Oh-Uh Uh: How to NOT do diversity courtesy of Elle Magazine



It looks like Elle Magazine is, once again, in serious hot water for pretty blatant ignorance.

In a move to appear diverse and inclusive, ElleGermany declared that "Black is back," on their most recent cover, referring to what Elle deemed to be a resurgence of Black models. The article written about these Black Models featured Joan Smalls (a Puerto Rican supermodel who was ranked the number one model in the world in 2012) among models Anok Yai (21), Adut Akech (19), Mayowa Nicholas (21), Aliet Sarah (18), and Janaye Furman (24).

Of course, people quickly caught wind of the BS. Diet Prada posted on their Instagram Tuesday of ElleGermany's headlines "Back to Black." and the ensuing article. Interestingly enough, despite ElleGermany's bold (and pretty vapid) inference that Black people are "back" in style (as if Black people were the latest trend), there is clearly a White model on the cover. And, if none of this was enough, inside the magazine, Naomi Chin Wing was misidentified as Janaye Furman. In response, Furman uploaded a video of her sipping a cup of tea on Instagram.
Not a good look, @ellegermany . For their November 2019 issue, the presumably white-led publication declares that “black is back”. Ironic when they, along with much of the fashion industry, have been complicit in denying visibility to black models until relatively recently. Oh, and apparently they can’t actually tell models apart. In the bottom middle, a picture of @naomichinwing is used in place of @iam_janaye . And @joansmalls has been around for a minute/hasn’t gone anywhere lmao. The issue, titled “Back to Black”, also features a white model on the cover. You can’t make this stuff up! • #elle #ellemagazine #ellegermany #naomichinwing #janayefurman #models #blackmodels #modelsofcolor #runway #fashionweek #fashionmonth #pfw #nyfw #mfw #lfw #paris #london #milan #nyc #wtf #fail #magazine #print #editorial #editor #editorinchief #media #sabinenedelchev #dietprada
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On that same page where Elle Germany clearly misidentified Furman, text reads "Beautiful, successful, committed: Models of Color were never in demand as they are now. But these great women also inspire us off the catwalks."

Let's review:

Elle Germany releases its latest copy of their magazine, a magazine that had to go through the hands of numerous professionals for edits and review. The cover, which was supposed to be celebrating Black Women who model features a White model.
The cover line "Back To Black" presents Blackness, not as ethnicity to be equally valued or a collection of cultures to be celebrated, but as a trend.
The actual written on these models uses insulting and, quite frankly, very poorly informed language about the history of Black models.
The article written on these models who "women also inspire us off the catwalks" misidentifies one of the models the writer was actually inspired by.

Conclusion:

This cover line and ensuing article reduces the ethnicity and culture of the same women it was supposed to be celebrating to a mere trend, and thus shows the entire editorial staff of Elle Germany to be ignorant and guilty of upholding white supremacy.
Of course, the magazine has since responded. This past Wednesday, Elle Germany responded, saying "In our current issue we are approaching the color [B]lack from different angles. As one of the topics, it was our aim to feature strong [B]lack women who work as models for the fashion industry. In doing so, we have made several mistakes for which we apologize to anyone we might have hurt. It was a mistake to use the cover line ‘Back to Black’ which could be understood as if [B]lack persons would be a kind of fashion trend. This obviously wasn't our intention and it was our mistake not to be more sensitive about this." penned Sabine Nedelchev, editor-in-chief of Elle Germany.

But these types of blunders are less about hurt feelings and more about held standards. Feelings do not dictate right or wrong and Sabine Nedelchev and her staff would do better to not focus on the feelings they may have hurt but rather their own ignorance that is not immortalized in print form. Of all of the protocol and procedures, magazines must go through to even make it to print, misspellings are rarely a thing, let alone an entire ignorant and tone-deaf piece on Black models being back in style.

Black models have been coveted since Donyale Luna appeared in Vogue in 1966. You cannot be in fashion or pretend to know anything about models without knowing the names of Pat Clevland, Beverly Johnson, Helen Williams, Bethann Hardison, Iman, Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, just to name a few. 

Elle, especially Elle Germany, needs to do better.

Elle 
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