Model Constance Jablonski appears in blackface in a recent editorial for French magazine Numéro:
She sports an afro while playing with a baby that is either black or, like her, is white with skin painted black. The baby is also wearing an afro.
Numéro is following in the footsteps of several other magazines, like V and Paris Vogue, who have used blackface to either stir up debate or express their ‘creativity’:
Sasha Pivovarova in V Magazine
Lara Stone in Paris Vogue
As I said in this post, “white actors [historically] used blackface to portray stereotypical archetypes of African-Americans (the buffoonish, lazy, lascivious cowardly male or matronly, at times mannish mammy). The practice, called mistrelsy, was used to promote and cement racist attitudes and feelings about black people.”
Though Sasha Pivovarova and Lara Stone were not depicted as mammies or stereotypical black tropes, it was clear by the controversy ignited in the blogosphere and on CNN that painting a white model black was just…not ok. Even if it was simply an artistic expression, it poured salt on open wounds rooted in slavery.
A full year later, Numéro knowingly paints a white model black again.
Is it for shock value? Or just that they don’t care?
Honestly, after the third, fourth time it happens, it begins to sting a little less. The first incident was shocking. The third time is offensive, but I’m yawning. Numero, is this the best you’ve got?
There’s also the issue of black artists and industry insiders using blackface:
Will.i.am at MTV’s pre show
Estelle in Blackface for her Freak Video
Tyra Banks painting ANTM contestants black
Rihanna in her video for Rockstar
Exactly when did it become cool to wear blackface?
At any rate, for me blackface is similar to the n-word. The term and the practice are both pejorative and offensive, but one indisputable double standard remains: it’s ok for black people to do what they want with their own derogatory slurs and historical representations. For everyone else, it’s off limits.
What do you think?
September 28, 2010 9:57 am
Honestly, I’m really tired of this argument. For me, blackface is only offensive when the person in it is fostering some ridiculous stereotype like this: http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/2.5284/ecu-reacts-to-racism-at-auburn-university-1.821521. Historically, that’s what blackface has been about. Just because someone paints their face brown doesn’t mean there was racist intent. When they start to use blackface as a platform to demoralize and humiliate Black people, then it becomes an issue.
September 28, 2010 10:22 am
A lot of people are just clowning themselves. I doubt our AA ancestors who faced much bolder racism would laugh. As far as the fashion idustry goes, even beyond the ridiculous blackface, is this the Only way they can depict Africa? Bush and trees? The continent is extremely multifaceted, yet constantly gets depicted as a barren,
savage land. I’m sure this is why Vogue Africa was “allegedly” rejected.
God forbid someone comes along and challenges these out dated elitist western opinions.
September 28, 2010 10:23 am
It really bothers me that it’s such an issue that Tyra Banks painted the faces of the contestants of ANTM. That was never her intention and if anyone has ever seen the episode, you’ll note her apology. I don’t feel that Will.I.Am’s falls under the category of blackface; he was simply trying to be theatric and futuristic. Rihanna on the other hand, i have no clue (she dyed her hair fire engine red).
September 28, 2010 10:24 am
* clowning themselves is referreing to will.i.am, tyra, and rhianna
September 28, 2010 10:24 am
I’m over it at this point. It seems like people just want to do it to stir up controversy. Find a new wow factor.
September 28, 2010 10:24 am
This was intended to provoke black people some decades ago, and now, the industry wants to make it up into something fashionable ?! Almost makes it appear as they accept black faces on editorials ?This is what I call consider the world dumb. It’s just disrespectful.
And I’m not even talking about the fact that there’s a whole bunch of gorgeous black models that just wait for one call.. SMH !
September 28, 2010 12:01 pm
this has got to stop. point blank period. hire a freakin black model! there are plenty out there who would have done beautifully for this shoot. This is not creative its simply sensationalism, they are trying to drum up controversy and sell a few mags. I am not too insulted by the image more so by the fact that they cheated a black model out of this gig/money/recognition. tsk tsk point my finger and smh…
September 28, 2010 12:45 pm
The history of blackface is so insulting. Read your history ! While whites were donning black face, black stage actors themselves had no choice, but to darken their faces and exaggerate their lip lines. Do people think this as entertaining in 2010?
