.’” the NY Daily News says.
US fashion blog Jezebel, for instance, labels Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld and photographer Steven Klein as “culturally insensitive” for the spread. “What Klein and Roitfeld should know is that painting white people black for the entertainment of other white people is offensive in ways that stand entirely apart from cultural context.” a post on the site says. As it happens, this is not the only US publication (be it glossy magazine or celebrity blog) that feels the same way.
Yet, fashion is not alone in taking heat for blackface numbers, as we also reported only days ago. Australian variety show “Hey Hey It’s Saturday” featured a group of comedians in blackface posing as Jackson 5 (with another one doing Michael Jackson in white makeup) on one of its most recent editions, much to the indignation of the media in the US and not only.