Is Ajak Deng too black for Balmain?
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| IMG Model Ajak Deng |
Ajak Deng a gorgeous Sudanese model who’s been
turning heads in the fashion industry for her graceful poise and strikingly
beautiful features recently caused controversy after she claimed that a high-street
brand, Balmain rejected her for being “too
black”. The gutsy model then took to her twitter to express her disgust
with the heavy-weight fashion brand. Deng further implied that racist
mentalities like that of Balmain’s remain rampant within the fashion industry,
stating “a lot of black models would
rather kiss ass than be honest”. Balmain’s refusal to comment on Deng’s outrage just adds insult to injury. What I am curious is as to why the fashion
world is being so tight-lipped about an issue that has clouded the industry for
so long.
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| Deng's Tweets against Balmain came as a shock to twitter users |
Although to be fair it would be impossible to deny
that Balmain did indeed have a diverse line up for their runway. Opening up
with highly successful black model Jourdan Dunn ; however, other than sharing
skin color one can see that Dunn and Deng are not similar in aesthetics to say
in the least. Not to say Jourdan Dunn who has worked very hard to become so
established within the industry has not had her own battles with racism. In
fact Dunn has spoken out on numerous occasions expressing her blunt disgust
with the hidden discrimination towards ethnic models within the fashion
industry: “I find it weird when agents say “you’re the only black model booked for
the show, isn't that great?!” Why is that great? I don’t know why people applaud designers for having only one ethnic model. It’s not like only one type
of woman loves fashion”. On the contrary to be realistic it’s undeniable
that many of the ethnic models used in Balmain’s campaign were much fairer than
the stunning dark skinned beauty. The question designers are now faced with is
no longer whether to include black beauty but what type of black beauty onto
their runways and shows. In a society in
which the dominant discourse is that the fairer your skin the more beautiful
you are, where do we place Deng? Do
you think there is an aversion to being black in fashion or cosmetic
industries? When was the last time you’ve seen people resemble Deng on your
screen? How do you think ethnic models from the past would have reacted had
they had social media at their disposal?
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| Jourdan Dunn |
Progress is being made slowly but surely with Puerto
Rican model Joan Smalls and British Model Jourdan Dunn dominating runways. The
praise for Lupita Nyongo’s timeless beauty echoing all over Hollywood and the
world, simply shows that we are as a
society finally acknowledging that beauty comes in all different shades. I
think it’s time for Balmain to step up and get with the program because in an
increasingly multicultural society there is simply no room for racism!
As you've mentioned, it is the dominant discourse have fair skin therefore, until society changes it there will always be people opposing people like Deng. It is really discriminatory to refuse someone because they are "too black" and I do believe, as a human, she has the right to dignity. We still do see models like Deng but it is not as noticed as fair skinned, tanned models who are now portrait in the Fashion industry. As you can see, majority of the Fashion magazines have fair skinned models. We can see that with Covergirl, most of the models are fair skinned.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your comment because most of the models representing high label fashion industries are either Caucasian or fair/tan ethnic models!
DeleteI totally agree with you. I feel that although these fashion industries have very recently been adding dark-skinned models into their advertisements, they do so only to try to prove that they are all for equality in order to attract customers and positive publicity. This could also be the reason why they only add a few dark models; they want to be seen as pro-equality, but don't actually want to make the statement overpower their views by adding more dark models to their ads.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a really good point Adri-Ann many of these labels are now starting to include ethnic models because they want to be seen multicultural and attract good publicity. But when reading stories like Deng's we are forced to open our eyes to this much harsher reality.
DeleteCan I just say that Black is Beautiful? Many people in the world including black people make it seem like being of a darker skin tone basically defines your beauty. You will hear "You're beautiful for a dark skin". CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THAT MEANS BECAUSE I HAVE TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING. So what if you seen an ugly person who was of a fairer skin tone would people say "You're ugly for a light skin" or "you're ugly for a white skin?" I just don't understand, does this imply that dark skins are typically ugly and people of fairer skin typically pretty? Whats tood out for me in this article is when she pointed out that they would say that you're the only black women in the show? I don't understand why that even needs to be said. I also don't understand why she would be the only black person, isn't there a demand for diversity? But I want to not focus on the thought of only black, whites, and lighter toned people. Does anyone not notice the lack of diversity in the fashion industry. As if black and white people are the only people on this earth. I barley see East Asians, South Asian, South american, etc. people in the fashion industry.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with your comment black is beautiful along with every other complexion people need to realize this. Comments like you've mentioned "your pretty for a light skin" are completely disrespectful and have plagued the black community as well as countless other communities. It's the reason why bleaching products are so successful in Africa and Asia. You also raised the point about not many others races being represented which is very true and when they are represented there often models who are again very fair and can pass for Caucasian.
DeleteAlthought I do see more models with darker complexions in ads, like Adri-Ann said is all for the publicity. Even though more models with darker complexions are appearing, they are still of lighter complexion. For example Jourdan Dunn, although she is considered 'darker skinned' she still looks as if she is only half black. Her complexion is so fair many would have even assumed she was of Latin decent.
ReplyDeleteIn cases like Ajak, where she would've been a great model for the company and their clothes, I believe not enough progress has been made. For people to still be discriminated against due to the colour of their skin in 2014 is ludicrous.
I completely agree with you and Adri-Ann's comments. these darker skin models are only being accepted because of the good public attention they'll bring instead of their talent or look. Jourdan Dunn because of her fairer skin is easier to accept by these labels because as you've stated she does look mixed race almost Latina. Ajak Deng would have been an absolutely great model for Balmian but I guess it's their loss.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Paula's comment. I feel like people will just say "You are beautiful for a dark skin". What about their facial features or the other African ethnicities with beautiful hair? The media will represent a couple dark skin models, just to show the society that there is equality shown. This, I do not agree, because they will only show one dark skin model, and tell the viewers that this dark skin model represents beauty. There shouldn't just be one ethnicity of dark skins. It should be more multicultural with different backgrounds. Using one African model is basically telling the media that they have used one just for publicity and that there shouldn't be no more complains about discrimination. Adding on to your question, fairer skin colors will be more dominant, and considered more beautiful. If the society brought more black women to the fashion industry, then the beauty of dark skin models will be expressed more.
ReplyDeleteAjak Deng was rejected, because she was "too black", which does not make sense to me a lot. In a regular community, there is always people who are the same color as Ajak Deng. Should they feel discriminated and disrespected as well, because they are too black?
Like Paula said, the media only expresses one type of beauty. You will rarely see Asians, Middle Easterns, Spanish and African beauty. There is many beauty around the world, but none is shown because media does not express it. The dominance beauty that is shown in media is White American women. Does this not give other ethnicities insecurities?