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I hesitated to write about this after hearing about it last week, but news of Vogue Italia's recent cover story, Haute Mess, begs the question: Are they laughing with us or at us?
It's ratchetness, at best. The "Over The Top" spread features white models with what many would call "street" or more derisively, "ghetto" flavor: colorful weaves, gaudy makeup, colorful hair, long fake nails, big doorknocker hoop earrings and hairstyles straight from hair shows with Oreo slogans sprayed on them.
Do women wear these clothes? Of course, they do. All day, err day. Take a ride through any major city and you'll see this and more. Hell, my big hoop earrings are a wardrobe staple.
But that's where the problem lies: Instead of celebrating our colorfulness, ingenuity and creativity -- and what some folks would call "ghetto" fashions - Vogue chose to mock us, not celebrate us.
There is a difference -- a big difference.
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Is Black Culture Loved or Hated?
Black culture.
We are loved one minute, yet hated on the next.
White culture loves Black culture, enough to constantly jack our steez. Let's remember, there would be no Elvis were it not for Chuck Berry and Little Richard and for you younger folks, no Justin Bieber were it not for Usher. And no Mick Jagger or probably even the Beatles were it not for Motown's soul filled hits.
And before you cry that music is universal, yes, it is. But those royalty checks for "universal" music always seemed to be in the names of the white music producers and record companies, not their creators. You know, the black folks' whose blues, rhythm and blues, soul, jazz and hip hop music was built in the jook joints of the south, the pulpits of the Black church, and the griminess of the inner cities.
Yet, white culture hates Black culture, enough to mock us, copy us in unflattering ways and make us parodies -- too many times that I can count. It's this crazy juxtaposition that is so schizophrenic. Often, these two parallels happen at the very same time.
My Take
Affinity and respect of the culture? I don't have a problem with it, as long as you give us credit. Black folks are geniuses at taking scraps and turning them into mountain hills. Give us a little bit and BABY! We'll make it do what it do!
And it's not just fashion that's being slammed, it's our hair, too. Notice the hairstyles with Skittles, God awful lacefront wigs and loc wigs in blonde. Just as they are mocking exaggerated Black fashions, so, too, are they mocking Black hair.
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We Get No Love
Lakeisha may not have had the name brands and preppy clothing that Buffy in the Hampton wears, but she is the Madam C.J. Walker of street fashion: Her clothing, styles and mannerism are copied the world over. She took what little she had and made it her own. Believe that her clothes may have only cost $50, but she'll make them look like a million bucks. She may not have Louboutins in her closet, but you can best believe that her shoe game is on point, regardless.
But mocking it or taking our steez for your own? Houston, we have a problem. Don't take black girl swag and make it your own, with a few exaggerated, stereotypical mannerisms and then expect us to be OK with that. That's the same type of ish that a Lady Gaga gets praise for being unique and creative with her colored wigs, while Lakeisha gets the side eye.
This is just another headache for Vogue Italia, which doesn't have the best reputation in the international Black community for celebrating or even recognizing our culture. They'd rather just pretend we don't exist, if evidenced by the lack of models of color in its pages.Vogue Italia has done spreads with models in Black face, so trust and believe that this no cumbuya moment when it comes to Black folks; they have lots of apologizing and backpedaling to do.
Vogue Italia's Defense
On Friday, Vogue Italia's Franca Sozzani defended the spread.
“Most of fashion all looks alike. It is really beautiful, but it is very similar in a way. You go to London, and everything has flowers. You go somewhere else, and everything is minimal. We wanted to make something quite extravagant. It’s more to push people to be creative and extravagant. … Because I read everything in the blogs, but honestly, we just thought it was the concept of extravagance, of creativity, even something over-the-top, something that is not usual. If you want, you don’t dress like that, you don’t put on this kind of makeup, but it’s just to make a fake, to go over-the-top, it makes you happy in a way, more alive, more colorful — sometimes fashion looks sad.”
And she doesn’t think that it was racist:
“A racist image, I really do not understand. I went through the pages so many times. Like when we did the Black Issue, everybody said that we did that on purpose because Obama was the person chosen to go to the White House, and if you just think one second, not more than one second, you can see that to make a magazine like what we did for the Black Issue, it takes six months [to do]. … People wanted to see an economical and a financial [decision], just to get more money, because we talk about Black Issue, it’s probably because the president is black. What do you answer? They don’t know what it means to work at a magazine. That’s it.”
I smell bullshit. The insensitivity is absolutely frightening, were it not for the "slave" earrings fiasco, describing large, gold hoop earrings (their words, not mine). After all this, you'd think that Vogue Italia would at least try a little harder.
A recent Vogue Italia magazine featured models with natural hair, but I'm not willing to let them off the hook just yet for all of their awkwardness when dealing with Black and brown folks. A few pics of natural hair aren't enough to erase years of abuse, insensitivity, misrepresentation and downright disrespect. Why is Vogue all interested in Black culture now? Too little, too late.
There is no consistency. You want to respectfully honor Black culture? Then we can talk. But until then, all you get is the stereotypical hand. Don't mimic the culture and then expect us to be grateful that you somehow "noticed" us after all these years.
We've been here, all along. And just like anything else in Black culture, you'll "discover" our trends years too late, when we've moved on, gone to the next new and fresh thing. Cause we stay FLY!
What did you think of the Vogue spread? Do you think they are mocking us or celebrating us? Do you feel a certain way when White culture copies Black culture?
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