Elle Germany Apologizes After ‘Black Is Back’ Controversy

Elle Germany has issued an apology after its November issue caused a social media outcry, with personalities including Naomi Campbell accusing the publication of tokenizing models of color.
Instagram account Diet Prada called out the magazine on Tuesday for using the cover line “Back to Black” alongside a photograph of a white model. It noted that in a feature inside the issue, Elle Germany declared “Black is back” alongside images of several models of color, misidentifying Naomi Chin Wing as Janaye Furman.

Elle Germany’s apology. 
Elle Germany

“In our current issue we are approaching the color black from different angles. As one of the topics, it was our aim to feature strong black women who work as models for the fashion industry. In doing so, we have made several mistakes for which we apologize to anyone we might have hurt,” Elle Germany said on Wednesday.
“It was a mistake to use the cover line ‘Back to Black’ which could be understood as if black persons would be a kind of fashion trend. This obviously wasn’t our intention and it was our mistake not to be more sensitive about this,” editor in chief Sabine Nedelchev and her team said in a statement posted on Instagram.
“Misidentifying the

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…