UK Harper’s Bazaar October 2020 : Marion Cotillard by Serge Leblon

[Lola701]

Marion got it - photographed by Lachlan Bailey for the April 2020 cover. It feels like forever ago now, so can understand how it might’ve slipped your memory.

The subscribers cover:

Oh I forgot about it! I guess she’ll get ELLE france then...

 

[Kiyoko]

The fact that people seriously think this boring portrait of yet another white woman on a cover is more interesting than any of the varied covers we’ve had over the last few months says it’s all lol

If I flipped this comment & said this about … say Rhianna or Gugu Mbatha Raw would you be silent? BTW the Indigenous population of UK is 87% of the population - so it more then likely that White Women will feature on magazines. I’m tired of these types of comments

 

[WAVES]

Marion always photographs so well! don’t love the dress and it is a little zoomed out indeed...
after all those terrible September covers I’m ready for October!

 

[Serend1pity]

If I flipped this comment & said this about … say Rhianna or Gugu Mbatha Raw would you be silent? BTW the Indigenous population of UK is 87% of the population - so it more then likely that White Women will feature on magazines. I’m tired of these types of comments

I would know I am British. The point is not to point out the last census but to highlight how boring it is to have the same crop of people doing the same old, and when they try and break the mould with something new and different it’s shut down.

I get the impression that most people on this board are wealthy, older white women who are out of touch because the ignorance and sheer unwillingness I’ve seen of people to listen to alternate opinions particularly from poc is astounding

 

[Benn98]

older white women ....

How did you come to that conclusion? This is not Mumsnet.
In fact I'd say there most of the active members are male on this forum.

 

[KoV]

I think people are happy to see this because it's a professionally photographed photo of a human being wearing a Chanel dress. People are sick of the children's drawings, the not-worthy-of-instagram snapshots, the zoom photography, the paintings, the scenery, the blank space. I liked some of them, but the overall effect was exhausting. I want fashion! Users had a nearly universal positive reaction to several covers featuring BIPOC recently (Zendaya on InStyle and Malika on Vogue Paris, for example) and some covers featuring white women (Dora Whomever on Spanish Vogue, Dula Peep on W) were roundly criticized. So a celebration of this cover isn't, in my view, a reaction against BIPOC getting covers, but rather against all of the non-fashion, amateurism going around.

 

[Conbothsides]

I get the impression that most people on this board are wealthy, older white women who are out of touch because the ignorance and sheer unwillingness I’ve seen of people to listen to alternate opinions particularly from poc is astounding

God I wish I were a rich old white woman cause then I wouldn't be here arguing with you

 

[Phuel]

How did you come to that conclusion? This is not Mumsnet.
In fact I'd say there most of the active members are male on this forum.

LOL Oh the irony of the accusations of “older White women” from a post that’s being blatantly ageist/sexist/racist LOOOL Such a sweeping statement can’t possibly bear to tolerate a difference of opinion that’s the slightest critical of what social justice the kidz are down with. So “out of touch”…

Even more ironic is that many TFS members are POC and gay, so we know firsthand the experiences of racism/homophobia. Just that most don’t want to treat others the way that they’ve been treated, so no need to put one group down while supporting another.

 

[Kiyoko]

I would know I am British. The point is not to point out the last census but to highlight how boring it is to have the same crop of people doing the same old, and when they try and break the mould with something new and different it’s shut down.

I get the impression that most people on this board are wealthy, older white women who are out of touch because the ignorance and sheer unwillingness I’ve seen of people to listen to alternate opinions particularly from poc is astounding

Clara Amfo; Maya Jama; Sofia Richie; Vanessa Hudgens; Jonathan Van Ness; Jessy Nelson; Jameela Jamil; Dina Asher Smith; Meghan Markle; Yarra Shahidi; Lizzo; Rhianna; Narguis Horsford; Anisa Omar; Adwoa Aboah; Lupita Nyong’o; Zoë Kravitz; Margarita Gambles; Beyoncé; Dua Lipa; Gugu Mbatha-Raw; Oti Mabuse; Corinne Bailey Rae; Nadia Hussain; Rochelle Humes; Chrissy Teigen; Michelle Elman; Harnaam Kaur; Jeyza Gary; Stephanie Yeboah; Monroe Bergdorf; Chidera Eggerue; Katie Piper & Sophia Hadji Paneti have all been cover stars & featured in Cosmo; Grazia; Vogue ; ELLE; Bazaar; Red & Glamour in 2020. From artists to normal people - I don’t see the unwillingness to allow their voices to be heard. The cover can not be a POC every issue - it’s not practical; a successful business model wouldn’t support this decision & ultimately doesn’t represent ALL of us - including us “wealthy; older; white women”. WOWW

 

[Serend1pity]

How did you come to that conclusion? This is not Mumsnet.
In fact I'd say there most of the active members are male on this forum.

