Are you offended by white models posing in blackface pictures? If so, are you also offended by black models or black celebrities in general, for allowing their images to be with lighter skin pigments? Remember the uproar and outrage about Beyonce’s Loreal ads.
Anyway, its second nature for magazines and photographers to lighten the skin of African American people sometimes making them look straight European like the Elle shots of Rihanna I posted yesterday.
Claudia Schiffer is one of the world’s best-loved supermodels, but she’s drawing a firestorm of criticism for her latest magazine cover. The blond stunner is at the center of a racially-charged controversy after a photo of her in “blackface” hit the Internet this month.
In the photo, which was shot by Karl Lagerfeld two years ago as part of an ad campaign for Dom Perignon, Schiffer is disguised in an Afro wig and dark face paint, prompting accusations of insensitivity.
“It shows poor taste and it’s offensive,” Shevelle Rhule, fashion editor at black lifestyle magazine Pride, told U.K.’s Daily Mail. “There are not enough women of color featured in mainstream magazines. This just suggests you can counteract the problem by using white models.”
The photo resurfaced when German magazine Stern Fotografie repurposed the image as one of six hardback covers for its 60th anniversary issue.
The other covers also feature Schiffer in various costumed looks shot by Lagerfeld – as a sexy secretary, a leather-clad cop, Marie Antoinette, and even an Asian woman in a kimono.
Schiffer’s rep defended the series, saying, “The pictures have been taken out of context. The images were designed to reflect different men’s fantasies. The pictures were not intended to offend.”
I don’t see what the big issue is everytime somebody does this.
I’m with u Lady Luv. I appreciate that blacks folks are quick to check folks when they do something racially stupid or insensitive, but this time I don’t see an issue. There is nothing racist about this photo she dressed up like several races of women. Its tastefully done and Claudia looks good as a black woman! Are Asians up in arms about this? Probably not…