British Vogue controversy: Cover featuring Black models criticised for catering to the ‘white gaze’

"All those amazing models represented (finally) and yet, not one wearing natural hair, really?" someone commented.

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Models Akon Changkou and Amar Akway were featured on the cover. (Photos: Instagram/@akonchangkou, @akwayamar_)

People seem to have not taken kindly to Vogue magazine’s latest cover featuring nine Black women, labelling it ‘offensive’. The magazine has also been called out for pandering to the ‘white gaze’. So, what unfurled?

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The British Vogue‘s February issue features nine black models and the cover was recently unveiled on social media. While it is a first for the magazine, it faced criticism for the way the models were dressed and presented, the overall aesthetic of the photo, and also the fact that no one was seen wearing their natural hair.

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“With a new generation of models in the spotlight, fashion is at last embracing what it is to be truly global. The nine models gracing the cover are representative of an ongoing seismic shift that became more pronounced on the SS22 runways; awash with dark-skinned models whose African heritage stretched from Senegal to Rwanda to South Sudan to Nigeria to Ethiopia,” the caption accompanying the photo read.

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“For an industry long criticised for its lack of diversity, as well as for perpetuating beauty standards seen through a Eurocentric lens, this change is momentous,” it continued.

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The photograph has been clicked by Brazilian photographer Rafael Pavarotti who, according to a Daily Mail report, has previously shot Black models in the same fashion. The cover features models Adut Akech, Amar Akway, Majesty Amare, Akon Changkou, Maty Fall, Janet Jumbo, Abény Nhial, Nyagua Ruea and Anok Yai in Balenciaga outfits, styled by British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful OBE.

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Soon after the photos were released, social media users slammed the publication for the way it treated the pictures. “All those amazing models represented (finally) and yet, not one wearing natural hair, really?” one person wrote in the comment section.

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“It’s powerful…but the photo is awful! The background is so gloomy and it’s really not highlighting their beauty!” another person commented.

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“Why isn’t it showing brighter colours and a happy mood? What is this darkness?” someone else wrote, while another person added: “That’s not the real colour of their skin!! And all of them were wearing fake hair. Not really a way to honour them :(”

Interestingly, British Vogue also shared a behind-the-scenes video of the models getting their hair and make-up done, showing their natural skin tones which are lighter and much different than what can be seen on the cover. One social media user wrote, “But their natural hair would have looked 1000000 times better. Plus why did you darken their complexion??? (sic)”

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“So they are not that black,” another person wrote.

Essentially, people questioned the magazine’s need to alter the images and make them look more acceptable to a westerner — meaning, this is perhaps how a White person would look at someone with African heritage.

This, however, is not the first time that Vogue has been pulled up for altering someone’s skin complexion. Last year around this time, when US vice president Kamala Harris was featured by the magazine as their February cover star, some netizens had pointed out that her skin colour was lightened and even her features were photoshopped by the magazine.

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris is on the cover of Vogue’s February issue pic.twitter.com/NGxhyGaoS9

— Couture is Beyond (@CoutureIsBeyond) January 10, 2021

Why’d you lighten her beautiful skin???

— Beth pope (@beth_bethpope) January 10, 2021

Wait that Kamala Vogue cover is real?! I thought it was fake—that’s how bad it is.
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Did they just ask her to send them photos her husband took or

— Imani Debt-Free Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) January 10, 2021

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