Luxury Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana presented their Spring 2013 collection on Sunday — and while the toy soldier printed dresses and striped rompers were kitschy, it was the images of dark-skinned, slave-like African women splashed on burlap-sack frocks and adorning the ears of models that made some people cringe.
In fact, the folks over at Refinery29.com called the looks “cartoonish, debasing, subaltern imagery that would make even your politically incorrect Grandpa think twice.” Ouch.
Huffington Post has a poll asking whether or not people find this racist. In my humble opinion, yes it is. I really wish the fashion industry would stop using black women’s bodies as accessories and costumes. It’s beyond insulting. Right now, the poll is at 42% of people thinking it’s racist and 57% thinking it’s not. I don’t have the heart to look at the comments.
Bomb this fucking poll guys.
Oh my god, I know the whole fashion industry is pretty fucked up, but this is one instance where I just want to stand up and shout WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
The historical fashion/design reference here, is clearly to blackamoors, which were basically fancy, glorified slaves. They’re a glitzier version of the cartoonish darkies of minstrel shows. Seriously, just put “blackamoor” into the search engine of Christie’s, it’s horrifying. and even more horrifying that people are still willing to pay large amounts of money for these dehumanizing relics of a backwards age.
Blackamoors were quite popular in the victorian age and into the beginning of the 20th century, but as the civil rights movement came, they so rightfully went out of fashion. I know so often people will romanticize the past, and think that anything from the past is somehow better because hey, those were the good old days right? The good old days never existed, and there’s often a good reason why things change and go out of style.
Not to mention the damn dress looks really ugly.
:l
You know, I didn’t think too much about the dress - but the earrings takes the entire outfit too far.
Yes! The images are definitely racist. 62.34%
No. It’s not a big deal. 37.66%