September 28, 2010 1:29 pm
i just think its weird when a photographer takes any model and turns them from 1 color to another. they made beyonce look practically like a white woman in those lorreal ad’s.
sidenote: is blackface really demeaning if a BLACK person does it? i think not
September 28, 2010 1:34 pm
Why not just hire a black model.
September 28, 2010 1:45 pm
@ beautifuldaidreamer, I agree.
I think it’s actually interesting to see these white women who can easily “pass” for black with the makeup. In a way, it diminishes the fixation on race. And since there’s nothing in these photos to suggest any mockery of black skin, I’m OK with it. Sue me.
September 28, 2010 2:21 pm
I just don’t understand. It’s not shocking, and it’s not interesting (not even on the black celebrities). I don’t even find those photos creative. (The 1st one is horrendous.)
September 28, 2010 2:22 pm
I love Sasha Pivovarova. She is freaking gorgeous, and such a sweetheart.
September 28, 2010 3:06 pm
How about instead of painting a white model Black to appear on your cover, just put a Black Model on your cover. Anything mocking our race should never be accepted, EVEN when we do it which for me shows how less we care about our race. In this day an age where everyone in their mother is trying to flee from the African race in some shape or form Tiger Wood (Cableneese) Micheal Jackson (Bleaching his skin even Amare Stoudimire (Knicks Center) who has been African all his life, suddenly he’s finding his Jewish Heritage. Anything negative towards our race (whether we do or they do it) should be met soundly with a HELL NO.
September 28, 2010 4:34 pm
Employ black models.
September 28, 2010 5:14 pm
I totally agree with London Wright!
September 28, 2010 5:35 pm
oh come on….that first pic is HOT!
September 28, 2010 6:33 pm
is there any reason under the sun why there couldn’t have used a black model in that pic?
September 28, 2010 7:33 pm
Each instance is different.
Constance Jablonski & Lara Stone: I’m offended that they didn’t just a Black model. That baby is Black. The look they went for in the photo is of a realistic woman, not an odd artistic extreme.
Sasha Pivovarova in V Magazine, Will.i.am, Tyra, Rihanna: Artistic license, not a caricature
Estelle: Black paint + bright red lip=caricature. I have seen the video. If you’re in doubt, please refer back to the title of the song. She’s trying to embrace being a “freak” but eff Blackness being considered freaky.
September 28, 2010 8:14 pm
I saw the Jablonski photo Thursday and thought why didn’t they use a black model for the shoot? Oh well, at least the Afro wig looks cute, the fashion lay-out is blah!
September 29, 2010 12:43 am
Maybe their just playing with color and that a big maybe. a
September 29, 2010 1:56 am
It’s ridiculous that in this day and age magazines still use blackface in editorials to make a ‘cultural’ statement. It’s not a statement that needs to be made, they are only doing it for shock value and it’s totally unnecessary. I feel the editorial would be much more effective if a black model were hired, and I also agree with Michele, why do these magazines rely on a stereotype of Africa for their imagery? It makes no sense to try to be ‘interesting’ by using boring, overdone and outdated images, when the world knows that it’s high time we moved on from these.
However, I wouldn’t put will.i.am in the ‘blackface’ category because the look was intended to reference Japanese Manga heroes, not making a racial statement, but to look futuristic and out of this world, which is why Nicki Minaj also wore her costume. And as far as Rihanna goes, it seems to me her look is to create a kind of ‘gunmetal’ appearance as her costume is just metal chains. It’s an artistic statement, not a racial one.
September 29, 2010 1:19 pm
Should the first picture should even be considered black face…..it doesn’t look like they are intentionlly making blacks look like bafoons, plus she looks used too much orange tan ( which a lot of white people tend to do) and not literrally painted with brown or black paint.
I don’t get how people think a white person wearing an afro is suddenly racist….but we really need to cut that bullshit b/c it totally diminish the real racist activities going on in the world.
Why do people think that Rihanna and William are wearing blackface……so now black people can’t even cover their body in paint. It doesn’t even look like they are trying to mock black people and you know what they also have every right to mock black people or wear black paint. Jesus…..what is wrong with internet bloggers and their desire to make up faux drama to get the most page hits.
P.C. crap has gone on far to long.
September 29, 2010 3:10 pm
I find Estelle’s picture more offensive than those editorials. What the hell was she thinking? I know she isn’t American and maybe has no context of history, but she looks just like a sambo.
I think the message is clear: they don’t want to hire black girls. I wouldn’t call it black face because the intent isn’t to insult. The intent is to paint white women to look black so they don’t have to hire black women.
