KARACHI: The iconic model Naomi Campbell is one of the most recognizable faces today and was the most in-demand model of the late 80’s and 90’s. According to Time magazine, she is also one of the six models of her generation to be declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. This qualifies her as someone with evident experience and know-how of the fashion industry and hence when she recently took to Twitter to call out Elle Germany for the faults in their issue titled ‘Back To Black’, we all immediately took notice.
The model expressed in a long post on how disappointing it was for her to come across an issue with a title as misleading as ‘Back To Black’ and highlighted that women of colour should not be treated as exotic beings that are a passing interest or trend. She stated, “You go further to say that BACK TO BLACK, even if you [meant] the fashion it’s misleading [in] your headline and type !! ! I’ve said countless of times we are not a TREND. We are here to STAY. It’s ok to celebrate models of colour but please do it in an ELEGANT and RESPECTFUL way.”
The mistakes in the issue don’t end there; there was an embarrassing mix up of one of the model’s names where model Naomi Chin Wing’s name was written as Janaye Furman. Naomi was quick to comment on how women of colour would find it so disappointing to not even have their correct name written next to their face. Lastly, the model stated “If you would like a conversation to [on] how to have a diverse mind, we are here to sit and accommodate. It’s very important for a publication to be culturally sensitive and give credit where it’s due. We all need to unite on this matter.”
Elle Germany has since then issued a statement apologizing for their erroneous magazine issue.
