Hey!
So 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 Numero isn’t correct. I worked on that shoot, and it was not done in blackface.” She subsequently sent me a link to the whole shoot, where it seems that the one particular shot we had from the spread showed the model looking a shade tanner than normal. All the rest of the pictures have Jablonski in her normal skin tone, wearing interchanging blond and brunette Afro wigs and carrying around an adorable black baby:
Jenelle went on to say, “Patti would have never allowed that.” She’s referring to Patti Wilson, the main stylist for the shoot, who also happens to be African-American.
Patti is a very respected stylist in the industry. She’s the New York fashion editor of i-D magazine and has styled for Vanity Fair, Interview, Rolling Stone, Visionaire, and more. In a story for Vogue.it, journalist Kenya Hunt interviewed Wilson about her motivation behind this particular shoot. Wilson replied, “I wanted to kind of comment on what is going on now with (white celebrities) getting all of these black children, Madonna, Angelina Jolie and now Sandra Bullock. So that’s where that came from…And the Afros? It was pouring rain the day of the shoot and her hair was a mess. The only wigs the hair stylist had in his bag were these Afros from another project so I worked with what we had. He put them on her and I thought they looked fabulous and that was that. The reaction to all of this has been so bizarre.”
Wilson went on to say, “I’m the one who has been getting many of these designers to hire eight black girls instead of two.”
What do you think?
See the rest of the pictures from the shoot here:
View our original post here and check out Kenya Hunt’s article here. Also thanks to Jenelle for shedding some light on what has become quite a heated topic.
Picture Source: Fashion Gone Rogue
October 4, 2010 9:00 am
proof that people jump to the wrong conclusion over a pic…
October 4, 2010 9:49 am
Why not use a black model?
October 4, 2010 9:53 am
I think your looking into it too much.
October 4, 2010 10:26 am
I agree with Jan… I think people have been looking way too into it. (On a side note: there are women as white as this model with biologically darker children of all shades and hair textures.)
October 4, 2010 12:23 pm
The article explains the afro, but what about the very deep tan to make the model look black. Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Sandra Bullock are all non-black women, so if the purpose of this editorial was to comment on non-black women adopting black children then the model’s natural skin tone would be sufficient.
I don’t believe this is an issue of blackface though. I believe that this “skin darkening” is just a method of not using black models in the fashion industry. That’s the real issue here.
October 4, 2010 12:40 pm
I’m inclined to agree wtih DirtyLAWndry on this one. my issue with this shoot was definitely the fact that they doctored the pics to make the model look darker. i don’t see this as blackface but i surely see it as a means to make a white model appear darker, almost black which disturbs and annoys me because they could have simply used a black model. there are plenty to choose from who deserve the work…
October 4, 2010 1:08 pm
I do think people overreacted, but Patti’s shock at the public’s perception is a bit naive. The afro is an iconic symbol associated with blacks, period. To see this white model with an afro and holding a black baby is bound to generated some questions.
October 4, 2010 3:43 pm
either way its a beautiful spread, and i appreciate the art and the craftsmanship behind the whole thing!and thats that!!lets not diminish its beauty by quarelling over it.
October 4, 2010 3:53 pm
i agree with dirtyLAWNdry. same thing i was thinking …
October 4, 2010 5:39 pm
this is silly. you guys are tripping over a white woman wearing an afro wig in a high fashion editorial shoot? you’ve never seen a white woman/man with dreads? with braids?
shoot, while we’re at it, eminem should stop rapping. that’s music associated with being black. and we shouldn’t just stop there, every white man playing basketball needs to stop. and tiger? golf is only for white people….what is he thinking!
you dont have a problem with white woman adopting black babies in real life, but you have a problem with a white woman wearing a wig in a photograph.
one word: ignorance!
October 4, 2010 8:51 pm
Co-sign with The Truth–who could not anticipate the response the published image received? When you create images and put them out into the world, they take on another life and with that comes all of the associations that viewers will make based on their own experiences as well as their understanding of the history of images which, since it is an actual historical discipline, can hardly be characterized as jumping to the wrong conclusion. Unless you publish the image with the explanation of its context, it’s expected to stand alone and will thus elicit a range of reasonable responses.
October 4, 2010 10:48 pm
Constance Jablonski is gorgeous, I really started to notice her when I saw her open the Blumarine S2010RTW show.
As for the spread its ok, she has done better ones.
October 4, 2010 11:09 pm
art is and will always be up for interpretation so saying that people are reading too much into it is silly because we are suppose to try and see what the big picture is if its suppose to be deep on any level. To add to ‘the truth’ comment lets also notice she is styled like PAm Grier aka foxy brown so for the stylist to say it is a commentary on white celebs adopting black babies send mixeds messages since the model is dress like a 1970′s blaxplotation actress and not a desparate housewife. which this look would not have worked without the wigs so i dont really believe her story on the wigs were all they had. But then again who cares. if your offended be that and if not enjoy right. Although I hate seeing white women with locs and Afros for that matter I love the styling! the concept not so much.
October 5, 2010 6:39 am
[...] think she was shot in blackface she wasn’t . The assistant stylist Jenelle Phillip advise Claire over at the Fashion Bomb that the lead stylist Patti Wilson of the shoot would not have allowed that, and that . Patti [...]
October 5, 2010 9:25 am
I agree with jboogie… not buying the reasoning behind the afro wigs if the model was supposed to depict a white woman. Now, art is supposed to be free and often i think that the best forms of art offend some sector of people… with that said…I don’t think that any artist should create a story for the true purpose of their expression… there really is no need for that!
October 5, 2010 1:51 pm
I’m over feeling like someone is always stealing something from me…man, hair, style, clothes, history, whatever…do you…love your life cuz I love mine.
October 5, 2010 5:29 pm
okay y sure but if it was pouring down raining or drizzling otsid why the hll u go the baby with nothing on but a damn rag diaper. thats the most important. and last time i checked yea angelina jolie and sandra bullock wee adopting african babies but did you also see them in “blackface” so there goes that theory. and why not jst use a black woman? mayb she didnt “mean it but it looks like a modern high fashion vesion of blackface. point blank
October 5, 2010 6:34 pm
I must admit… these pictures are gorgeous…if she wants to throw tanner and throw on a wig …let her!!!… Many of the black models throw on a relaxer and a skin ligthner on their face …..Trust me their is a much bigger issue…..and its not “blackface”…
October 5, 2010 6:52 pm
I think people are getting too worked up over this and since when is having a dark tan mean you’re trying to look black? As far as a white model wearing an afro, there are white people who naturally have afros…ever heard of the famous painter, Bob Ross?
October 5, 2010 10:06 pm
WHY NOT JUST USE A BLACK MODEL. THEN THERE WONT BE ANY TENSION ABOUT BLACKFACE. WHATS WRONG WITH JUST USING A BLACK MODEL WHO MIGHT HAVE A REAL AFRO. IS A BLACK MODEL NOT GOOD ENOUGH?
October 5, 2010 10:09 pm
WHY CANT A WHITE WOMAN JUST DO WHITE PHOTO SHOOTS AND BLACK WOMEN DO BLACK PHOTO SHOOTS. SOME OF YOU BLACK WOMEN ON HERE ARE IGNORANT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO PRETEND THAT RACISM DOESNT EXIST WHEN ACTUALLY ITS ALL AROUND US! ESPECIALLY IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY.
October 6, 2010 5:04 pm
SORRRYY I DON’T BELICEVE HER STORY(mostly about the afros). Why are the women tanned then? …if they weren’t intended to portray black women in the shoot. mmhhmmm -____-