Edited by Lope Navo, Photographer on
Navo fearlessly dives into one of the most controversial subjects to ignite the offices of Fashion Indie. Whether you agree or disagree we want to hear your opinion on this hot button question; Is Vogue the Most Racist Fashion Magazine of the Year?
“At a magazine, everything you do is edited by a bunch of people, by committee, and a lot of them are, were, or think of themselves as writers. Part of that is because magazines worry about their voice.” – Chuck Klosterman, American journalist who has written for The New York Times Magazine.
“I hate racial discrimination most intensely and all its manifestations. I have fought all my life; I fight now, and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one, whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes me feel that I am a Black man in a White man’s court.” -Nelson Mandela
THE DEMISE OF PRINT
I love visiting magazine shops as much as bookstores, although sometimes it’s as noisy as the city streets, it gives me the right visual rush I need as a photographer. My favorite magazine shops are where I can also use my rusty arabic language (that I miss using more often).
The last conversation I had with some Turkish and Egyptian magazine vendors (one of the largest magazine shop in NYC now was renovated half its original size) is that magazine business is not doing well, probably the worst in the history of magazine sales, at least coming from the people who sell the magazines themselves as a livelihood, in fact most of their outlets are closing down one by one, around 400 print magazines closed their business in 2009 alone and it is predicted that more will follow, most of the magazine shops (small or large-scale) around the city are also closing their businesses as a domino effect caused by the global recession and the inevitable demise of the print magazine.
1540 AD
Staring at the floor to ceiling wallpaper of crisp fashion magazines, I can’t help but wonder why in a year like 2010 in a multi-colored country like America, in a city like New York (one of the biggest magazine consumers in the world), all I can see is white, with a dash of minority sprinkled in.
Since 1540 AD (american colonial era), Racism in the United States has been a major issue. The Caucasians historically have dominated the country and it’s not a secret, the countries’ minorities– Native Americans, African-Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, Arab-Americans, American Jews, Irish Americans and some other immigrant groups and their descendants have carried the heaviest burdens of racism in history. Go ahead, visit the closest magazine shop to you and flip through the “fashion magazines” within your arms reach and see it for yourself.
Every other year a racism controversy will explode and the magazine editors will scramble to get Naomi Campbell’s familiar face on a cover. Protesting will be everywhere and the designers and magazine editors will try to mix it up a bit waiting for the protesters to go quiet again in the western front. Once it does the fashion leaders will go back to ‘normal’ which is ‘color white’, racism in fashion has always been a game of hide and seek, as long as the victims (minorities) don’t notice its ok. The breeding ground of racism is right in front of me, the magazine stand full of blondes and every dollar I spent to purchase a copy of the ‘white peoples’ exclusive vision of a ‘fashion world’, I have contributed to the century-old ugly tradition of racism in America.
HIGH FASHION ADS PULLOUT WHEN IT’S A NON-WHITE COVER
The fear of low sales and advertisers pulling back prevents editors from putting dark-skinned models or celebrities on the covers of fashion/women’s magazines (which are mostly Caucasian owned). Fashion magazines claiming their backs against the wall, magazine’s sole income comes from advertisers and it’s a “numbers game at the end of the day”, it’s all business nothing personal or racist.
Ok, ok, so you’re saying darker skinned faces don’t sell, but why does this translate into the offices of fashion magazines as well. Does the advertiser and the magazine consumers also not want to see darker skinned magazine editors-in-chief, darker skinned fashion photographers, darker skinned editorial staffs, darker skinned writers? Or does it mean that people of colour are just that incompetent? Is there a reason minorities voices and point of views are not represented in your magazines?
It is really sad to see your heroes, the artist, the visionaries, the so-called envelope pushers, the fearless fashion forward-ers being tied up, backs against the wall like a Steven Klein image, helpless and defeated by America’s Racial Capitalism, people don’t want to talk about it too, nobody wants to talk about race especially if the race that is benefiting from the discrimination is the race of your birth, it’s a dead dog on the sidewalk, people don’t want to look at. And its worst for the minorities who are not doing anything about it.
Are we comfortable with the situation now?
Vogue was built on the foundation of white affluence and wealth like the images above, which are obviously Anna Wintour’s wet dreams.
…before she uses a real life Asian princess or an Asian actress for the cover of her ‘Fashion Bible’ Vogue.
