*British Vogue is catching some major heat for its latest cover celebrating African beauty — but many are noting how “bloody awful” the models are styled.
As reported by Urban Hollywood 411, the February 2022 cover of British Vogue features nine Black models wearing tragic wigs, and the make-up and lighting make them appear unnatural.
The cover features models Adut Akech, Anok Yai, Majesty Amare, Amar Akway, Janet Jumbo, Maty Fall, Nyagua Ruea, Abény Nhial and Akon Changkou. A behind-the-scenes video of the photoshoot posted on social media shows some of the models are lighter in skin tone.
“I saw all these incredible models from across Africa who were just so vivacious and smart,” said British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, who is British Ghanaian.
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With a new generation of African models in the spotlight, fashion is at last embracing what it is to be truly global. With British Vogue’s momentous all African February cover, meet the young women redefining what it is to be a model: https://t.co/I5J2Yps09I pic.twitter.com/WAPV2feNob
— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) January 13, 2022
Enninful continued, “Fashion tends to follow waves. We’ve had the Brazilian wave. We had the Dutch wave, the Russian wave, the Eastern European wave… And while, in the last decade, the Black model has come to prominence, I love that we are finally giving more space to African beauty.”
But critics are hardly impressed by the cover photo.
One person tweeted, “The images are very disappointing to me. The models are not well lit and they are styled in such a way that their features begin to merge with their clothing and get lost in the shadows. They are therefore unrecognisable. What a wasted opportunity.”
Another wrote, “No natural African hair? No african hair styles? No Afro? But wigs!! That black Colour and lighting is horrendous.”
“Not impressed. U should’ve done this years ago…. with better lighting and no fake hair. By the way, how many look like them or me in management with Vogue?” author and speaker Bernie Frazier tweeted.
“It’s bloody awful. The styling and aesthetic is entirely wrong. We, as usual, have been erased. This isn’t #BlackGirlMagic, it’s Black Girls Tragic. Sack the damn stylist and photographers. In fact, sack the entire team. Smdh,” writer Taiwo Williams tweeted.
“The fact people are praising them for CRUMBS! They put these models in terrible lighting, they dressed them all in black like a funeral and they have them all in terrible 60s style wigs,” another person added.
“The lighting is horrendous, the wigs are awful and so are the clothes, what a wasted opportunity, this could have been a stunning cover,” wrote another user.
What’s your take on the cover? Did the publication fail the assignment? Sound off in the comments.
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