When you think about the word “diversity,” what comes to mind? A white lady dressed up as a geisha? No?
That’s weird. Because in an attempt to celebrate diversity, “Vogue” prominently featured Karlie Kloss shot in Japan and styled as, that’s right, a geisha.
Related:Designers refused to dress Ashley Graham for British Vogue The tone-deaf spread has everything: a sumo wrestler; Kloss with a long black weave tumbling effortlessly down her back; she’s even walking down the stairs of a tea house… dressed as a geisha. The Cut notes that Vogue has a sordid history of publishing culturally insensitive fashion editorials, but it kind of seems like they could have had a better understanding of the word diversity and what it actually encompasses. Related:The Weeknd’s new song puts Justin Bieber on blast After the blowback, the 24-year-old model tweeted an apology, writing, “These images appropriate a culture that is not my own and I am truly sorry for participating in a shoot that was not culturally sensitive.”
— Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) February 15, 2017
Okay, cute apology or whatever. Clearly, baby’s been talking to a PR professional. “Vogue,” unsurprisingly, has yet to respond.
But also? How much longer are we going to have to deal with this whitewashing nonsense? It’s getting old, man.
