Numero Magazine Puts
White Model in Blackface
for ‘African Queen’ Spread
(Pics)
February 27, 2013 by
*French fashion magazine Numero decided to celebrate African beauty in its March issue, complete with its featured model alongside the title, “African Queen.”
The model, however, is a white girl…in blackface. In fact, she’s in blackbody, with dark makeup covering all of her exposed skin.
Needless to say, social media lit up with reaction Tuesday.
“This is offensive and it is done in poor taste. It’s sending the message that ‘We celebrate African beauty … just without any Africans,” Kay Clarke wrote on Facebook.
Fashion blog Styleite pointed out this isn’t the first time Numero has “blurred racial lines.” In 2010 the mag published photos featuring white model Constance Jablonski also with darkened skin, wearing a series of afro wigs and posing with a black baby.
The “African Queen” spread in Numero’s March issue features blond-haired, blue-eyed Ondria Hardin, a 16-year-old model from North Carolina who looks like this when she’s not in blackface…
Ondria Hardin, shot by Raymond Meier for Teen Vogue (February 2012 issue)
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Fashion veteran
Bethann Hardison
on Numéro ‘African Queen’
blackface controversy
The "African Queen" spread, as discussed by Bethann Hardison, fashion legend. (Photos, left, Sebastian Kim, right, Getty Images)
Fashion legend Bethann Hardison saw it as a call to action when she learned of the controversy swirling around Numéro magazine’s spread featuring a white model in bronze make-up so deep, many called it blackface.
The editorial, called “African Queen,” unleashed a firestorm of disappointment online across fashion and news blogs, with users lamenting that a black model was not cast in an editorial that seemed perfectly suited for someone of African descent.
“You don’t use the terminology ‘African Queen,’” Hardison agreed about the backlash. “It normally goes towards someone definitively of a certain color.” (Both Numero magazine and the photographer who shot the images have since released apologies for the photos.)
For some, the French glossy’s March 2013 spread is a perfect illustration of what some perceive as fashion’s ongoing insensitivity to race. Yet the modeling world veteran — famous for championing diversity in fashion for decades — sees reactions to this editorial as a sign that models of color might once again need her support.
“Before all this happened, I knew it was time for me to get back on post, so to speak. To get my army and go back into the battle,” Hardison told theGrio in a phone interview after returning to New York City from the Oscars. “I knew that, because I got statistics about what was happening.”
As the numbers Hardison alluded to show, black models represented only six percent of all who walked at the most recent New York City Fashion Week, according to a report by Jezebel.com. This is a decline from over eight percent last season. Latina models? Two percent. White models dominated the runways at a rate of almost 83 percent.
“I find it very, very sad that we are still battling this industry,” Hardison said. “As soon as I take my foot off the pedal, then the car starts slowing down again.”
According this ’60s-era catwalker, bookers used to openly send notices outlining that “no blacks/no ethnics” were to be sent for consideration during a period ranging from 1996-2006. In 2007 Hardison held a symposium – the first of its kind in a series – to unite huge figures in fashion to end the exclusion experienced by many models of color at the time.
Hardison credits her efforts with eradicating this de facto ban.
She took a break from this cause in recent years — in part to develop a documentary about fashion’s diversity problem – but the Numéro incident is re-kindling her quest.
“I get mad that we are not a constant, permanent fixture. I feel like somebody’s pinched me,” Hardison said. “The more I see it, I want to just understand — why is that? You can’t tell me you still want to have 35 girls, and they all be white, or one black.”
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As a casting agent and modeling agency owner, she has witnessed a careless tokenism that harms the industry’s appraisal of all black women even when such models are sought for a show.
“Sometimes a creative director will be pushing me to just book a black girl. I won’t just book a black girl, because she’s black. And I wish a lot of people wouldn’t do that,” Hardison said, “because you’re not making it better for us. You’ve got to put a girl out there that people cannot deny is equal to her white counterpart. It’s a struggle. The market doesn’t yield, so it’s hard to bring in more than is needed.”
