Vanity Fair Magazine Presents Beyonce's New Look.
Beyonce' Knowles in the November 2005 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine, is the first Afro-American, to appear on the cover since the late 90s. Afro-American performers complain that they are rarely are on the covers of mainstream magazines.
Word within the magazine industry is that the cover of VF was digitally altered to make Beyonce's skin lighter, to a Jennifer Lopez bronze. Another claim is that the inside pictures make Beyonce' look so light next to her boy friend Jay-Z, he looks like he is from Sudan. All this is possibly related to VF's sales drop, if the cover is serious. Serious translates to dark at Conde' Naste.
VF's response is angry. Asked about the charge, the magazine’s spokeswoman, Beth Kseniak, insisted that the singer’s portraits were “absolutely not” manipulated and said that any change in her skin tone was a result of lighting and makeup. Furthermore, she claimed that inside shots of the couple were pick-up photos acquired at the last minute that ran unaltered.
UPDATE: Reached for comment this morning, Yvette Noel-Schure, Beyoncé’s personal publicist who set up the photo shoot, said that while she had no knowledge of procedures at Vanity Fair and could not speak for the magazine, she didn’t think VF had lightened her client’s skin tone. “There are very fair-skinned black people in this world, and Beyoncé is one of them,” she said.
I have a sub to VF. I can assure you, I will be studying the pictures of Beyonce'.
2 comments:
I have to say that I think the "whitewashing" of any ethnic group, especially Blacks, has been done so often, and for so long that it is subconscious.
There is an excellent book on this subject called, Peau Noire, Masques Blancs by Franz Fanon. The title of the book translates to "Black Skin, White Masks." I have it on my shelf but have only read excerpts of it.
I am sure that D. Child was whitewashed with lighting as well as makeup.
There are many long conversations that could be spent entirely on the subject of perfection, skin tone, race, and beauty.
She definitely is lighter.
Thank you Ella, Fanon brings back memories.
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