On Wednesday night, Vogue Italia revealed its May issue cover featuring a very, very tan Gigi Hadid. At first glance, the photo taken by the famous Steven Klein looks almost nothing like Hadid thanks to her dramatically altered skin tone (and nose?).
Some were quick to call out the photo for being racially insensitive and accused the model of performing blackface. “Why hire a black model when we can paint Gigi’s complete body and face to look like one,” one Instagram user wrote.
Others simply criticized the shoot for being such an obvious departure from Hadid’s typically pale skin. “Looks nothing like her, looks like she overdid it on the tan,” wrote another user.
On Thursday afternoon, Hadid released a lengthy response to the criticism, conceding that the backlash is valid, while explaining that she had little to no control over the situation. The statement was shared via Twitter and Instagram on top of a photo of her on the same day of the shoot, clearly several shades lighter than she appears on the Vogue cover.
“This is a photo of me returning from shooting my Italian vogue cover on April 3,” she writes. “You can see the level I had been bronzed to on set that day. Please understand that my control of a shoot 1. is non existent in terms of creative direction 2. ends completely when I leave set, and anything done to a photo in post is out of my control fully.”
She notes that this is often Klein's style, but admits that doesn't take away from the seriousness of the criticism.
“Although I understand what Vogue Italia's intentions were, it was not executed correctly, and the concerns that have been brought up are valid,” she wrote. “I want to address this for those who were offended by the editing/retouching/coloring of the cover. Please know that things would have been different if my control of the situation was different. Regardless, I want to apologize because my intention is never to diminish these concerns or take opportunities away from anyone else, and I hope this can be an example to other magazines and teams in the future. There are real issues regarding representation in fashion—it's our responsibility to acknowledge those issues and communicate through them to work towards a more diverse industry.”
As Page Six points out, this isn’t the first time Hadid and Vogue Italia have been accused of using blackface. In a shoot from November 2015 titled “The Power of Personality” Hadid sported an Afro-style wig with a darker skin tone.
The statement is a refreshing concede to legitimate concerns of appropriation, representation, and diversity in the fashion industry. It’s unfortunate that Vogue Italia did not learn from its previous mistake, and that it took outrage for Hadid to realize its severity, but I guess this apology is better than nothing.
