Evening Standard apologises for airbrushing out Solange Knowles' braids

The Evening Standard has apologised to Solange Knowles after airbrushing out her braids for the cover to its magazine.

The photo shoot involved the musician donning an elaborate crown of braids, nodding to the track 'Don't Touch My Hair' from her 2016 album A Seat at the Table, and its tribute to the powerful historical, cultural, and artistic legacy of black women braiding their hair.

A topic point ironically discussed within the magazine's own interview, which also saw Solange discuss her upcoming album.

"It is an act of beauty, an act of convenience and an act of tradition", Solange mentions in the interview, adding that it is "its own art form".

After it emerged the crown of braids had been digitally airbrushed out of the magazine's cover, the musician posted the original, unaltered image to Instagram with the caption "#dtmh", referencing 'Don't Touch My Hair'.

After the publication was widely criticised for erasing such a core part of Solange's cultural and artistic identity, the Evening Standard posted the following statement: "The decision to amend the photograph was taken for layout purposes but plainly we made the wrong call and we have offered our unreserved apologies to Solange."

Angelica Bastien, who originally conducted the interview for the piece, also wrote on Twitter that she had asked to have her name removed from the article and was publicly disowning it.

"The entire piece was a fiasco despite my efforts," she explained. "I told my editors to take my name off of the byline because they distorted my work and reporting in ways that made me very uncomfortable."

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