Art or Racism? Designer Sends Models in Black Face Paint Down the Runway
The truth is, no one’s really looking to the runway’s for beauty advice. In New York, the models are lucky if they get to wear moisturizer. In Europe, it’s so over the top it’s basically art—but it’s not for real life. Take Claudio Cutugno, for example, an Italian designer who just sent women down his runway with their faces painted with dark glitter. ON the one hand, Pat McGrath’s done this before. On the other, this is dangerously close to black face. In fact, their faces are painted black, and then topped with glitter. Apparently, the collection was inspired by artist Emilio Isgrò, who creates art with bees, and the makeup was supposed to make the model’s faces appear covered with bugs. But art or not, it’s still a face painted black, which can be construed as blackface and interpreted as racist.
The all-black show featured sheer blouses and gowns with feather and sequin details, but the controversial makeup made more noise than the clothes and the look has sparked a debate over whether or not it’s racism. While Refinery29 calls it “smack-our-heads-against-our-desks frustrating” that someone is ignorant enough to believe that this has no racist connotations, many disagree.
"So I’m black. Maybe I’m just jaded, considering all the other ACTUAL racism I encounter on a daily basis, but this isn’t racist. This is art. And damnit if he secretly meant for it to depict black skin I LOVE TO THINK THAT MY SKIN GLOWS LIKE GLITTER TOO," Jennifer commented.
"There was obviously no intent towards racism and the context is an artistic reference," Courtney Elizabeth Krueger wrote. “That’s like if a designer had makeup on models to reference the cubism of Picasso and media took it has objectifying women. While it can be taken out if context, like blackface, we should also respect the artistic intention, reference and expression of the designer.” Many people pointed out that just because a face is painted black, it doesn’t mean that it’s blackface and offensive. If you wear a charcoal face mask and post the photo on social media does that make you a racist? Probably not.
It’s worth pointing out that Europe isn’t as sensitive toward issues of race. It doesn’t have the same touchy history with blackface that the United States does. Art in Italy doesn’t necessarily conform to political correctness, where artistic license is freely explored. If there wasn’t any racist intent does that automatically make it racist? On the other hand, racism isn’t always deliberate, and if just one person thinks something is offensive, then it must be. Right?
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