I got the impression from the stale opinions and manner in which people respond to things or make blanketed statements about diversity

 

[Serend1pity]

Clara Amfo; Maya Jama; Sofia Richie; Vanessa Hudgens; Jonathan Van Ness; Jessy Nelson; Jameela Jamil; Dina Asher Smith; Meghan Markle; Yarra Shahidi; Lizzo; Rhianna; Narguis Horsford; Anisa Omar; Adwoa Aboah; Lupita Nyong’o; Zoë Kravitz; Margarita Gambles; Beyoncé; Dua Lipa; Gugu Mbatha-Raw; Oti Mabuse; Corinne Bailey Rae; Nadia Hussain; Rochelle Humes; Chrissy Teigen; Michelle Elman; Harnaam Kaur; Jeyza Gary; Stephanie Yeboah; Monroe Bergdorf; Chidera Eggerue; Katie Piper & Sophia Hadji Paneti have all been cover stars & featured in Cosmo; Grazia; Vogue ; ELLE; Bazaar; Red & Glamour in 2020. From artists to normal people - I don’t see the unwillingness to allow their voices to be heard. The cover can not be a POC every issue - it’s not practical; a successful business model wouldn’t support this decision & ultimately doesn’t represent ALL of us - including us “wealthy; older; white women”. WOWW

What a complete waste of time researching this entire post was when you could have just read and comprehended what I said. This forum likes to routinely shut things down and brand diversity as a gimmick. That is what I am critical of

 

[Serend1pity]

LOL Oh the irony of the accusations of “older White women” from a post that’s being blatantly ageist/sexist/racist LOOOL Such a sweeping statement can’t possibly bear to tolerate a difference of opinion that’s the slightest critical of what social justice the kidz are down with. So “out of touch”…

Even more ironic is that many TFS members are POC and gay, so we know firsthand the experiences of racism/homophobia. Just that most don’t want to treat others the way that they’ve been treated, so no need to put one group down while supporting another.

Sorry how is assuming people are white racist? It’s idiotic statements like this that made me write what I did in the first place

 

[Benn98]

I got the impression from the stale opinions and manner in which people respond to things or make blanketed statements about diversity

Got you. It's a problematic impression in itself to associate being 'out of touch' on a fashion board with older white women, but I'm in one of those 'Happy Fri-yay' moods, so won't bang on about that.

For some reason, the digital issue got released on the same day they unveiled the cover, which was yesterday. And I saw the newsstand issue out this morning. Poor subs would have to wait God knows how long before they get hold of their copy.

 

[tigerrouge]

This forum likes to routinely shut things down and brand diversity as a gimmick. That is what I am critical of

Fashion magazines aren't educational charities, they are commercial products which exist to convince people to buy stuff that nobody needs. Cynicism about their motives is a sensible approach to take, because diversity could have been promoted at any point during the last decade or so by the people in charge - but they're only doing it now in an attempt to save face and their sales figures.

Magazines are no longer a dominant force in culture - so now is the time when black people are being allowed to play their part? There's a degree of insult in that. You could say, 'better late than never' - but there's also the sense that the ship is sinking and they've palmed off the captaincy to minorities as it slowly goes down, and the publishers won't be bailing them out.

It’s idiotic statements like this that made me write what I did in the first place

You've effectively called people in this thread racist, idiotic and out of touch. At what point do you hope to win people over with your words?

 

[mikel]

Fashion magazines aren't educational charities, they are commercial products which exist to convince people to buy stuff that nobody needs. Cynicism about their motives is a sensible approach to take, because diversity could have been promoted at any point during the last decade or so by the people in charge - but they're only doing it now in an attempt to save face and their sales figures.

Magazines are no longer a dominant force in culture - so now is the time when black people are being allowed to play their part? There's a degree of insult in that. You could say, 'better late than never' - but there's also the sense that the ship is sinking and they've palmed off the captaincy to minorities as it slowly goes down, and the publishers won't be bailing them out.

I guess in the end people with white privilege can look at it that way and just dismiss it as a gimmick.

But what’s the alternative then? Not be diverse? Not trying to change this system of racism? Just let everything be the way it was?

And you say there’s a certain degree of insult in only now allowing people to play their part. That may be so, but don’t you think that this decades long system of institutional racism is far more insulting?

 

[aracic]

But what’s the alternative then? Not be diverse? Not trying to change this system of racism? Just let everything be the way it was?

I think I've said this before, but in my opinion the best way to incorporate diversity on every level of fashion industry is silently, but effectively. Bragging about it and using it as a selling point makes it disingenuous in my eyes.

 

[mikel]

I think I've said this before, but in my opinion the best way to incorporate diversity on every level of fashion industry is silently, but effectively. Bragging about it and using it as a selling point makes it disingenuous in my eyes.

True, in an ideal world that would be the best way I guess. But unfortunately we’re not living in an ideal world.

 

[Serend1pity]

Fashion magazines aren't educational charities, they are commercial products which exist to convince people to buy stuff that nobody needs. Cynicism about their motives is a sensible approach to take, because diversity could have been promoted at any point during the last decade or so by the people in charge - but they're only doing it now in an attempt to save face and their sales figures.

Magazines are no longer a dominant force in culture - so now is the time when black people are being allowed to play their part? There's a degree of insult in that. You could say, 'better late than never' - but there's also the sense that the ship is sinking and they've palmed off the captaincy to minorities as it slowly goes down, and the publishers won't be bailing them out.



You've effectively called people in this thread racist, idiotic and out of touch. At what point do you hope to win people over with your words?

I never called anyone racist actually it was someone else on this page and I do think the opinions expressed were out of touch. Maybe it’s time you take in what’s being said rather than get defensive.

 

[Serend1pity]

I think I've said this before, but in my opinion the best way to incorporate diversity on every level of fashion industry is silently, but effectively. Bragging about it and using it as a selling point makes it disingenuous in my eyes.

The fact of the matter is they don’t want to make real institutional change because that would put the whole system of nepotism and their very jobs at stake instead it’s easier to make surface level change

 

[vogue28]

Moderator Note:

Moving forward, can we please discuss the cover and issue of UK Harper’s Bazaar at hand - and be respectful of the opinions of other forum members. Thank you.