For the highly anticipated October "supermodel" issue, French Vogue's editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld personally styled model Lara Stone in blackface, as photographed by Steven Klein. White skinned blonde haired Dutch Stone is painted black and wears fairly ethnic-looking clothes. The spread praises Stone's "sensual" body, her "uninhibited gappy teeth" and the "radical break with the wave of anorexic models" that she represents, and sadly proceeds to cover these things up. Without any real context for utilizing blackface, readers are left to assume the worst: that the photographs were taken for pure entertainment.

More photos can be viewed here.
Critics have pointed out how overtly sexualized Stone is in the few shots in which she is not in blackface. Her bare breasts are shown and she wears a thong leotard with her legs wide open. Sure, European magazines tend to be a little bit more racy and push more boundaries and this is part of why we love them, but is this fashion or exploitation?
Perhaps most offensive is that in an issue that was supposed to be about supermodels, boasting big names like Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer, no black models are featured at all. So, is Roitfeld's spread defensible? What could possibly be the reason for referencing such a touchy subject? Or are we in the US simply oversensitized to race issues such as these?
Julia Heidelman
BARE Reporter
If there was a more meaningful statement to the shoot, it would be okay. Otherwise changing an entire skin color seems too controversial - even for a fashion magazine.
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Thank you