MEXICANS OF THE PACIFIC
They say that Filipinos are the Mexicans of the Pacific, they say that a person of Filipino ancestry have the propensity to do otherwise Mexican jobs like cleaning hotel rooms, yard work, nursing in aquatic Pacific rim nations and the fact that in all the south-east asian nations, Philippines had been colonized and forced to slavery more than their neighboring countries in asian history.
When Vogue Magazine was founded as a weekly publication by the caucasian Arthur Baldwin Turnure in 1892 and picked up by the caucasian Condé Nast in 1909, everybody knows that “the fashion bible” or “the world’s most influential fashion magazine today” was built on the foundation of white affluence and wealth as their core consumers, the old money such as the Vanderbilt and Roosevelt families (Dutch Caucasian descent), the Rockefeller, Heinz, and Astor families (German Caucasian descent), the Du Pont family (French Caucasian descent), the Carnegie, Getty and Forbes families (Scottish Caucasian descent), some of them might have even own black or south indian slaves somewhere in history depending on their locations.
The White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP), in reference to white North Americans from the British Isles, particularly of English descent, who were Protestant in religious affiliation. It initially applied to people with histories in the upper class Northeastern establishment, who were alleged to form a powerful élite. The same descent as 99% of all the editors-in-chief, fashion photographers, editorial staffs, writers, interns, publishers, fashion models of every fashion magazines that ever existed in human history. Now where does the Native Americans, African-Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, Arab-Americans fit in the pretty white picture of Vogue History? Where does an ‘Asian-Mexican’ like me fit in the picture?
ANNA WINTOUR
Can you blame Vogue Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the proclaimed queen of American Fashion for just merely following the hundred years tradition and point of view of all the Caucasian women that came before her? Like Vogue US Editor-in-Chiefs Josephine Redding (1892-1901), Marie Harrison (1901-1914), Edna Woolman Chase (1914- 1951), Jessica Daves (1952-1963), Diana Vreeland (1963-1971), and Grace Mirabella (1971-1988), Vogue UK Editor-in-Chiefs Elspeth Champcommunal (1916-1922), Dorothy Todd (1923-1926), Alison Settle (1926-1934), Elizabeth Penrose (1934-1940), Audrey Withers (1940-1961), Ailsa Garland (1961-1965), Beatrix Miller (1965-1984), even Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chiefs Cosette Vogel (1922-1927), Main Bocher (1927-1929), Michel de Brunhoff (1929-1954), Edmonde Charles-Roux (1954-1966), Francine Crescent (1968-1987) and yes the current Editor-in-Chiefs of Vogue UK and Vogue Paris is also both white, Alexandra Shulman (1992-present), and Carine Roitfeld (2001-present).
Watch the documentary The September Issue again and tell me its not a proof that Vogue belongs to one point of view, one race, and Andrey Leon Talley is a token mascot.
If Vogue Magazine is the grandaddy of all fashion magazine’s that existed out there, it has set a trend, a blueprint (or a whiteprint?) and a tradition of having one unifying voice of fashion, the ‘white voice’.
Unlike the other Vogue editions worldwide (Vogue China, Vogue India, Vogue Japan, Vogue Korea, Vogue Mexico, Vogue Taiwan and the newly launched Vogue Turkey) the western Vogue editions are the proclaimed ‘FASHION BIBLE for the rest of the world, and they’re representative of a multi-colored nation. Most people who works at Vogue US actually believes they are a part of human history, every time they launch the latest cover they feel like they are contributing to the welfare of humanity, its in their memos, letters, emails, notes like, “we are making history”, this is the regular mantra going around the Vogue office or Condé Nast office, maybe it’s one of the reasons most of the people who worked there have a giant ego filled head like Anna Wintour (literally or metaphorically), they really believe that they are saving the world with their desk jobs. A pretty idiotic ideal from a magazine that has less and less importance day by day.
LESS THAN 1%
Here are the 14 Vogue US Covers that features minorities since it started with Editor-in-Chief Josephine Redding in 1892. It seems cool right? 14 whole covers.
Well its over 118 years of Vogue US- which means 1,416 covers published and 14 of them are black women, what a remarkable breakthrough right? After years of protesting, once in a while the powers at bay will throw a bone and listen and this is the outcome. 14 covers out of 1,416!!!! That’s equivalent to less than 1% of all covers dedicated to a woman of color.
VOGUE’S GLORIFICATION OF COLONIAL RACISM
Keira Knightley’s Vogue US June 2007 “Out of Africa” cover story shot by Arthur Elgort (Caucasian). Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort was born and raised in New York, Keira Knightley (Caucasian) in Teddington, Greater London, England, and Vogue US Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (Caucasian) in London, England.
