First
lady Michelle and President Barack Obama: According to a red-
faced
Elle magazine France, the power couple - particularly Michelle -
have finally
made Black fashion 'chic'. By coining the term 'Black-geoisie'
to refer to
how Black fashion has become respectable, the magazine is
being called racist
and out of touch.
Le Figaro, France
Shame on Elle for
Racist Slur Against Obamas and Blacks
"It’s simple: if Blacks are now chic, it is because they finally have an
icon worthy of the name - Michelle Obama - who sets the tone by, 'revisiting
Jackie O’s wardrobe in a jazzy style.' Yes, because even though she is first
lady, Michelle Obama herself had to be inspired by a White role model; and
since she has natural rhythm, of course she added a touch of jazz."
By Sonia Rolland, Audrey Pulvar, China Moses
et. al.
Michelle Obama and 'afro-American' fashion are at the heart of a French media frenzy, after Elle Magazine France appeared to belittle Black people and their fashion sense by implying that they 'dress White' while retaining their 'Blackness.'
Thanks to Elle magazine, we finnaly get it: the ‘Black-geoisie’
has adopted all the White fashion codes.” ["Geoisie" is French slang
- an offshoot of the word bourgeois
- for something unfashionable that has become "chic."] What’s more, “[in
this America led for the first time by a Black president], chic has become a
plausible option for a community so far pegged to its ‘streetwear’ codes.” That's
right - while Blacks have dressed like hoodlums in hoodies for decades, they
have finally understood - thanks to the tutelage of Whites - that they should
pay more attention to their appearance. That was the tenor of an article published
in the January 13 issue of the weekly magazine so favored by housewives of the
“White-geoisie” (since apparently, we now divide the bourgeois by race as well)
entitled Black Fashion Power, which sought to analyze the red-carpet success
of African-American personalities.
It’s simple: if Blacks are
now chic, it is because they finally have an icon worthy of the name -
Michelle Obama - who sets the tone by “revisiting Jackie O’s wardrobe in a jazzy
style.” Yes, because even though she is first lady, Michelle Obama herself had to
be inspired by a White role model; and since she has natural rhythm, of course
she added a touch of jazz.
But wait, Blacks haven't
integrated these codes “literally. There is always a classic twist, with a bourgeois
ethnic reference (a wax-print boubou dress, a shell necklace, a rapper’s hoop
earrings …) that recalls the roots.” Haven’t you noticed the bone Halle Berry wears so proudly
in her nose? Haven't you seen how Rama Yade likes to evoke her
“exotic” origins by draping herself in a leopard loincloth before giving her
speeches?
Screenshot
from Elle France's blog, highlighting 'Black Fashion
Power'
and the ‘Black-geoisie’ - before the magazine removed it.
It is time for Elle’s
editors to venture out of their glass-windowed offices in the business district
of Levallois-Perret to mingle with the population, which would allow them to
see how Blacks look and how they dress in real life. It's also time to realize
that Black women also live in France; they don’t all live in the United States
and they aren't all singers, actresses or athletes. Why must every elegant Black
woman be compared to Michelle Obama, and why must Omar Sy (from the film Untouchable)
- and many elegant French Black men - be compared to Barack Obama every time he
puts aside his blue jeans for a black suit and white shirt? Instead of hanging
out with Black people, in recent years the press has been satisfied to note
that even in government, the National Assembly, on news programs and in movies
- there are Black women!
Finally, a bit of research
and common sense would have spared us the statement that, “for the afro
community, clothing has become a political weapon,” which deprecates the real
and painful history of Black minority struggle by turning any well-dressed
starlet into a spokesperson for that struggle. As for Blacks who aren’t
political, one is left to wonder if they walk around nude …
All this could have been
quickly forgotten as a trivial question of ignorance - if the magazine had
deigned to respond to the many protests from readers who were offended by the
article. Because it was the publication of the article on the magazine’s Web site
that triggered a wave of indignation on social networks, fashion blogs
(AfroSomething, BlackBeautyBag, ThaCrunch and TiModElle) - spreading the
scandal across the Atlantic - and even on Elle.fr, where over the course
of just a few days, over a thousand cemmenters posted demands for an explanation
or an apology.
Response from the editors:
nothing. At least until January 24, when Elle Managing Editor Valérie Toranian
came up with the position that “indignant” readers had failed to understand the
article. A new wave of outrage led to the article's deletion,
but the damage was done. Thursday morning, on France Inter, Audrey
Pulvar denounced the magazine in an op-ed piece entitled “Y a bon Obamania”
(“It’s Good Obamania,” a reference to the racist ad campaign “Y a bon Banania”
- see photo, left), before being invited on Friday evening to the Canal+
news program Grand Journal to debate Toranian. Although the editor
expressed regret, she maintained her position and persisted in saying that Elle
had intended to be “sympathetic” toward Blacks. In other words, although the
result was offensive, the intention was good, so why are you complaining? Black
men and women don’t need sympathy - but equality. Yet this controversy is
revelatory: the article is just a symptom of wide-ranging cultural and social
exclusion.
Since the debate has begun, let
us pursue it. We would like to suggest to the employees of Elle that
they try to broaden their horizons. Since the trend is for “Black fashion,” why
not explore that by hiring, for example, Black editors? And why not - let’s go
crazy - choose a Black woman to pose on the cover of their magazine? Just once,
just to see what happens? There are two million Black women in France who spend
seven times more on cosmetics as their White counterparts, i.e.: the increasing
purchasing power of Black women constitutes an expanding market for beauty and fashion
products - is that so negligible?
The “structural racism” that Toranian discussed so well on television, is buttressed by the absence of
Black women on women’s magazine covers: in its almost 70 years of existence, Elle
has only deigned to put a handful of Black women on the cover. Why is the
magazine’s benevolence toward the “Black-geoisie” limited to a special edition
every leap year? When will they become full citizens in the magazine’s pages
without being decked out in grotesque qualifiers? This is the discussion we
would have liked to hear the other night, and for which we now wait.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
SIGNATORIES:
Primary signatories: Sonia
Rolland (actress), Rokhaya Diallo (columnist and activist), Fred Royer (creator
of the Gérard Awards), Audrey Pulvar (journalist), Léonora Miano (writer),
China Moses (singer and TV presenter), Mokobé (rapper), Jalil Lespert (actor
and director), Aïssa Maïga (actress), Kareen Guiock (journalist), Eric Fassin
(sociologist, ENS), Disiz (singer), Marc Cheb Sun
(founder of Respect Mag), AnastasieTudieshe (journalist), Noémie
Lenoir (model), ClémentineAutain
(editor of Regards magazine), Olivier Laouchez
(president of Trace TV), Jean-BenoîtGillig (producer), DJ Pone (composer), Pap Ndiaye (historian, EHESS).
As well as: Serge Toubiana, Charles Tesson
(Artistic Director of Semaine de la Critique (Critics
Week) at the Cannes Film Festival), DorylaCalmec (actress), Julius E. Coles (director of Morehouse
College's Andrew Young Center for International Affairs in Atlanta), Hélène Geran (actress), JosianeCueff (CMAC Martinique), Vincent Malausa (les Cahiers du cinéma), Mylène Marie-Rose (film critic), Thomas Le moine (director), OsangeSilouKieffer, (FEMI Guadeloupe), Marie-Christine Duval (Comecla agency), Harry Roselmack
(journalist), Lucien Jean-Baptiste (actor and
director), Dominique Sopo (president of SOS Racisme), Cathy Thiam
(journalist).