September 29, 2010 4:08 pm
hey everyone i am writing from South Africa but i am originally from Angola west Africa.my opinion as Africans we should be less bothered by such nonsense .we need to move on and leave such racist and ignorant statement in the past, because we have come to far in life as Africans to allow such stupidity to get to us …we’ve taken slavery ,apartheid, segregation, for many centuries this surely isn’t nothing…hit me with something harder than this … we shouldn’t give attention to every crap this white bullies feed us they full of shit hahhaha : )
September 29, 2010 6:05 pm
@vanessa As I said in the article, in the instances where black paint was used, the models were not depicted in stereotypical ways, but magazines should realize how sensitive people are to it, and should take heed (if they care, maybe they don’t…which is pretty obvious). I think it shows a complete disrespect. A minimum level of respect is not too much to ask, I don’t think.
September 30, 2010 12:00 pm
i don’t live in the us so i don’t know if you guys kinda live differently over there, but i live in germany and i’m white if that matters and, well, i don’t think it should matter, you know? so if today they paint their faces black, tomorrow it might be green. you shouldn’t care. it’s a matter of disguising oneself. it’s like you wear a saree and put up a bindi stone on your forehead so you look like an indian, just for fun, to see what it would look like. does that mean you make fun of indians? NOPE! i think some people are taking this a little too far…
September 30, 2010 5:10 pm
cinja- please drink a big cup of stfu and sit down. not only are you white, you’re not even american, so you really have NO PLACE telling black people how to feel about this. got it?
@cristina-just because it doesn’t bother you that a major fashion magazine refused to hire another black model AGAIN, and instead painted a white woman to look black, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t bother other people. we need to root out and fight against all forms of racism because if history has shown us anything, it’s that media imagery has a huge affect on how people, particularly people of color, are treated.
September 30, 2010 5:37 pm
Just a little curious as to how is painting a white person Black an expression of Creative? Sounds like their saying if WE were Black we would do this, or they want to be black. Painting a model Black to put on your cover instead of hiring a Black Model is disrespectful know matter how they try to paint it. For all who have even that little tolerance of such ignorance, should think back on that use of the word n***a, or calling a woman B***H which started out with that same tolerance until now its a part of a lot men, women and childrens every day vocabulary.
October 1, 2010 4:12 pm
@ esme dont get me wrong i honestly do care ,living in South Africa we suffer racism everyday but let me tell you something as long as there different races and shades of different skin there will always be racism and racist people and races that fell superior to the other.
October 4, 2010 8:30 am
[...] this weekend Jenelle Phillip, one of the assistant stylists from Costance Jablonski’s Numéro spread, got in touch with me via Twitter, saying, “your recent post on Constance’s spread with [...]
October 6, 2010 12:38 am
there is far too much over-reaction. it’s art. why can’t the past just be the past- it looks cool. i saw it, and didnt think anything of it. i can’t believe this is being considered blackface. ugh soo annoying.
November 7, 2010 11:33 am
I’m rereading this and finally getting a chance to comment. No matter what the intention is, blackface (or attempts at it) carries a host of historic, negative associations that cannot be brushed off as “art.” Art = visual culture = the way we see ourselves and the way we are seen by others. Responsibility always accompanies representation.
March 1, 2012 7:52 am
[...] with edgier covers, we will strive to be more sensitive.” I feel like this is happening too many times. Is racist imagery really so hard to [...]
February 26, 2013 3:23 am
[...] (a French model) wearing bronzer and an Afro, and posing with a black baby (read our story about it here): Though Numéro’s first go at blackface was ultimately deemed only mildly offensive because [...]
February 26, 2013 3:28 am
[...] (a French model) wearing bronzer and an Afro, and posing with a black baby (read our story about it here): Though Numéro’s first go at blackface was ultimately deemed only mildly offensive because [...]
March 13, 2013 11:39 am
[...] There is a steady stream of racial insensitivity in fashion. Just recently, Numéro Russia caught flack for their [...]
March 13, 2013 11:56 am
[...] There is a steady stream of racial insensitivity in fashion. Just recently, Numéro Russia caught flack for their [...]
April 15, 2013 6:27 pm
[...] And then Numéro was at it again (or for the first time) with Constance Jablonski (a French model) wearing bronzer and an Afro, and posing with a black baby (read our story about it here): [...]