Vice President-elect Harris’s skin color on the cover of the U.S. edition of Vogue is suspected to have been “whitewashed”. After someone asked the editor-in-chief to “sign down and apologize”, according to BBC local time on the 12th, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the U.S. Vogue magazine, responded that the relevant photos just wanted to highlight Harris’ Success.
Fashion magazine released a cover photo of the February issue on the 10th, the protagonist of which is Harris, who is inaugurated. In the photo, Harris wears a black top and trousers and a pair of sports shoes on his feet.
The BBC said that some social media users criticized the cover photos for not reflecting Harris’ achievements, but Wintour said that the photos were to highlight her success.
In a statement sent to the New York Times, Wintour further explained, “We just want to celebrate the remarkable victory of Vice President-elect Harris, which is an important moment in American history, especially for women of color around the world.”
The Daily Mail previously reported that Harris’s dress in the photo made many netizens think that Vogue magazine was “out of standard”.
What’s more infuriating to netizens is that Harris’s skin color is suspected to have been “whitewashed”, and some people asked the editor-in-chief of the magazine to “resign and apologize for his guilt”.
Many netizens think that the photo is “poor in quality” and does not meet the style standards of Vogue magazine. They believe that the magazine’s lightening of Harris’s skin color by retouching is a manifestation of “disrespect” Harris, and even “racial discrimination”. As a minority, Harris was not dark, but Vogue made her face “white,” a user said on social media Twitter.
There are also media and netizens who have pointed the finger at editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, “Wintour should leave” “I’m 100% sure that she may not have African-American friends or colleagues. I can shoot better than this cover with my own mobile phone.”
Vogue denied “whitewashing” Harris’s photos. According to Vogue, Harris’s clothes, hairstyle and makeup are determined by herself and her team.
Harris himself did not publicly comment on the controversy caused by the photo, but according to the New York Times, the cover photo confirmed by Harris’ team to Vogue was not this one, but another photo of Harris wearing a light blue suit.
Shortly afterwards, Vogue released another cover photo, which was consistent with the description of the Harris team.
According to the report, this is not the first time that the magazine has caused controversy over race.
The British Guardian reported on the 10th that Wintour apologized in an email to employees last year, saying that he had not face up to minority voices for decades at the helm and published many photos and articles that hurt specific races.
