'African Queen' editorial uses white model

French fashion magazine features white teen model painted in blackface.

By Charyn Pfeuffer - MSN Living Editor Feb 26, 2013 9:01PM

The fashion world has been known to push the boundaries of what’s socially acceptable and without a doubt, stir controversy.

In the March 2013 issue of Numéro magazine, 16-year-old white model Ondria Hardin appears drenched in a very deep bronze for a fashion spread called "African Queen,” reports Jezebel.com.

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Hello! This would have been the perfect opportunity to hire a black model, as there are fewer job opportunities for non-white models. Eighty-two percent of the models at New York Fashion Week this season were white, cites Jezebel.

More than 150 people have commented on author Laura Beck’s article, including this one from “fashionlady”

“Can I just say as a young black model (I'm a girl) having worked my ass for the past 3 years, this hurts my soul. I'm happy for Ondria as a person but the amount of times I have been told ‘oh sorry we already have a black girl that looks like you’ or ‘most of our clients dont hire black girls, sorry’ and then I see THIS, it pisses me off! There are so many beauitful black models out there working TWICE as hard for barely half the recognition and the only time they give a shit about us is when they need our dark skin for some ‘ethnic’ photo shoot and in this case with Ondria, they couldn't even be bothered. Can I see a black girl do SCANDANAVIAN PRINCESS please? Hmmm?”

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This is not the first incident a magazine has caused a cultural stir.

In 2009, Vogue was accused of racism for using photos of white model, Lara Stone, with her face and body darkened in brown make-up.

Do you think it’s okay to use a white teen model in an "African Queen" spread?

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2869Comments

Newest

Mar 10, 2013 12:41AM

man show the true nature of this woman....looks like she is beautiful never seen a black person with white makeup on

Previous replies

Russell Fedrick

Mar 10, 2013 12:37AM

sure there are whites in Africa so use them....dont make a white person up to be black

Previous replies

TOADSmushroomshrink

Mar 7, 2013 7:02PM

Another thing that bothers me is Black women (not all) always try to portray white women especially in the world of fashion but the minute a white woman trys to portray a black... OMG! You have black women who dye their hair blonde, get colored contacts of blue and green, bleach their skin to make them lighter, straighten their hair for hours and get all these perms and add weave to make their hair super long to try and portray they have "Good" hair, go get nose jobs to make their nose more "likeable" so to speak... but the minute a white girl go gets a tan, adds some braids or something! Good Lord people have nothing else better to complain about!

Previous replies

TOADSmushroomshrink

Mar 7, 2013 6:42PM

My problem with most comments here is almost every person complaining and commenting act like the only people with a suntan are black people.. white girls can have a tan.... like the women from Brazil have suntans and no they are not spray on.. another race with natural suntans considered to be "Caucasian" or "white" are Jewish people as well as Italians so do me a favor and get over yourself... Just because they painted her bronze doesn't mean they wanted her TO LOOK BLACK!!! Blacks are not the only freaking race that can tan!

Previous replies

pippif1

Mar 5, 2013 8:22PM

and hands!!

Previous replies

pippif1

Mar 5, 2013 8:20PM

An African can be white, but it's quite apparent they wanted a darker hued person for this particular shoot as evidenced by the dark makeup covering the Caucasian model's entire face. #just saying