Elle Germany has come under fire for its November 2019 issue thanks to a feature on “models of colour” with the headline “Black is back”.
On Tuesday, Instagram profile Diet Prada posted a page from the November issue of Elle Germany that featured the tone-deaf article, alongside an image of an incorrectly identified model.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4NOd4vnnmA/
Elle misidentified model Naomi Chin Wing as Janaye Furman, while also highlighting Joan Smalls alongside a group of relative newcomers, despite the fact she is a modeling veteran.
Furthermore, the cover page of the November issue featured the words “Back to black”.
While the sentiment itself has been criticised for being tone-deaf in today’s milieu, the magazine’s faux pas goes one step further by featuring a white model on its front cover of an issue that is supposed to be about people of colour.
Social media users took to Instagram to air their thoughts on the issue, with many suggesting the blunder is “disturbing”, “sickening”, “horrible” and “insensitive”.
Model Naomi Cambell responded to Diet Prada’s post on her personal Instagram page, calling out Elle Germany for likening models of colour to being a trend.
She wrote: “I’ve said countless of times we are not a trend. We are here to stay. It’s ok to celebrate models of color but please do it in an elegant and respectful way.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4N43dDHJ9P/
