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'We Have Made Mistakes Too': Anna Wintour Apologizes for Vogue's Treatment of Black Talent
Vogue magazine has long been at the forefront of the fashion industry, forecasting trends that the rest of the world follows. But now, the magazine is in the rare position of working to get ahead of a cultural moment in which the fashion industry—and its publications—are being indicted for their treatment of the black talent…
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Solidarity Is in Style—but Is Fashion Media Really Ready to Reckon With Its Race Problem?
Though we’ve long known it to be true, in some ways “Black Lives Matter” has suddenly become the little black dress of the fashion industry: the oft-forgotten yet indispensable and unfailingly stylish way to show solidarity in a moment of global outrage. One need look no further than the spate of daily newsletters sent by…
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Black Lives Matter—but Not Black Skin? Indian Celebs Called Out for Expressing Solidarity After Profiting From Colorism
It’s currently en vogue to declare that black lives matter (and make no mistake: they do), but it’s far less comfortable to discuss how anti-black racism manifests throughout the world. Colorist beauty standards are not only closely correlated to socioeconomic success here in the United States, but are well documented in countries throughout South America,…
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Not All White Women: Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez and Lili Reinhart Devote Their Instagram Feeds to Black Activists
There are Karens, Beckys and Amys, and then, there are Lilis, Gagas and Selenas. Doing their part to both support the Black Lives Matter movement and set a much-needed example for problematic white women everywhere, the latter are currently using their celebrity status to center the voices of black activists, handing over unprecedented access to…
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Sephora's Insider Rewards Are More Rewarding This June—You Can Use Them to Support Black LGBTQ+
If you consider yourself a regular at Sephora, no doubt you’ve signed up for and accumulated points and rewards through their Beauty Insider Program—maybe you’re even enough of a product junkie to be a VIB or Rouge member and participate in their active online community. But for the month of June—also known as Pride Month—the…
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What's the #15PercentPledge? A Way for Major Retailers to Prove They Really Care About Black Lives
Aurora James has a plan. As well-meaning citizens and brands alike ask what they can do to support black lives, the black female founder of luxury footwear and accessories brand Brother Vellies has issued a challenge to major retailers—including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Net a Porter, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot…
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The Revolution Will Not Have a Dress Code
There’s an iconic scene in Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic Malcolm X, in which a real-life standoff with the NYPD that occurred on April 26, 1957, is reenacted for the screen. Following the police beating of both a young black man and Nation of Islam member Johnson X Hinton, who’d attempted to intervene, lines of men…
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'When the Foundation Is Broken, So Are We': Meghan Markle Invokes Black Lives Matter in Emotional Commencement Speech
Meghan Markle wants to make it clear: “George Floyd’s life mattered.” The Duchess of Sussex had been conspicuously silent this past week as protests and uprisings around the country escalated in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, only issuing an online statement of solidarity urging followers to “speak up and speak up” in…
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An Artist Without 'Equals': Remembering Artist-Activist Emma Amos
Emma Amos may not have enjoyed the same level of name recognition of some of her contemporaries in the art world; but as an artist addressing sexism and racism in her work years before the term “intersectionality “ was coined, she was a pivotal figure in what she called “a man’s scene, black or white.”…
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'This Is NOT Okay': Model-Activist Munroe Bergdorf Calls Out the Hypocrisy in L'Oréal's Anti-Racism Posts
As we reflect on the impact of the past week’s protests and #BlackoutTuesday, it might be considered as much a social experiment as a social justice movement. While prompted by black women in the music industry, scores of individuals and other industries quickly followed suit, prompting many a side-eye as some who’d previously remained silent,…
