A new editorial featuring Daria Werbowy called “Let’s Get Lost” in Interview Magazine has fashion website Refinery 29 website crying racism:
Writer Connie Wang says, “From the differences in their dress (Daria’s in ethereal, angel-like gowns, the others are in knits and leathers) to their body language (A limp yet super-sexual Daria is the main focus, the others feel almost like props), the whole spread has a rather racist vibe that we can’t get down with despite the gorgeous art direction of the spread.”
Hmm. I can see how Connie would take issue with Daria’s placement in the midst of a black crowd, but I don’t think racist is quite the word. Racism would assume the photographers and stylists were trying to portray something negative about the black ‘props’ in the background. Though Daria is a bit better dressed than the rest of the bunch, she actually gets the raw end of the deal with her strung out stare and powerless poses.
While she looks drugged out and ‘lost,’ everyone else looks in control–perhaps even in control of her.
Instead of Daria being carried away à la Gisele and Lebron, she almost seems to be asking and yearning for the black man’s attention. Despite her desperate efforts, it’s clear: it’s their party and she’s just the girl who wandered in and slumped backwards over the side of a car, legs ajar.
Daria is the ‘main girl’ in the feature, but that’s about as far as it goes. The differences in skin color are only used for artistic contrast–to beautiful effect.
Racism presumes that one race is superior to another, but I don’t see Daria as superior to anyone in the crowd–she just happens to be the only white girl in the room.
What do you think?
*See more pictures and read Connie’s thoughts here.
*See another black and white contrast with Gisele Bundchen and some very chiseled men here.
May 12, 2010 4:16 pm
I don’t think it is racist. She is suppose to be the main focus of the shoot and I think they accomplished their task. I don’t think it would have been as effective if the crowd was white..
May 12, 2010 4:18 pm
There is nothing racist about this to me…like you said she just happens to be the only white girl in the photo’s. Please those ppl that said it was racist need to get a life and stop reading into every damn thing so deep it’s not called for. Some ppl just stir up controversy for the hell of it!!
May 12, 2010 4:21 pm
I agree. Excellent points made. I am not offended in any way.
May 12, 2010 4:23 pm
I agree Claire. Loved how you broke it down.
May 12, 2010 4:28 pm
Exactly! I agree with both of the previous comments.
May 12, 2010 4:32 pm
I don’t see it as racist, either. She just seemed to be the focus of this shoot.
May 12, 2010 4:32 pm
I DON’T think the shoot is racist. I DO think Daria is better dressed. In brighter colored clothing, and obviously lighter skin, she’s undoubtedly going to stand out from the rest. My question though: Is this photoshoot specifically supposed to highlight her as a model? Or was it a shoot to highlight the clothing? If it’s for the clothing, I think they should’ve done a better job at casting diverse models. Sidenote: Anyone notice the girl on girl action in the last pic (bottom right)?? It’s interesting to see there’s no backlash from that but racism is still at the forefront.
May 12, 2010 4:47 pm
Calling something “racist” without explaining why it is so really weakens the argument. I can’t see what is racist about the pic either and from what you’ve posted Refinery29 did a bad job explaining their point of view.
May 12, 2010 5:12 pm
what was the point though? i’d like to hear the thought behind all these black models and one white model. just to be sure.
May 12, 2010 5:15 pm
something doesn’t have to be conciously and purposefully racist to be racist. yes, i think the photo shoot is racist. why are all the black people just background filler and props for diana werbowy? why does she have better lighting and more beautiful clothing. it wasn’t too long ago that gisele bundchen did a similar photoshoot with all black very darkskinned men. would we see a photo spread with the opposite, where a black woman is the focus, where white people are the inconsequential filler?
May 12, 2010 5:17 pm
my point is we live a rabidly racist society and racism manifests in many latent forms. this is one of them. it takes looking at some situations with a critical eye, but this definitely looks racist to me.
May 12, 2010 5:17 pm
Different skin has different color, hence the beauty of the globe. Negative thinking people have attached negative stereotypes (read racism) to certain colors, but at the base, color is color.
