Disco Africa, Hallowood, and the ugly problem with Blackface

As I've said before, I love halloween, and, obviously as you can see from this blog, I love fashion. So you would think I would be excited when the 2 collide at a who's who of fashion halloween party, right? 

I mean look at these gorgeous costumes! These photos were taken by Zhanna Romashka. 

Well, unfortunately, these are the best looks of the night and the rest are anything but fabulous. 

Here is Stefano Gabbana (yeah...of Dolce and Gabbana) next to a blackface wearing Allessandro Dell'Acqua. Yeah, really, blackface. 

I first read this story from the Jennine Jacob, founder of the Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB), article, Off Topic: Fashion Insiders' "Disco Africa" Insensitive to Both History and Current Events, discussing the now infamous Halloween party held in Italy this past weekend. 

Classy...

Fashion Bomb Daily  (FBD) went in even further detail, showing a plethora of the professional and Instagrammed photos from the party.

Writer of FBD, Claire, explains blackface, saying "Blackface is antiquated, has been deemed controversial across the board, and is racially insensitive. It is steeped in a negative history, pointing back to a time in American history when blacks were considered 3/5th of a human being–unfit to represent themselves, so white actors took the lead (at first), painting their skin brown and propagating some of the most pernicious and dehumanizing stereotypes of black people at the time (minstrel shows characterized blacks as lazy, superstitious, and buffoonish)."

Claire further says "That this whole party was full of people in blackface shows a startling predomination of ignorance, abetted by fashion designers and insiders we admire. We are not moving forward people, we are moving backwards."

Even the Huffington Post is sounding off. The 1st sentence of Julee Wilson piece says "When will people understand that blackface is highly offensive and unacceptable? Not anytime soon if this past weekend's fresh crop of racially insensitive getups is any indication."

The tragedy in all of this is that these are the tops of the fashion industry, the heads of the design house we respect and admire. If they feel that this behavior is appropriate, no matter where they are from, Italy or not, then maybe we should feel it appropriate to cease in purchasing from these design houses. We can only get so angry, rant and rave on social media, and then when it isn't a popular topic, forget that it even happened...or, we could put our money where our mouths are and stop supporting those who think that this behavior is ok.

What gets me further riled is that these are fashion's bigwigs, supposedly the most creative minds in the industry. Yet they couldn't think of a costume that would reflect that creativity? I mean c'mon! There are so many beautiful ideas that come to mind when I think of Africa. The animals alone would give you plenty to work with. Be a giraffe, a cheetah, an antelope, a friggin lion! The zebra and bird above are stunning, right?  

But no, instead, offend an entire diaspora (and God knows how many others) and further stereotypes? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea...well done.

Sidenote: I really hope there is at least one month I can go without writing one piece on race. 

Thoughts?