Teen Vogue—You Tried It!

I’ve been wearing braids and twists since I was a young girl and they have always been go-to styles for me throughout my life. Recently, there have been several instances of people calling out mainstream media for taking elements of Black culture, specifically Black beauty trends, and omitting the representation and correlation to Blackness when explaining the origins of these styles.

Recently, the Twitterverse has been blazing with disdain and people are throwing some much-warranted shade toward a mainstream magazine for not being very inclusive of darker-skinned Black women. In the June/July 2015 issue of Teen Vogue, the Beauty & Health Director, Elaine Welteroth wrote a story about her experience of visiting Africa and getting Havana Twists–sounds like a dope feature right?

Well, once people saw pics from the printed spread from the magazine, which featured a fair-skinned biracial model, questions of cultural appropriation and a lack of celebrating Black beauties with darker complexions flared up on social media.

I enjoyed reading Elaine’s story about how she felt like a queen after getting her hair done in East Africa. I also don’t think she imagined that this story would receive this kind of reception, and I don’t think her intention was to offend people. But, when you look at the fact that she got her hair twisted in Kigali, Rwanda and the women there have varying shades of brown and sepia skin with beautiful braids, twists, kinks and curls galore, I can’t help but wonder why they decided to use women with more Eurocentric beauty features in the magazine’s spread.

Elaine responded to some of the story’s backlash on her Instagram page. She addressed the folks who said the spread was a form of cultural appropriation and that Teen Vogue eliminated darker-skinned black women on purpose. Check it out:

@elainewelteroth It saddens me to see how this conversation has spun out of control. It is very clear that many detractors have yet to take the time to READ the story that accompanies this image. As a result, many have completely lost sight of the spirit and purpose of this article that CELEBRATES ethnic hairstyles and sets out to debunk damaging stereotypes around them. It is told from my personal perspective as a mixed-race girl who travels to Rwanda to embrace an Afro-centric hairstyle. I describe feeling a sense of beauty, strength, and pride in connecting with my heritage in this way. It also celebrates@zendaya for using her platform to challenge hurtful stereotypes about ethnic hairstyles. We are both mixed-race and it was important in telling this particular story–MY story–to cast a model who is also mixed-race. I welcome important dialogue about representation, but it is no longer productive when we refuse to look at the context. Before you cast the first stone to challenge me on the fact that the model doesn’t look black enough, before you engage me about a very real lack of representation of black beauty, something I have fought against my entire career, I invite you to first READ the piece. As an editor of color, I relate to and understand first-hand what it feels like to be overlooked, to be disregarded, to be made to feel as if my voice isn’t important and my beauty isn’t desirable–all because I’m black. I also know what it feels like to be ridiculed and excluded because somehow I am not black enough. As a mixed-race person, I see a unique advantage in striving to bridge the gap between worlds–and my mission has been to do that through the lens of beauty. (Operative word here is TRY.) I cannot and will not satisfy everyone all the time, but I will continue to play my part in pushing this conversation FORWARD.

I see where Elaine is coming from, but these publications have a responsibility to present various images, colors and standards of beauty, especially when you’re speaking to a certain region’s culture! It’s cool to see women of different ethnic backgrounds wearing different hairstyles that have African influences, but I do wish Teen Vogue would’ve included a more diverse group of women in the spread. You know, maybe even women who look like the three ladies who styled Elaine’s hair in her poignant online feature Is that too much to ask?! I also wish publications like Vogue and Elle would not make it seem like hairstyles that have been worn by women of color for eons, like braids, afros, cornrows, locs and bantu knots are something fresh and new because a White celebrity or someone from the Kardashian clan decides to wear the style. Especially when history (and my family’s photo albums that span back decades) show such claims to be false (and straight-up laugh-worthy and offensive).

Either way, I’m still rocking my braids, twists and everything else to express my love and connection to my kinky-coily hair! I celebrate all shades of beauty and I have to end this post by saying, “Teen Vogue—You Tried It!”

Ciao Bellas,