The word diversity is thrown around a lot. It means different things to different people.
Folks at Vogue are learning their idea of diversity doesn’t fit with a lot of other people.
In the just released diversity issue of Vogue, they have Danish-German American fashion model Karlie Kloss in black hair dressed in a geisha.
The issue was shot in Japan, so Vogue decided to throw in a sumo wrestler for good measure.
Social media is abuzz about this with the topic trending on Facebook. The words yellowface, cultural appropriation and racist have been used by many to describe the issue.
As New York Magazine wrote in The Cut, “one would think that designing an entire issue around “diversity” would have stopped this editorial before it even started. Apparently not.”
The firestorm was strong enough for Kloss to issue an apology.
— Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) February 15, 2017
Here’s some of the reaction that lead up to the apology.
Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson, and Tilda Swinton turn to Karlie Kloss. “Your turn, girl.”
Karlie on phone: “Hello, Vogue? Make me Asian.” pic.twitter.com/zgUWIB022Q
— Ira Madison III (@ira) February 14, 2017
People Are Furious Karlie Kloss Dressed Like A Geisha In Vogue’s Diversity Issuehttps://t.co/tFa5Wj9Qz1 pic.twitter.com/qfdw8hrTU9
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 15, 2017
Enraging on so many levels: cultural appropriation, yellowface, the fact that the cover of @vogue‘s “diversity issue”=mostly white models ? https://t.co/LfqCJBW53u
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) February 15, 2017
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