How’s this for a happy MLK Day?
The online magazine Buro 247 has published a story about Dasha Zhukova, the Russian editor-in-chief of Garage magazine, which shows the editrix perched atop a chair designed to look like a half-naked black woman. Ugh.
Note: the image has since been cropped on the website to only show Zhukova and not the chair. We have reached out to Miroslava Duma the editor of Buro 247 for
Claire Sulmers, the editor of FashionBombDaily.com, alerted us to the unfortunate feature and calls the image an example of “white dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way.”
We couldn’t agree more. Although the chair also comes in “white woman,” we can’t help but be filled with anger and frustration over the onslaught of negative imagery, constant disregard and unabashed bigotry that continues to plague the fashion industry. From Bethann Hardison’s crusade to end racism on the runway to our attempt to educate society over and over and over again about the nonsense that is Blackface — the stories of racially insensitive absurdity are never ending.
Sulmers goes on to point out that the chair appears to be inspired by a collection designed by British pop artist Allen Jones in 1969. Yet this specific use of a black woman’s figure strikes a deeper cord. “The art and fashion industries are the few bastions of society where blatant racism and ignorance are given the greenlight in the name of creativity,” Sulmers writes.
Well it certainly seems that way, and this Buro 247 editorial is just another layer of icing on the cake.
And here are just a few of the outraged messages regarding the article we found via Twit
ter:
Extremely disappointed in Miroslava Duma and Buro247 for posting this nonsense, especially on a day like today. smh. https://t.co/oTYxYDJ7Hk
— Nikia (@chitown_fashion) January 20, 2014
Even in the grim, tasteless world of fashion photography, this revolting racist image- pub’d on MLK Day!- stands out: https://t.co/CkSiqVfQZM
— Alex von Tunzelmann (@alexvtunzelmann) January 20, 2014
Sometimes I just can’t with people and the fashion industry who decided that this was okay? Mira Duma Buro 247 …. https://t.co/ReQPxmOnXD
— (Ngoni)asaurus Rex (@iamnrc) January 20, 2014
This image on @buro24_7 is so disgustingly racist: https://t.co/FsNdjF2D7B Beware the sickening levels of racism in #Russia#Sochi2014
— Sunny Singh (@sunnysingh_nw3) January 20, 2014
