The Atlantic: Fashion’s Racism and Classism Are Finally Out of Style

[canto bight]

I didn't know were to post/ask for this so here might be the right place.
I follow lots of luxury brands fan pages on IG and they re post pictures of fashionistas rocking ther designer accessories, outfits etc..
And I notice something weird and would like to understand as we are the one liking the posts:
Whenever you see picture of a dark/black lady on those feed, the post has fewer likes than the average. It's very bizare that sometimes (most of the time actually), a picture of a beautiful dark skin in a stunning outfit would get just 500 likes for exemple while the next post of a pet with a Dior collar is "omg too cute" and has thousand of likes and so does the one with the blonde lady just showing of a Chanel scarf.

I do not mean to be rude or offend anyone, it is just something I noticed and was wondering if anyone felt the same?

I've noticed it as well. I think that society values a certain type of beauty as superior to other forms (consciously and subconsciously). Even more dangerously, society devalues certain types of beauty as well. Young people of color explicitly see these biases everyday, but luckily now there are many messages that counter that today unlike just a few years ago.

 

[bisousx]

I didn't know were to post/ask for this so here might be the right place.
I follow lots of luxury brands fan pages on IG and they re post pictures of fashionistas rocking ther designer accessories, outfits etc..
And I notice something weird and would like to understand as we are the one liking the posts:
Whenever you see picture of a dark/black lady on those feed, the post has fewer likes than the average. It's very bizare that sometimes (most of the time actually), a picture of a beautiful dark skin in a stunning outfit would get just 500 likes for exemple while the next post of a pet with a Dior collar is "omg too cute" and has thousand of likes and so does the one with the blonde lady just showing of a Chanel scarf.

I do not mean to be rude or offend anyone, it is just something I noticed and was wondering if anyone felt the same?

Can you post a link to an example? Out of curiosity, I looked at 2 accounts I follow.. revolve and zimmermann. Didn’t see a difference.

 

[880]

I've noticed it as well. I think that society values a certain type of beauty as superior to other forms (consciously and subconsciously). Even more dangerously, society devalues certain types of beauty as well. Young people of color explicitly see these biases everyday, but luckily now there are many messages that counter that today unlike just a few years ago.

@canto bight, I was thinking of your many messages that counter’ when I came across this article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/...-our-people.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

[HKsai]

I thought of this thread when I noticed all the celebrity handbag threads (celebrities holding their bags) on the blog are usually the same people without much diversity.

 

[tinsleystyle]

I just went through and read every single post in this thread, and I found it incredibly insightful and eye-opening.

I am so so sorry to off-topic this further but the China = bad quality argument is so not this day. China has adopted good technologies and are making high tech and high quality stuff (too). And as you pointed out several brands have production partly in China and other countries considered cheaper than Europe.

Made in is no guarantee of quality. This is strictly my personal opinion but on many occasions European brands produced outside Europe are actually rather good. Many companies have done good sourcing. Eg. I have two Mulberry bags, one made in China and one made in England. The Chinese bag is outstanding quality but the UK purse has lots of glueing issues. I have the same Longchamp strap, one made in France and one made in Tunisia. You can guess which is better made - the one made in Tunisia.

Rather than being a made in issue the quality is a production (volume) issue.

In response to this insight, and to also tie the discussion back to handbags, this reminded me of a comment I read in the Chanel forum, referring to its diminishing quality, that stopped me in my tracks.

I would not be surprised if this stuff was being secretly made in China or other country not Italy or France.

I found the insinuation that poor-quality goods can only come out of China (“or other country”), and could not *possibly* be made in Italy or France, to be ridiculous and offensive. This harkens back to the points raised in the OP’s article – yet another example of a harmful elitist misconception ingrained in fashion’s collective psyche. Quality is quality, regardless of where the “Made In” stamp reads.

 

[tinsleystyle]

Rihanna and LVMH Are Taking a Break

It seems that Fenty was plagued with quality problems (I cannot speak to this as I do not personally own anything from the line), but I wonder what its repercussions on the luxury industry will be, namely whether there will be a chilling effect on breaking free from the “traditions” of the industry (my hope is that Rihanna will not be the first-but-last black woman to head up a fashion house at LVMH).

 

[Mimmy]

Amanda Gorman who amazes me with with her poetry and style was racially profiled near her home.

I was lurking on the Harry and Meghan thread for a bit and got a good taste of why I left that thread. I need to remind myself not to visit there at all.

The posts I read were about how POC (celebrities) were only defending Meghan because she is a WOC. I can understand why people don’t like Meghan but to summarily dismiss any support of her for this reason is mind boggling. I am saddened and angered that race continues to play a significant role in her narrative.

Usually the posts contain the statement “I am not a racist”. It reminds me of when people start a statement with “No offense but”; you can be certain that what comes after will be offensive.

The incident involving Amanda Gorman was mentioned in that thread in case the subjects do not seem related.

 

[OriginalBalenciaga]

Amanda Gorman who amazes me with with her poetry and style was racially profiled near her home.

I was lurking on the Harry and Meghan thread for a bit and got a good taste of why I left that thread. I need to remind myself not to visit there at all.

The posts I read were about how POC (celebrities) were only defending Meghan because she is a WOC. I can understand why people don’t like Meghan but to summarily dismiss any support of her for this reason is mind boggling. I am saddened and angered that race continues to play a significant role in her narrative.

Usually the posts contain the statement “I am not a racist”. It reminds me of when people start a statement with “No offense but”; you can be certain that what comes after will be offensive.

The incident involving Amanda Gorman was mentioned in that thread in case the subjects do not seem related.

