It seems a week can hardly go by without mainstream media taking yet another jab at the beauty of Black women.
As if Black women didn’t have enough subliminal advertisements and underhanded insults convincing them that they didn’t meet society’s standards of beauty, Cosmopolitan has become the latest media giant to attempt to send Black women’s confidence to an early grave.
The magazine’s “Beauty Trends That Need to Die in 2015” flaunted one message in its text and another in its images.
Crazy eyeliner. Dramatic ombre. Black lipstick.
These were the trends the magazine claimed to be putting to death in 2015.
What the images portrayed, however, was a different story.
Nearly every alleged out-of-date trend, labeled with “R.I.P.” at the top, was paired with the image of a Black woman.
Meanwhile, her white counterpart who was supposed to be ahead of the fashion curve was labeled with “Hello, Gorgeous.”
Not a single Black woman ever made her way under the “Hello, Gorgeous” tab while many of them easily slid under the “R.I.P.” sign.
So while the text insisted the conversation was about fashion trends, the images seemed to have a different message: R.I.P. to the concept of Black beauty in 2015.
After Fashion Police’s Giuliana Rancic took aim at Zendaya’s dreadlocks and a QVC host mocked a natural-haired model, this serves as an unfortunate continuation of the attack on Black women and their beauty.
The editor insisted that the article was not an intentional attack on Black women and focused purely on the trends depicted in the photos.
“This article focuses on beauty trends with images that represent those trends,” an editor’s note explained. “Some images have been taken out of context, and we apologize for any offense. Celebrating all women is in our mission, and we will continue to work hard to do that.”
One more time: “….continue to work hard to do that.”
It’s a note that emphasizes the magazine’s stance that nothing was wrong and nothing was out of the ordinary. Despite the fact that Black women are scarce in Hollywood, it was a coincidence that the magazine managed to dig up enough popular Black faces to fill many of their “R.I.P.” fashion trend slots.
As RollingOut so eloquently put it, Cosmopolitan has become the latest addition to media giants behind the Racist Trends That Need to Die in 2015.
