Lately, the beauty industry has been filled with not-so-beautiful rhetoric. Whether they're under fire for "cash cropping cornrows," as explained by 16-year-old Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg, or putting Lebron James on the cover of Vogue Magazine in a pose that directly alludes to King Kong, the problems are evident. Among a plethora of problems that the industry causes for minorities and protected class citizens, racial insensitivity is a concern that plagues almost every issue of fashion and beauty publications.
Up-and-coming 21-year-old model, Lena Reaves, had the pleasure of landing her first ever fashion spread with Ellements Magazine, an online and print fashion publication. Her excitement was met with "disgust" and "hurt" upon seeing her very first fashion spread.
Written across her spread in big letters were the words, "Dark Skinned."
That is not a term you hear very often and as a colloquialism, it can mean different things to different people. According to a contributor, a popular colloquial dictionary and Urban Dictionary, it is, "A term used within the black community to describe a person's skin tone that can range from an almond brown to a deep mahogany color. This symbolizes strong African ancestry.
A Google search of "Dark Skinned Women" resulted in images of women that looked like this:
Lena Reaves' skin complexion does not aesthetically resemble any of these women's, so why was her skin color labeled to begin with?
I purchased the magazine to compare the label on her ad to the other models' ads and she was the only model with such a racially insensitive label. Other models had titles that read, "Neon Summer", "Goddess", "Passion in Paradise", etc.
The problem with her label is not that they mistakenly labeled her the wrong skin complexion, but rather that her skin color was labeled at all. Incidents like this continue to set back the image of black women in America and should not still be a problem. If the publication was attempting to empower women of color through fashion, they sadly failed.
It's time to stop labeling women and actually empower them. The fashion industry is so destructive to women's self-esteem and seeing labels written across ads does not make those that already have insecurities feel better about themselves.
It perpetuates a culture of young girls and women that began to starve themselves to be model thin and bleached their hair until it fell out. Little black girls began to believe they were not pretty enough and bleached their skin because they saw a "dark skinned" label written across a beautiful young model.
It's not okay to continue to damage our youth by being simply irresponsible with the power that we have. It was an inappropriate label and when I emailed the Editor in Chief of Ellements Magazine, Kaneo Biggs, no response was given. Although they declined to give a response, I had a chance to interview Lena Reaves and the Q&A went as follows:
Lena Reaves, 21
How did you land this amazing opportunity?
After shooting with Cam the photographer, they contacted him and asked to put me in their magazine.
How did you feel when you first saw the spread?
Disappointed. I couldn't believe I was the only model in this magazine with the title of my skin color on my photo. And the wrong skin color at that. I'm not even dark skinned.
What do you think of the labels for the other models?
The other models' labels were perfect for their images. I didn't understand why I couldn't get the same description on mine.
Were you aware that they would be putting titles over your and other models' ads?
No. I thought they were just trying to compliment my look by adding me to their magazine
Why do you think you should bring awareness to this?
Because no one should be defined by their skin color. They should recognize us models for our talent and goals.
Do you believe this was an act of negligence or racially driven?
Definitely both.
What would you like to see be done about the offensive spread?
Hopefully they won't do this type of act on any other model in their next magazine. And they should [tell] them and let them know ahead of time that they're putting a headline on their photos.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
This was my first ad in a magazine, but definitely not the last. This is only the beginning for me and one day they'll regret using me for a racially profiled ad.
