Hey Guys!
So today I randomly revisited a Clutch Magazine article I interviewed for called “Are Black Fashion Bloggers Being Ignored?,” and saw that comments had exploded!
While some readers felt blogs like Street Etiquette, Jazzi Mc G, and the Fashion Bomb were definitely being thrown some shade, others accused ethnic blogs of reverse racism.
One person named Malwi said, “Well, if Black fashion blog owners don’t want to be overlooked, maybe they should stop catering to Black community only? Fashion Bomb writes about things that only involve Black people, Black models, Black celebs. That is racist. And “White” blogs cater to everyone!”
As I said in the article, I majored in African American studies, and prefer to feature people of color because that’s what interests me. Then again, can we really complain about Vogue not having diversity if we don’t either?
What are your thoughts? Should we mix it up?
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the Change you Want to See in the World.” But I’ll leave it up to you F Bombers…
March 15, 2010 4:20 pm
I have seen this argument before but people should go back to the reason why black media was created and that was because no one would feature us. I think calling it racism is a bit ironic esp since we still have to fight to get on runways etc. When its “for us by us” there is always an issue but the last time I read lucky,MC, elle and allure I still barely found one face that resembled my own.
March 15, 2010 4:39 pm
I wholeheartedly disagree with Malwi’s statement that “white” blogs cater to everyone! I think that they cater exclusively to a very “white” audience. I’m Southeast Asian, and when it comes to fashion journalism, even though I’m not black, I much prefer to read articles from The Fashion Bomb because I identify much more with its subject material, angles, and practical advice than with anything that I see in blogs and magazines that feature blonde, blue-eyed poster girls, as previous commenter Lish pointed out. I also find that “white” fashion media upholds a standard of beauty that is relatively narrow and limited to specific body types, hair types and bone structure, whereas you can find many more different kinds of beauty on blogs like The Fashion Bomb.
March 15, 2010 4:43 pm
I agree with Lish! All media outlets need diversity or the news becomes old. There are only a handful of sites that are devoted to us. The mainstream media and fashion magazines feature african americans and people of color in general very seldomly. I applaud women like you Claire, who created a place for young women of color to feel at home. There is nothing wrong with focusing on our people but also integrating some of the other fashion news and celebrity information that are focused on the main stream. I created a “blogazine” to do just that; focus on multicultural emerging designers but also giving my readers a taste of the main stream. It’s a win, win!
March 15, 2010 5:40 pm
This is an interesting topic. I think the real issue is that black women are not saying what they really want, let me explain.
nycshoediva said: ” There are only a handful of sites that are devoted to us.” ……
who is us? us as in black women or us as in a diverse group of women including women of other ethnicity’s. Also note that black people are a very diverse group of people .
If black women just want sites dedicated to them then that is not diversity nor should black women be using the term diversity if they just want an outlet to soley focus on them. Now let me state this before someone jumps on my tail, there is nothing wrong if you want the spotlight to be focused on you . The only problem is that we can’t ask web sites that mainly focus on white people to include us and then in return not included them on ours, it’s only creating a double standard regardless if people like or not.
What’s also interesting is that I created a blog called beauty is diverse and yet none of the bigger black bloggers have profiled my blog I spend a very long time show casing models of various ethnic backgrounds. And It leads me to think that most people who are complaining about the lack of diversity (including black bloggers) don’t really want diversity they just want the light focused on black women . And if that is what black women want then they should “openly” state it.
The reason why I created the blog is so that people have an outlet to see the models of African/Caribbean/Asian/Indian descent work being showcased.
@Lish “. I think calling it racism is a bit ironic esp since we still have to fight to get on runways etc.”
Hey Lish I want to share something that I don’t think many people know. Walking the runways does always bring in a gigantic salary for models, also there are different types of modelling within modelling which we should all know because Tyra Banks has taught us this via her show. Example Arlenis Sosa didn’t do any shows this Paris Fashion Week (only a special arrangement) so many may be thinking that she wasn’t booked because of her skin which is false because many of the black models or better term Caribbean/African/Asian models were booked for this season. Arlenis is a brand ambassador for Lancome which means she makes way more money landing a contract then for her to spend all day at shows and make a few thousand vs a contract with a huge makeup company which will give her several hundred thousands and in a few years millions.