You're right. That thread depresses me and sometimes makes me want to stop reading tpf altogether. Thank you for reminding me it's not representative of everyone here.

 

[maryg1]

The posts I read were about how POC (celebrities) were only defending Meghan because she is a WOC. I can understand why people don’t like Meghan but to summarily dismiss any support of her for this reason is mind boggling. I am saddened and angered that race continues to play a significant role in her narrative.

Just to understand: in your opinion, what’s their reason in supporting her? Most of the support messages I’ve read refers to the fact that, since she’s mixed race (how I hate writing “race”, don’t we have another word?), she has to be supported.
I can’t understand how people can’t figure out that being good, or bad, or smart, or selfish, are all features of being human, they don’t belong to a race (again...) or another.
People should be judged on their actions, not on their skin. And on the other side, people should be able to criticise the actions without the risk of being accused of racism.

 

[sdkitty]

Amanda Gorman who amazes me with with her poetry and style was racially profiled near her home.

I was lurking on the Harry and Meghan thread for a bit and got a good taste of why I left that thread. I need to remind myself not to visit there at all.

The posts I read were about how POC (celebrities) were only defending Meghan because she is a WOC. I can understand why people don’t like Meghan but to summarily dismiss any support of her for this reason is mind boggling. I am saddened and angered that race continues to play a significant role in her narrative.

Usually the posts contain the statement “I am not a racist”. It reminds me of when people start a statement with “No offense but”; you can be certain that what comes after will be offensive.

The incident involving Amanda Gorman was mentioned in that thread in case the subjects do not seem related.

Amanda Gorman is amazing and worthy of admiration. and she certainly didn't deserve the racial profiling that happened to her. I don't think Meghan is amazing or worthy of admiration. You have your opinions and some people see things differently.

 

[Mimmy]

Just to understand: in your opinion, what’s their reason in supporting her? Most of the support messages I’ve read refers to the fact that, since she’s mixed race (how I hate writing “race”, don’t we have another word?), she has to be supported.
I can’t understand how people can’t figure out that being good, or bad, or smart, or selfish, are all features of being human, they don’t belong to a race (again...) or another.
People should be judged on their actions, not on their skin. And on the other side, people should be able to criticise the actions without the risk of being accused of racism.

I agree that people should be judged on their actions, unfortunately we live in a world where people are still judged by some based on the color of their skin.

It may surprise some but I also agree that Meghan’s actions, especially recent ones (in my opinion) are not admirable or appropriate.

I cannot tell you why certain celebrities are supporting her. The celebrities I am thinking of were giving messages of general support along the lines of #teammeghan. I do not recall any specifically saying that she should be supported only because she is biracial or a POC. I felt it was unfair to dismiss their support simply by saying they were POC. If I were to make an assumption (which is always a risky thing to do) possibly they have experienced something that resonates with them related to what they see Meghan experiencing. I just don’t think it’s as simple as saying they are supporting her only based on race.

 

[Mimmy]

Amanda Gorman is amazing and worthy of admiration. and she certainly didn't deserve the racial profiling that happened to her. I don't think Meghan is amazing or worthy of admiration. You have your opinions and some people see things differently.

I agree.

 

[maryg1]

I agree that people should be judged on their actions, unfortunately we live in a world where people are still judged by some based on the color of their skin.

It may surprise some but I also agree that Meghan’s actions, especially recent ones (in my opinion) are not admirable or appropriate.

I cannot tell you why certain celebrities are supporting her. The celebrities I am thinking of were giving messages of general support along the lines of #teammeghan. I do not recall any specifically saying that she should be supported only because she is biracial or a POC. I felt it was unfair to dismiss their support simply by saying they were POC. If I were to make an assumption (which is always a risky thing to do) possibly they have experienced something that resonates with them related to what they see Meghan experiencing. I just don’t think it’s as simple as saying they are supporting her only based on race.

Thank you for the explanation.
If I’m not wrong, Halle Berry twitted something like “it’s always protect Black Women”, that sounded a support tweet only based on the skin colour to me.

 

[sdkitty]

Thank you for the explanation.
If I’m not wrong, Halle Berry tweeted something like “it’s always protect Black Women”, that sounded a support tweet only based on the skin colour to me.

that's what I'm thinking too.....as far as we know, Halle doesn't know Meghan personally. So what is this based on? Supporting a WOC it would seem (regardless of her actions?). and BTW Halle is my girl crush. I like her.

 

[OriginalBalenciaga]

Just to understand: in your opinion, what’s their reason in supporting her? Most of the support messages I’ve read refers to the fact that, since she’s mixed race (how I hate writing “race”, don’t we have another word?), she has to be supported.
I can’t understand how people can’t figure out that being good, or bad, or smart, or selfish, are all features of being human, they don’t belong to a race (again...) or another.
People should be judged on their actions, not on their skin. And on the other side, people should be able to criticise the actions without the risk of being accused of racism.

Amanda Gorman is amazing and worthy of admiration. and she certainly didn't deserve the racial profiling that happened to her. I don't think Meghan is amazing or worthy of admiration. You have your opinions and some people see things differently.

Of course people can be judged for their actions, and I agree there are probably many posters don't like Harry and Meghan for very legitimate reasons. But I also noticed there was a lot of overlap between some of the most venomous derisive comments in that thread with endless enthusiastic support for another high profile woman who has displayed many similar traits yet happens to be white (and has been accused of racism herself). I can't say more because it's not allowed here but it has made me wonder.

Thank you for the explanation.
If I’m not wrong, Halle Berry twitted something like “it’s always protect Black Women”, that sounded a support tweet only based on the skin colour to me.

Here's the entire tweet...