Model Kendall Jenner has been put through the ringer when it comes to her fashion projects. Remember when she was part of a Pepsi commercial and she gave a soda to someone in order to diffuse a protest insinuating that she brought peace to the situation? Or how about when she and her sister released a line of t-shirts featuring hip-hop artists with their image layered in the forefront? Now people are in an uproar over her Vogue spread in which she is sporting frizzy hair. But is the uproar real? Some are saying her hair is actually an afro and are accusing the model and magazine of cultural appropriation, while others are saying her hair is not a fro at all.
The magazine spread featured in the November 2018 issue — meant to highlight VOGUE’s CFDA Fashion Fund — has Jenner and model Imaan Hammam. In one of the images, the one causing all the controversy, Jenner is wearing her hair in an a short, teased out, manner.
Most of the negative comments were reported by The Grio (a website “devoted to providing African-Americans with stories and perspectives that appeal to them but are underrepresented in existing national news outlets.”) In their story titled “Twitter rages against Kendall Jenner and VOGUE for her ‘afro’ style in photo shoot,” which didn’t include links to the tweets, one commentor stated why this look is cultural appropriation:
“You’ll find the discussion is more about the double standard that there is towards Afro hair and black culture. There are negative connotations surrounding Actual black people who have this hair (or other things that are a part of black culture) however, conveniently when a white person does it it is suddenly ‘fashionable’ or en vogue. The thing about straight hair or blonde hair is that it’s already part of the western beauty standards ideal, so there’s no double standard. Please educate yourself before you hop online and make me do this to you.”
Vogue did issue an apology saying: “The image is meant to be an update of the romantic Edwardian/Gibson Girl hair which suits the period feel of the Brock Collection, and also the big hair of the ’60s and the early ’70s, that puffed-out, teased-out look of those eras,” the statement read. “We apologize if it came across differently than intended, and we certainly did not mean to offend anyone by it.”
https://twitter.com/soWWMD/status/1054885312139161600
But the majority of comments we noticed on social media, mainly on Instagram, say there was nothing wrong with the picture or the hair and say it’s an actual style from the Edwardian era of the 1900s.
Do you think Jenner’s hair looks like a fro? Let us know in the comment section below.