A friend of mine is a model and is signed with Elite Model Management in Toronto she use to do Toronto Fashion Week but she doesn’t bother to any more because she prefers to do editorials and ads and gets paid way more money for her time at a photo shoot vs being at a show. I just want to point that out so people understand that some models actually make the choice not to walk and its not a decision based on race for why they aren’t walking.
” I read lucky,MC, elle and allure I still barely found one face that resembled my own”
This has to do with target market I have the figures on who buys and purchases these magazines I didn’t find a breakdown on race for magazine buyers but the information it clearly shows that the target market for most of these magazine are white women.
Sorry for the long response but I just want people to have the right facts instead of always using race as the reason why something doesn’t go someones way.
March 15, 2010 5:44 pm
” does always” * should be – doesn’t always. sorry for the typo
March 15, 2010 5:59 pm
I don’t see the problem with The Fashion bomb catering to a black audience. In the subtext underneath the logo it says “All urban…All the time” This blog catches the attention of women of color: latinas, black, Middle eastern, etc. Why would we need to apologize for the fact that we are trying to cater to a certain audience. There’s not always just black celebrities, black models, black fashion, on here. Most of the designers are white. There’s nothing wrong with the current setup of things.
March 15, 2010 6:55 pm
“. Why would we need to apologize for the fact that we are trying to cater to a certain audience. ”
Claire doesn’t have to apologize your correct but guess what all the websites that cater to white women don’t have to apologize either.
That’s the missing link that people keep ignoring target market/target audience. Everyone has a target audience/market and white people have the right to target to white people wheter they are from Europe or America, Australia , etc. Just like black people have the right to target a black audience whether they are from America, Caribbean, Africa , Europe etc.
March 15, 2010 9:17 pm
There is no need for the Fashion Bomb to “intergrate”. Many other fashion blogs only have one ethnic face ever and that is Beyonce or Rihanna. Those two ladies, although talented/stylish, do not represent all women of color. Although I don’t purchase magazines any more, many Black women do buy Allure,Elle, and Vogue. If I am not represented then I will not purchase these editorials or visit such sites. The world is diverse, but I rarely see it depicted in the media. The Bomb showcases women of color that do not receive shine elsewhere. I don’t see the problem…it’s as if Essence should put Maggie Gylenhal on the cover. Yeah… that sounds about right.
March 15, 2010 9:38 pm
I don’t think anyone owes anyone an apology. if you don’t feature African American models then who else will? none of the major fashion magazines or avenues are pushing the issue, so you have to celebrate your own people. nothing wrong with that at all.
on the other hand we cannot fought editors who aren’t on the same page. hopefully, one day we’ll be able to celebrate diversity across all brands but we do live in America, so I’m not looking forward to that anytime soon
March 15, 2010 10:49 pm
@ Tiffany
Your argument is extremely flawed. Yes, there are target markets and demographics for magazines, but these are primarily used for advertising dollars, not “Allure/Vogue/Harper’s Bazaar are for white women”–it more along the lines of “white women are more likely to have the money to purchase the products advertised, so let’s frame the magazine around that group” which is patently false.
Now let’s take Allure as an example: they are a beauty magazine focusing on cosmetics, cosmetic procedures, hair care, and fragrance. Now, fragrances and most cosmetic procedures can be used by people of all ethnicities, but cosmetics and hair care? The hottest trends in eye shadow, lipstick, blush, etc does not look the same on women of color, and magazines like Allure tend to use white models to showcase cosmetics. The casual reader who happens to be a woman of color, who isn’t too secure in her eye for color, looks at these photos and knows she can’t replicate them on her own face. And hair–that is a trip. Usually, magazines focus on short hair, long hair, curly hair, and color-treated hair, and the “curly hair” tends to be a model of obvious biracial ancestry–how is that relevant for a black woman, particularly when it’s possible to have a myriad of hair textures on one head!
As for fashion, while we all have different body shapes, I nonetheless love to see high fashion on darker complexions because nine times out of ten, it looks completely different than on a white or light-complected model.
For the most part, we need “ethnic” bloggers focusing on “ethnic” fashion, hair care, and beauty because mainstream blogs and magazines only deal with the superficial aspects of the beauty and fashion regimes for women of color (cue my mention of the “curly-haired” models for curly hair products). And the lack of diversity is not because we have “our own,” but because the mainstream doesn’t need to be truly diverse when white is considered the default standard of beauty that everyone looks to.
