Magazine uses black face in fashion spread

This article makes me want to scream What Are They Thinking! The “great” minds over at Numéro Magazine thought that it would be a great idea to put a very white 16 year old model in black face. Obviously, Numéro didn’t read all the negative comments the received from the last photo shoot they did like this. Referring to a caucasian model portrayed in black face as an African Queen is just insanely offensive. Last time I checked there were tons of beautiful, sexy African American models available for this photo shoot, but I guess that Numéro was going for the more distasteful magazine spread. When are people going to understand that black face is unacceptable. The fashion industry is by no means all bad, but it does have its moments of being incredibly tone-deaf and out-of-touch, and the latest comes inside the pages of Numéro‘s March issue, which features an “African Queen” editorial. But instead of, you know, hiring a black model, the magazine painted a white model in black face. Sixteen-year-old Ondria Hardin, who was involved in Vogue‘s underage model scandal, sports a deep, deep tan in the spread, along with printed ensembles that are obviously styled to portray a colonial-era “African Queen”. It’s weird to think that no one involved with the shoot thought to step back and wonder if putting a white model in black face would be offensive — because it is, has been, and always will be. Jezebel points out that Ford Models, the agency that reps Hardin, also has a handful of black models on its roster — all of whom could have fit the spread’s theme better than the North Carolinia teen. We guess we really shouldn’t be too surprised at this spread. After all, the mag toed the line two years ago with a questionable Constance Jablonski shoot.