“American Vogue is a sad joke–the racism and elitist mentality of Vogue is astonishing. The few minorities featured in this magazine reek of tokenism and I would respect them more if they simply had no African-Americans, Asians or Latinos in their magazine.
The fact that they hide their racism and ignorance with subterfuge offends even more. ?Vogue magazine truly embodies all that is wrong in our culture while actually distorting all that is good–sycophancy and rampant cronyism abound while real talent is all but ignored. Unfortunately reading pop culture periodicals is work related but it gets very depressing.”
- A Commenter To Cathy Horyn, Vogue Contributor & Journalist -
THE BLACK MAN AS THE BEAST
Gisele Bündchen (Brazillian) and LeBron James’ Vogue US April 2008 cover shot by Annie Leibovitz (Jewish-American), was the third time that Vogue featured a male on the cover of the US issue (the other two being George Clooney and Richard Gere), and the first time with a black man. It was perceived as a prejudiced depiction of James beside the much smaller Gisele in a pose reminiscent of King Kong carrying off Fay Wray. Vogue US (of course) denied all allegations of racism as hidden context. Anna Wintour (British Caucasian) is the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue US.
THE NEW IS ALWAYS WHITE
Vanity Fair’s New Hollywood March 2010 cover shot by Annie Leibovitz (Jewish-American), featuring the actresses who embody the new muse of (white) Hollywood is one of the magazine’s all white women issues.
While race is still a hotly debated topic in the 21st century, with “racism” being the hot iron that no-one wants to touch, it is obvious that the cover definitely lacks diversity. There are no Asian, Black or Hispanic actresses added to the ‘Vanity Fair’ cover, in the same batch Zoe Saldana stars in the two blockbuster films of the year Avatar and Star Trek, Gabourey Sidibe was nominated for an Oscar best actress for the film Precious. Photographer Annie Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and Vanity Fair Editor-in-chief Graydon Carter (Caucasian) in Toronto, Canada.
V MAGAZINE NEVER FEATURES BLACK GIRLS ALONE
Gabourey Sidibe and Dakota Fanning’s V Magazine Jan 2010 covers shot by Dutch duo Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, is one of the very very few covers of the magazine that features a non-white since its launch in 1999, and everytime they feature a black celebrity/model they need to have multi-covers with a white celebrity/model (like this ‘Size Issue Covers”). V Magazine & VMAN Editor-in-chief Stephen Gan was born and raised in the Philippines, photographer Lamsweerde & Matadin (Caucasians) was both born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
WHITEWASH
Ladies and Gentlemen meet Stephen Gan, a Filipino, born and raised in the Philippines with Filipino parents, creative director at Harper’s Bazaar, co-founder of Visionaire, editor-in-chief of V Magazine and Vman magazine and he loves everything white, this is one of those rare chances a minority actually becomes a powerful head in fashion but somehow lacks substance, and heads the opposite way, he rarely uses minorities in all of his covers (in front and behind the camera) and even tries to deny his roots as much as possible, talk about self-loathing.
THE INTERVIEW REPORT
Hispanic or Latino population in the US is 46.9 million (15.4%). Eva Mendes’ Interview Magazine August 2008 cover shot by Mikael Jansson (Richard Avedon’s former assistant) & Jay-Z’s February 2010 cover shot by Craig Mcdean are two of the latest and rare Interview covers that features minorities since it was founded by artist Andy Warhol (Caucasian) and John Wilcock (Caucasian) in late 1969. Eva Mendes was born in Miami, Florida to Cuban parents, Craig Mcdean (Caucasian) in England & Mikael Jansson (Caucasian) in Sweden.
THE GQ REPORT
Asian population in the US is 13.4 million (4.4%). Greg Louganis’ GQ May 1988 cover, with editor-in-chief Art Cooper (1983–2003), is the second Asian man (part Samoan) on GQ Magazine cover, the first was baseball player Ron Darling (part Hawaiian-Chinese) of the New York Mets -1980, then Jackie Chan -August 1996 cover (born in Hong Kong), Tiger Woods -April 1997 cover (half Thai), Keanu Reeves -May 2003 cover (part Hawaiian/Chinese), and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Samoan) that equals to two Asian and Pacific Islander men every decade.