March 16, 2010 2:33 am
i think you should keep YOUR blog the way YOU want to keep it. other blogs do the exact same thing you’re doing–except they feature only white people/designers/models/whatever. Yet, little is said about them. It’s not racist to showcase a type of people that is rarely showcased. It is enlightening.
March 16, 2010 2:56 am
I’m a white girl from Australia and I frequent a bunch of different fashion blogs including The Fashion Bomb because I love to get a look at the broad spectrum of what’s going on in the fashion world (also because it’s such a great blog. Always fun and interesting!) I’m a curvy girl, and I find that a lot of blogs don’t cater to that, so I love coming to The Fashion Blog from time to time because it doesn’t only cater to one body type. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re a fashion enthusiast, you can probably find something that caters to you in most blogs, regardless of colour (’cause that’s how we spell it down under) :D
March 16, 2010 3:03 am
Clearly, if “White blogs are for everyone” they would fulfill the needs of the Black community and we wouldn’t need to have this discussion. This “black blogs are racist” argument is clearly just a distraction from the bigger issue- black bloggers (and readers) being ignored. Point blank. Period.
In regards to what you should do in the future with this blog? As far as I know, after reading this blog for a while, you do not claim to represent every aspect of fashion, you strive to specifically represent urban fashion. As long as you continue to do that, I am pleased.
March 16, 2010 6:11 am
There is a distinction to be made between blogs and magazines – I tend not to be overly critical about blogs primarily because I am not having to pay to access them, which is not the case with magazines, and when I pay for something, I want it to reflect my values. Now, it is a totally flawed logic presented by Tiffany that magazines that feature predominantly white models or industry players should not be put under pressure to integrate because ethnic magazines also do not integrate.
First, most of the ethnic magazines were created to cover a gap in the market where fashion and lifestyle magazines were failing to use ethnic models or fashion topics relevant to ethnic peoples. I personally don’t even believe it has to be half-half white and ethnic models, as the ethnic population in most western countries is still a minorty.
Which brings me to the second point: as a minority section of the population, it is important to have distinct publications where we (and our issues) are featured as a priority; this is where I think the market for specific ethnic magazines should be. In countries where a specific ethnicity is a majority (eg Japan, China and India where Asians are a majority) they’re fortunate enough to have versions of popular fashion magazines that predominantly use models of that ethnicity. But for black people globally, there are no versions of popular fashion magazines where we are sufficiently represented.
Third, and most importantly, this issue actually relates to a very narrow group of magazines (Vogue, Elle, Marie-Claire, Glamour, Allure etc) but many other contemporary fashion and lifestyle magazines (I-D, POP, NYLON etc) as well as sports magazines feature a larger variety of models (in terms of ethnicity and even body shape), which hasn’t hurt them in terms of advertising revenue and circulation. So the real losers in this are Vogue, Elle etc who are failing to exploit a growing demographic.
Lastly ( I promose) I’ve found that even amongst my white, asian etc friends, they find most magazines don’t represent the increased multicultural environment in which they live, where their fashion and make-up views are informed by what people of other ethnicities do. So I don’t think white people aren’t as insular as Vogue, Elle, Marie-Claire, Allure etc would have you think,
March 16, 2010 7:06 am
@ Angela take the time to reseach the actual demographic for Vogue/Allure/Elle and you’ll realize that the main demographic is white women. I don’t understand why people refuse to understand that when the facts are on the internet , at least i’m not in denial about it. :)
March 16, 2010 8:55 am
I believe that as bloggers we mostly talk about what is relevent to us. I am a bbw, my blog talks mostly about fat fashion and plus size stores. I am white so when I discuss products, it’s ones I use. Then I am Canadian, so when I talk events, I talk about the ones in my surroundings, in Montreal.
Does this make me racist? I sure think not!
I enjoy reading different blogs and can find beauty in different fashion blogs, not only the ones that represent me.