Fashion, which is visual, should have the freedom to play with color to move people and sway their emotions. This one worked. Others haven’t. But I think this one has created a feeling that might seem negative at first, but really isn’t. It just IS. It’s just black and white skin next to each other, which can and is a beautiful thing.
May 12, 2010 5:41 pm
famine- get real. fashion doesn’t exist in a damn vacuum and racism does manifest itself in the fashion industry (so does sizism, and ageism). people are free put out whatever imagery they want, but OTHER people are also free to question the motivation is behind that imagery. this one DIDN’T work, because people have spotted the latent racism in the premise of the shoot. in reality racism is a social construct, race isn’t real, and has negligible biological implications for people ( meaning the dna of people from two different races is barely different). but being perceived to be of a certain race does have sociological benefits or detriments depending on what race you belong to. it’s ridiculous to deny that.
May 12, 2010 6:15 pm
Don’t see anything wrong with it, its beautiful. Shaking my head at black people its funny how they are always quick to point fingers at a different race
May 12, 2010 6:38 pm
i agree with you. “racist” doesn’t come to my mind at all, maybe a “which one of these things does not belong?” type deal but not racist. I am kinda intrigued by the contrast of “color”, however I don’t see what’s racist about it. And I mean of course the focal point’s gonna be on her…it’s her shoot right??
May 12, 2010 6:54 pm
Considering the attention the industry has gotten about the lack of black models being used, I find this shoot to be in poor taste. The black models are props for Daria, no more than a lamp shade or tree.
Bottom line
May 12, 2010 7:14 pm
Racist?
Not quite.
But for one to say “she just happens to be the only white girl in the photo’s” would be oversimplifying. Everything is planned from the styling to the lighting to the props. There is a quasi savage theme going on. The impression I got is that the white lady was a damsel and she’s now entangled with an unpolished bunch (which just so happens to be all black).
I agree with @Michele that it is poor taste and the same effect could have been pulled off differently.
May 12, 2010 7:23 pm
I hate the shoot. Poor taste. SMH.
May 12, 2010 7:45 pm
anonymous 6:15- what the hell are you talking about?
“Shaking my head at black people its funny how they are always quick to point fingers at a different race”
what the hell does that mean? look if you’re not black, then you’ll never know what it’s like to be black in a racist society, so stfu. if a person of color believes they’re experiencing racism, they’re probably right, because they have more experience dealing with it in it’s various forms then you would. if you are black, then wake up and open your damn eyes. either way, get your head out of the sand.
May 12, 2010 7:51 pm
I too agree with the way you explained
May 12, 2010 8:51 pm
I think the fact that you would never see a black model prominently featured among a sea of “white props” makes it racist. It’s racist because it highlights a superiority. I also think it’s very important to be able to view things with a critical eye and understand the intentions behind images. As someone else said, fashion does not exist in a vacuum.
May 12, 2010 10:14 pm
The picture can look racist but I don’t think it’s racist. It’s a art with a theme; the white drugged out and lost woman. Because Daria poses are weird and unnatural. You are going to look around the picture and you will see that’s more going on in the picture there is more to see. You will see that the black models are actually very beautifull, look gorgeous and are more in control. So what I want to say is, you will not focus too long on the white spot. You will take a look around and will see more interesting things. Picture 2 and 5 till 8 are stunning.
May 12, 2010 10:31 pm
I dont even think that Daria styling was better than her black conuterparts. I happen to really enjoy the black models looks, Daria just looks like every other fashion shoot. On being Racist, some may not realize that the art direction of a shoot for a magazine is well thought out so i dont believe the intention was racsism but the message is very clear. It is potraying as someone mentioned the idea a an angelic woman being intangled in something that is in the dark, underground she almost looks like they could have drugged her perhaps almost like vampires. I wouldnt right it off as being simply racist but we need to stop letting everything be ok just because it is in the context of art. It is certainly in bad taste considering the debate on the lack of usage of black models.you may also not image how aloof fashion industry people are and may say hey there are lots of black models here why you complaining. I could only image the uproar of a shoot if it was a bunch of handsome white and or black men surrounding a plus size girl. it would be an outrage to the fashion world and not well recieved.