BLACKFACE IS STILL IN FASHION
English of African descent officially residing in the UK currently number about 1.1 million (2.0%). Kate Moss in London’s Independent newspaper Sept 2006 with designer Giorgio Armani (Caucasian) as guest editor, the Caucasian Supermodel with her skin done up to make her look black for the African issue – next to Moss’s picture was a caption that read: “NOT a fashion statement.” Indy’s cover provoked a lot of head-scratching. And it lit up the online world with debate about whether or not the Kate Moss picture was an insult to Africa. Or worse, was it downright racist? Kate Moss was born in the UK, and Giorgio Armani in Italy.
COLONIAL TIMES
Colonial mentality refers to institutionalised or systemic feelings of inferiority within some societies or peoples who have been subjected to colonialism, relative to the mores or values of the foreign powers which had previously subjugated them.
As of 2004, Americans formed 2.4% of the total population of registered foreigners in Japan, with 51,851 U.S. citizens residing there. Ash Stymest’s VOGUE HOMMES JAPAN (issue #1) July 2008 cover shot by Hedi Slimane with fashion director Nicola Formichetti marks a historical moment for fashion, the first major Japanese fashion magazine with all Japanese text that exclusively uses Caucasian models for covers, and mostly Caucasian photographers (Josh Olins, Steven Klein, Benjamin Alexander Huseby) since it was founded. Photographer Hedi Slimane was born in Paris, France with Italian, Tunisian-Brazilian origins, Nicola Formichetti in Japan to an Italian father and a Japanese mother and VOGUE HOMMES JAPAN Editor-in-Chief Kazuhiro Saito was born and raised in Japan.
THE BIG BLACK TRANNY IN FRENCH VOGUE
French of African descent officially residing in France currently number about 4.2 million. Andre J (Patricia Field’s stylist) and Caroline Murphy’s Vogue Paris Nov 2007 cover shot by Uncle Bruce Weber (Caucasian), is the first Vogue Paris cover with a black male and the fashion blogosphere called it “the Big Black Tranny in French Vogue”. The fact that the minorities are being rarely used, infront or behind the camera, they should give them more dignity when they are. Photographer Bruce Weber was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld (Caucasian) in Paris, France.
A WHITE VIEW OF FASHION
2005 – $50 Million was paid to Class Members headed by Gonzalez in Abercrombie & Fitch Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement. 2003 – Three separate lawsuits in New Jersey, California and Ohio have been filed against A&F for having racist hiring practices.
2002 – A&F sold a shirt that featured the slogan “Wong Brothers Laundry Service—Two Wongs Can Make It White” with smiling figures in conical straw hats, a depiction of early Chinese immigrants. The man behind the creation of an A&F world of old money and Waspy right wing pretension for decades to the present is the caucasian photographer Bruce Weber.
The Devil Really Wears Prada
The book & movie suggest Vogue editor Anna Wintour does. Prada S/S 09 campaign shot by Steven Meisel (caucasian) is set for an all white season, the high-end Prada has been consistently a force in exclusively using Caucasian models, black girls are token, Asians and Latinos non-existent.
Before British newbie Jourdan Dunn walked the Prada runway in 08, the last minority walked for them in Fall 1997 (exactly 11 years) and she is Naomi Campbell.
The last time a minority appeared in a Prada ad campaign? 1994, also with Supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Prada, Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, Jil Sander, Chloë and Versace sent an all-white girl casting for the Spring of 2008. Miuccia Prada was born and raised in Italy.
THE FUTURE FOR MINORITIES
“The breeding ground of racism is right in front of me, the magazine stand full of blondes and every dollar I spent to purchase a copy of the ‘white peoples’ exclusive vision of a ‘fashion world’, I have contributed to the century-old ugly tradition of racism in America.” – Navo
Writing in Naiveboy.com makes me realize a lot of things about myself and my new found indignation, my priorities and how can I be more consistent as a photographer, a writer and a minority that is trying to showcase a sense of common humanity that transcends skin colour in all of my work.
The journey that I had to endure writing and researching this article has been a rollercoaster, one thing I’ve noticed that more younger people are angered by racism in fashion and the older generations are more the source of racism and denial.
What can I do as an individual? Start with myself, be aware of every decision and choices that I do, whether it’s purchasing or subscribing to a magazine that doesn’t promote racism, whether it’s choosing the next models for my own projects. There is a way not to sacrifice your aesthetic just to be politically correct, by following what is right and what is human.