Numéro’s “African Queen” spread and the resulting debates about fashion and race are providing Hardison with “fuel” for her “fire” to continue searching for models of color, battering narrow beauty standards. One of her goals is to make fashion insiders take responsibility for diversity. Because consistent diversity on the runways enhances fashion for everyone, including models of every color, Hardison will be unyielding in her pursuit of justice.
“For me, I’m fighting for the fashion model in general, because I believe the fashion model is no longer that anymore,” Hardison elaborated. “She’s just somebody who walks up and down the runway. She’s no longer the girls we used to be. And there’s no longer the relationship between the fashion model and the designer, as it used to be, which really encouraged the spirit of the model.”
We can expect Hardison to be back on her megaphone promoting this message, applying public pressure on images makers behind spreads like “African Queen” to be more aware of the choices they are making.
For this grande dame of fashion, the situation is dire.
“We have no f**king choice,” she asserted with a touch of sardonic laughter. “You can put that in and keep it… At the end of the day, you still have this. It’s like the most un-modern situation.”
Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb
>via: http://thegrio.com/2013/03/01/fashion-veteran-bethann-hardison-on-numero-afri...
__________________________
What Numéro Magazine’s
Apology For ‘African Queen’
In Blackface Actually Meant
By
Numéro Magazine has now apologized for their “African Queen” fashion spread where they used a White American model, Ondria Hardin, painted in blackface. Even though the model is from theFord Models agency, where there are a plethora of models to choose from who have Black faces that don’t need painting.
Must Read: French Fashion Magazine Puts White Model In ‘African Queen’ Blackface
Now here’s the thing, the apology doesn’t evoke any real sense of regret, in my opinion. Their words are carefully (minus the grammatical errors) placed in such a way, that reading between the lines was quite simple. Check out their apology below and what they really meant.
“The artistic statement of the photographer Sebastian Kim, author of this editorial, is in line with his previous photographic creations, which insist on the melting pot and the mix of cultures, the exact opposite of any skin color based discrimination.”
Translation: See, it’s not our fault. The photographer was the one who came up with this concept. He’s done it before (even though you can’t find it on his site). Can’t you see how much it represents a melting pot of culture? Come on now!
“Numéro has always supported the artistic freedom of the talented photographers who work with the magazine to illustrate its pages, and has not took part in the creation process of this editorial.”
Translation: Again, our magazine had nothing to do with this spread. We just published it.
“For its part, Numéro Magazine, which has the utmost respect for this photographer’s creative work, firmly excludes that the latest may have had, at any moment, the intention to hurt readers’ sensitivity, whatever their origin.”
Translation: Ok, so that part we take responsibility for–you know–the publishing, we’re sorry for that. It was only Sebastian’s ideas coming to life.
“Numéro Magazine considers that it has regularly demonstrated its deep attachment to the promotion of different skin-colored models. For instance, the next issue of Numéro for Man on sale on 15th march has the black model Fernando Cabral on the cover page, and the current Russian edition’s cover of our magazine features the black model Naomi Campbell on its cover.”
Translation: We love models of all colors, which is why we have a Black model on the March issue and oh Naomi Campbell–the queen of the Black models–as the cover of our Russian edition. See what we did there?
“This demonstrates the completely inappropriate nature of the accusations made against our magazine, deeply committed to the respect for differences, tolerance and more generally to non-discrimination.”
Translation: We don’t discriminate against any models of color. We could have chosen a Black model, but then you guys wouldn’t be talking about us.
Oh and if that wasn’t enough, the photographer that Numéro is blaming, Sebastian Kim has also issued an apology via Huffington Post. And in his, Kim mentioned not wanting to portray a Black woman, but instead inspired by Middle Eastern & Moroccan culture. Oh, right. That makes sense because the women in the Middle East are Black.
Then he claims to not have known about the “African Queen” title, but Numéro is pointing the finger at Kim. They are both apologizing by blaming it on each other. Check out Kim’s apology here:
“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.”
Sincerely,
Sebastian Kim
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