May 12, 2010 10:33 pm
I don’t even think she’s dressed better than the other models. If she really is, I sure as h3ll can’t tell.
May 13, 2010 2:02 am
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May 13, 2010 3:57 am
i agree with Ayanna J
May 13, 2010 4:30 am
So, this is where all the black models have gone! It seems as if everyone has missed the story and jumped to a conclusion. There are plenty depictions of racism available. This is certainly NOT one.
The uneasiness black people are expressing may come from the fact that they are not accustom to seeing a dozen black models in a spaces that is general reserved for white less curvy models.
There is no struggle for authority in any of these photos. Everyone seems to be in a hormonal induced sweat. It creates a glow on the models’ skin forcing the eyes to compare and contrast the skin and clothing…possibly the entire point of the photo shoot.
The photo where the white model is in a blue slinky outfit, she pugnaciously glares back at the on lookers with an air of contempt. Almost to say “I’m having a sadistically good time and I really don’t care what you intolerantly small-minded people think”.
Black Women living in Hawaii~
May 13, 2010 10:49 am
I don’t know that racism is the word. But there is something culturally stagnant about the idea of a white woman (who’s drugged or lost, doesn’t know better or can’t help herself), being sexually overtaken by a crowd of black people.
For many years, the institution of racism was supported by the idea that if white people don’t watch their women, they will be preyed upon by black men. And I know that there’s also women in the shoot, but I think its still gives the same message, especially since in the last photo there’s a black woman kissing (or about to kiss) a white woman.
I don’t know that it’s ‘racist’ per se, but I do think that it speaks to a very old fear for the white woman’s sexuality.
May 13, 2010 1:30 pm
Interesting. Yes.
Racist. No.
May 13, 2010 2:04 pm
Very well said, Rachel.
May 13, 2010 8:31 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with Esme, Michele, and Ayanna–this photo shoot is textbook racism and has been very carefully constructed to represent clear hierarchies between the models. The representation of the white model reflects a fuller, more naturalistic color spectrum while the others models have been desaturated to make them little more than background atmosphere. Daria’s posing references standard essentialist notions of white people abandoning their inhibitions under the influence of the so-called easier sensuality of people of color.
May 14, 2010 10:51 am
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May 18, 2010 3:39 pm
I know i’m super late. Unfortunately there are racial ideas ingrained so deeply in people that sometimes it takes a moment for us to notice whats wrong with this. I don’t believe the intention of the artist was to be racist but they certainly created a racial piece. The angelic helpless white woman in lighter clothing with better lighting in a room full of menacing looking black people somewhere in the underbelly of society. Umm I think its problematic. We can sit here all day and debate the artistic value of the photos (which it is loaded with), but if a racial debate wasn’t what the artist was after when they created this photoshoot then its a problem. Just as the fact that James Cameron could not see the racial undertones in Avatar. The blue people had braids! We need continue to check people on things like this so that maybe one day they people will notice the error before it becomes a finished product.
May 20, 2010 1:49 am
I think the problem here is our limited vocabulary about all things race-related. I don’t find the shoot racist but it is race-d. That is it intentionally plays on and exploits racial images and the history and stereotypes they communicate.
This would not be nearly as provocative if there wasn’t a history, for example, of black men and women as primal and hypersexual. The ad is not propagating that but it is channeling the reader’s assumptions.
The shoot does work, then, at it’s most basic level: it makes you look. As a black woman, however, I probably am not attracted to the fashion as much as I would be the historical narrative I know it is commenting upon. However, people on the other side of that narrative are probably aroused on some level by the imagery. I’m just not this ad’s target audience.
But, yeah, there is some ground between Don Imus and Benetton. It’s not racist (Imus) and it’s not full out social commentary (Benetton) but it is using race in a provocative, commodified way.
May 21, 2010 11:42 pm
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