THE FOLLOWING ARE GROUNDBREAKING MOMENTS IN FASHION PUBLISHING THAT SUGGEST THE TREND IS SHIFTING
Sessilee Lopez, Chanel Iman, Arlenis Sosa Pena & Jourdan Dunn’s i-D Sept 2009 cover shot by Emma Summerton & styled by Edward Enninful, a historical moment for fashion, a publication known for setting trends & breaking moulds among other things, is now set to be the first fashion magazine to use women of colour on the cover of its September issue with the leadership of i-D Editor-in-Chief/Creative Director (former Vogue art director) Terry Jones.
American Vogue led by Anna Wintour consistently uses Caucasian women for all her September issues (mostly Blondes), as well as majority of US Fashion Magazines. Photographer Emma Summerton was born in Australia, and Edward Enninful in Ghana.
Italians of African descent officially residing in Italy currently number about 755,000 residents. Black or African American population in the US is 37.6 million. Liya Kebede, Sessilee Lopez, Jourdan Dunn and Naomi Campbell’s Vogue Italia July 2008 covers shot by Steven Meisel (American), is the first Vogue Magazine ” Black Issue” in the world. Anna Wintour (British Caucasian) is the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue US, Franca Sozzani (Italian) the Editor-in Chief of Vogue Italia.
“I’ve asked my advertising clients so many times, ‘Can we use a black girl?’ They say no. Advertisers say black models don’t sell.”- Steven Meisel
Du Juan and Gemma Ward’s Vogue Paris October 2005 cover shot by Patrick Demarchelier, a historical moment for fashion, the first and only asian model ever to be featured on the cover of Vogue Paris, sharing limelight with the Caucasian Beauty. Du Juan was born in Shanghai, China, Gemma Ward in Perth, Western Australia, Photographer Patrick Demarchelier in Paris, France, and Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld in Paris, France.
Rose Cordero’s Vogue Paris March 2010 cover (STILL OUT NOW) shot by the iconic Mert and Marcus, a historical moment for fashion, the first Vogue Paris cover for a black model since 2002. Photographer Mert Alas was born in Turkey, Marcus Piggott in Wales, and Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld in Paris, France.
Keanu Reeves’ Vogue Hommes International Paris Spring/Summer 2009 cover shot by British-born photographer/former actress Amanda De Cadenet, a historical moment for fashion, the first time the magazine used an Asian man and a minority for its cover and probably the first for a major french men’s fashion magazine.
Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon with an English mother & American father with Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese and English descent, Photographer Amanda De Cadenet was born in UK, Vogue Hommes International Paris Editor-in-Chief Olivier Lalanne and Editorial Director Carine Roitfeld in France.
Seijo Imazaki’s Rodeo Italy June 2009 cover, that I shot with Art Director Tim McIntyre (former Arena Homme Plus art director), the second time for an Asian to be in a Italian fashion magazine cover (first was Seijo in L’Uomo Vogue) and the first for an Asian photographer.
Seijo Imazaki has been photographed by Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Paolo Roversi, Michelangelo di Batista and Steven Klein. Photographer Lope Navo was born in the Philippines, Seijo Imazaki in Westchester, NY (Japanese father and a Swedish-American mother) and Art Director Tim McIntyre in Australia.
English of Indian descent officially residing in UK currently number about 1 million people (1.8% of the country’s population). Lakshmi Menon’s Dazed and Confused April 2009 cover shot by Josh Olins and styled by Nicola Formichetti, a historical moment for fashion, the first UK based fashion magazine cover for a Keralan beauty. Lakshmi Menon was born in Bangalore, India, Photographer Josh Olins in London, England, Stylist Nicola Formichetti in Japan to an Italian father and a Japanese mother.
________________________
OTHER LINKS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/01/vanity-fairs-hollywood-is_n_444763.html
http://micpohling.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/methink-no-dark-skin-for-fashion-magazine-cover/
http://www.racialicious.com/2007/08/18/vogues-glorification-of-colonial-racism/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1566142/Dame-Vivienne-attacks-racist-magazines.html
Navo is a globetrotting fashion and documentary photographer whose rich cultural heritage is evident in the unique aesthetic he acquired through his travels. At the age of 27 he has lived and worked as a painter, graphic designer and a photographer in the cities of Riyadh, Dhahran, Dubai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Bangkok, New York and Berlin.
His signature style uses erotic overtones, surrealism, and cinema to inject texture and story to his photographs.
