the SHOPPE: Really a Blackface? Really?

"French Vogue does blackface: Since when is this OK?" This is the title of the article on Yahoo referencing French Vogue's October issue set to honor Supermodels minus the appearance of the many Black Supermodels within the fashion industry. Instead, Dutch model Lara Stone poses in a 14-page spread in blackface. If you're not familiar with blackface, take a look at wikipedia.com where they classified it as a former theater method that portrays Blacks as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon". No matter how you look at it, theatrical or not, its just plain offensive, ridiculous and straight foolery. It depicts a portion of our American History that I thought we were past; Silly me, I guess I've been delusional.... But ummm, what is the purpose?

Seriously though, there is NO other way to honor Supermodels? or Better yet, how does this even honor Supermodels at all? There is an enormously fine line of being edgy, unique and even, controversial and something tells me that this is what French Vogue was going for - But at what cost? We all know for ages that Blacks, African Americans, etc. have been made a mockery of but what baffles me is that despite this ....Fashion has ALWAYS shunned such ideas and has always looked at all races as sources of beauty. Despite the racial barriers, black supermodels have still existed and have set the precedence for the models we have today. See Naomi Campbell, Veronica Webb, Tyra Banks. Be that as it may....Its frickin 2009! It is not slavery times and when will enough be enough? From portrayals of the Jackson 5 in blackface, racial slurs from known politicians and DJ's, to Pornos that emulate our Black president - there is a fine line of 'edgy'. I have the crazy idea that if Essence or "O" magazine announced a "White Trash" issue, those magazines would be torn apart by CNN, MSNBC and definitely, FOX AND I would even suggest that they would be closed down for business that following day. Why? Because that's offensive.

While the photos are by no means depicted in a negative way, it still comes down to being offensive. I'm just baffled at why this would even seem okay for that very reason. This decision totally makes me think of the "Really?" skit from SNL. But seriously, with all the black models that could have depicted other famous black supermodels, why did the final cut come down to this?


What's your take?

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Written By: Autty
theautty@ourbloc.com
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