The current edition of Elle magazine includes a series of ads by L'Oréal.
One of the ads features Beyoncé Knowles pitching a Féria hair-highlighting product. The image has clearly been digitally manipulated to make Beyoncé's skin tone appear well ... paler. Much paler. Like a white woman even.
The transition from Beyoncé's natural skin shade to the ghostly blonde in the ad, could only have been achieved by design. It was clearly deliberate.
A L'Oréal spokesperson denied that the company had digitally altered Beyoncé's complexion.
It wouldn't be the first time fashion mags and agencies have been accused of lowering the visibility of models with darker complexions. Naomi Campbell has accused the industry of being racist: "Women of color are not a trend. That's the bottom line."
Shevelle Rhule, fashion and beauty editor of Pride magazine, isn't surprised by the ad:
"We know that this is fairly common practice but that doesn't make it excusable.
"This sort of thing creates a negative perception of African beauty. It's an attempt to impose European values on African beauty and the two simply don't mix in this way. A lot of young black girls out there, who look up to Beyoncé as a role model, will be disheartened to see these images. We need to challenge the idea that being fair necessarily means being more attractive. It doesn't, and models who are proud to be black need to be more in vogue."
Discrimination, subtle and not-so-subtle, can be found throughout the industry. Maya Schulz, managing director of Acclaim models, claims she has had difficulty placing black models. The prejudice extends to designers. Schulz quotes one as saying: 'black people don't suit my clothes.'
The L'Oréal ad appears to be catering to aesthetic preconceptions and prejudices. You could argue that it might simply have been an artistic choice to go with the overall lighter look, and nothing to do with racial considerations. It's just that people familiar with biases in the fashion world will suspect a subtle racism at work when Beyoncé's natural skin shade morphs from ten to zero with no degrees in-between.
It wouldn't be the first time fashion mags and agencies have been accused of lowering the visibility of models with darker complexions. Naomi Campbell has accused the industry of being racist: "Women of color are not a trend. That's the bottom line."
Shevelle Rhule, fashion and beauty editor of Pride magazine, isn't surprised by the ad:
"We know that this is fairly common practice but that doesn't make it excusable.
"This sort of thing creates a negative perception of African beauty. It's an attempt to impose European values on African beauty and the two simply don't mix in this way. A lot of young black girls out there, who look up to Beyoncé as a role model, will be disheartened to see these images. We need to challenge the idea that being fair necessarily means being more attractive. It doesn't, and models who are proud to be black need to be more in vogue."
Discrimination, subtle and not-so-subtle, can be found throughout the industry. Maya Schulz, managing director of Acclaim models, claims she has had difficulty placing black models. The prejudice extends to designers. Schulz quotes one as saying: 'black people don't suit my clothes.'
The L'Oréal ad appears to be catering to aesthetic preconceptions and prejudices. You could argue that it might simply have been an artistic choice to go with the overall lighter look, and nothing to do with racial considerations. It's just that people familiar with biases in the fashion world will suspect a subtle racism at work when Beyoncé's natural skin shade morphs from ten to zero with no degrees in-between.
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