March 16, 2010 10:18 am
Greetings from Amsterdam. I used to be on whowhatwear daily but they just didn’t feature enough black models to keep me entertained. At the end of the day, I want to see model who look like me, with my complexion for a better feel of how certain colors and clothes would look on me. Black blogs were needed because white fashion blogs just aren’t diverse enough. I don’t think you’re being rascist at all. You’re just targeting your core audience who don’t really have any blogs to go to. Why should you feature more white model, etc? They have inStyle, they have Vogue, they have Elle and a bunch of other sites.
March 16, 2010 10:50 am
I like the Fashion Bomb just the way it is. However, I did wonder during the fashion weeks why I was seeing Bryan Boy and Tavi in front row seats of all the huge designers and not Claire, when I learned of both bloggers from this very site! I don’t think you should change the site. Let what’s for us be for us, if they don’t like it they have an ‘X’ in the top right-hand corner.
March 16, 2010 2:54 pm
this is a blog and you can cater to or focus on whatever it is that YOU want to focus on! I appreciate your target audience being urban because there really aren’t many other sites that showcase women of color in its entirety! SOME OF US APPRECIATE YOU AND THE FASHION BOMB!!! THANKS FOR THE ATTENTION WOMEN OF COLOR DESERVE!
March 16, 2010 9:20 pm
SO NOW YOU WANT 2 CHANGE BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE TOLD YOU 2. DONT BE FAKE. DO YOU CLARE
March 17, 2010 1:13 am
A blog is an opinion. Blogs are based on experience and perceptive. The Fashion Bomb is an “urban” blog however designers, models and fashions are highlighted from every ethnic group.
If anyone thinks Claire is a racist he or she should read a history book. The world is too politically correct. No one can have an opinion anymore because someone will be offended. The term “racist” is used too commonly. Claire has never disrespected anyone. Bottom line if you don’t like the contents of her blog, don’t read it! You have a choice.
I read the other comments and Claire has a lot of white readers. I appreciated Shante’s response. She is a white plus size woman but related to the Fashion Bomb because it highlights plus size fashion.
The fashion industry has a lot of prejudices:race, plus size, shorter heights, etc. So if people want to address one prejudices lets address them all!
I am a Belizean woman by heritage but American by birth. I am light skin with curly black hair. 5’2 and a size 10. The other blogs don’t cater to me but the Fashion Bomb does!
March 17, 2010 2:25 am
I really enjoy your website, stumbled upon it while living in Germany, I now live in California and continue to read your blog, my website is http://www.stylekandie.com something that your readers can also enjoy. Your blog is positive and embraces all sizes and beauty, that’s a wonderful thing.
March 17, 2010 4:29 am
Tiffany your just making yourself sound even more ludacris, first of all take a look at japanese vogue or chinnese vogue, tell me what you see in there. Yes thats right mostly white models!!!!
March 17, 2010 4:33 am
ah that comment was directed towards tipica
March 17, 2010 9:36 am
I like it the way it is, I still go to style.com but I want to be affirmed in my beauty too. Do what interests you,its your blog!
March 17, 2010 11:51 am
“White” blogs cater to everyone!” – Bwahahahahahaha!!!! I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life. If that were the case, we’d all be very very very happy. Kumbaya everybody! Oh please. Point is, that person needs to take a sociology or history or any other social science course before talking about “reverse racism”.
March 18, 2010 3:16 pm
Most mainstream blogs can basically be considered white because that is their assumed readership that they cater to (agreed that they do offer token women of colour every month or so… Rih Rih or Beyonce). That The Fashion Bomb “reverse racist” is silly; if it were racist, call it so, and if it were racist to focus exclusively on certain communities of interest to the blogger, it would also imply power in the hands of Claire and the rest of the Fashion Bomb team, which is not the case. Power and influence lie in the hands of white corporate interests that publish Vogue, that can pay and choose models for runways and print, and that’s what racism is, it’s a SYSTEM.
I’m an Asian American woman (and an Ethnic Studies major) and I read FB because these are the clothes, women, and lifestyle that are mine. Simple as that.
March 19, 2010 8:29 pm
I read blogs on a daily basis that do not feature a variety of ethnicities or colors. I read them because I like the content, even if it is black, white, or asian. Plenty of bloggers that are not of color are popular and do not feature an array of races. We certainly shouldn’t have too. I appreciate blogs such as the fashion bomb who create an outlet for us that we can not get elsewhere.