Is this the Crassest thing EVER? (Warning - DM Alert)

[Cloudbase]

Sorry, as I did find this in the DM, but honestly, how crass is this?

"Mmm, shall I find a stunning model of colour and use her to take some beautiful pictures? Or shall I just black up Claudia Schiffer?" and then and then some

Eeek! Crass Alert!

Oh honestly, when will they learn? There was a near-identical flap re a Vogue shoot not so long ago, diff model but same idiotic "concept"

Sorry if that sounded like my scorn was directed at you for posting on this -- it wasn't! I was directing the at the fools who keep coming up with these "boundary-breaking" photo shoot ideas ...

No worries, I realised! Shame on Claudia though...(mind you, she did date David Copperfield for years, so perhaps her mind is not what it once was )

I see absolutely no problem with this.

Here is the other thing I was remembering:

link

Of course context and indeed intention do matter, but it's still lame as anything and nowhere near as clever as they seem to think.

That's it really - there are so many amazing black models, why dress Claudia up in some sort of Blaxploitation chic and black her up!

I have no doubt that no harm was intended, that they didn't mean to cause offence, but just can't believe really that nowhere in the process did anyone flag up the idea that it might be a bit..er unwise

Tbh, it's the blacking up I can't get over

The point was not to portray a beautiful black woman though. It was to portray Claudia Schiffer posing as a black woman, a sort of (to me anyway) inexplicable Claudia Schiffer-related fantasy. Using a black model would not have achieved the (strange) aim of the photographer.

Why is turning white women black compelling to some people? I find modelling disrespectful to women in general no matter what colour their skin is, and no matter what the makeup artists do with them.

If you're going to objectify women by painting, dressing, posing and then photographing them anyway, why not go to the lengths of blacking or whiteing them up? (Although you don't generally see black models rendered white)

Yes, but what exactly is the fantasy? That men fantasise about black women, Marie Antoinette, Secretarys etc, or that they fantasise about Claudia Schiffer blacked up to look like a black woman, Marie Antoinette, etc.

Either way, it seems a bit dodgy to me and at best, very patronising

That's the question I want to ask too -- I gathered from the article that Claudia Schiffer in different guises was what the photos revolved around.

I think for some photographers life must be like having a Barbie collection and an extensive wardrobe for them all. Same face, different skin and hair colour, clothes on and off, photos taken. Not exactly mature.

She looks pretty awful.

So, thinks Karl Largerfeld, having a lightbulb moment of creative 'genius', let us dress up Claudia Schiffer in the mode of men's fantasies - that will really push the artistic envelope!

Claudia as Marie Antoinette, Claudia as 'sexy secretary' (Yawn..Zzzzz), Claudia as Pam Grier...Oh! Hang on a minute, I see a small creative glitch - Claudia is blonde and very very white. Shall I call Naomi, Alek, Tyra, Jourdan? Naaah, let's just black up Claudia and call it 'art'

The bottom line is that when I look at the picture, on no level at all, do I think "Doesn't Claudia look great as a black woman!". I just think "Uuuugghh that's just wrong" and that's my honest to goodness gut response. Every instinct in me finds this very weird/crass/distasteful and while we're at it, arrogant. I assume La Lagerfeld thought that no-one would object, 'Because it's Karl'

Lagerfeld's a jerk in any case - wasn't it he who dismissed people concerned about excessively thin models as 'fat mummies who eat crisps'? So this is par for the course really. The sooner he retires the better but sadly he'll probably carry on being offensive until the bitter end.

Horrible but she's an airhead

It's racist. It's arrogant. it's thoughtless.
And - even though this would not at all justify it - the pics aren't even that good 'artistically'.

Ah, just noticed the Lagerfeld bit. Yes, the man with over 70 ipods. He's sane. Pity the poor assistant.

Is he the orange fashion designer?