On Buzzfeed: Twitterverse Up in Arms Over Teen Vogue’s Use of Bi-Racial Model to Display Senegalese Twists

It seems every day, magazines are seemingly losing the sensitivity battle when it comes to race relations!
The latest glossy to cause a curfuffle is Teen Vogue, whose Beauty Editor  Elaine Welteroth penned a piece about getting Senegalese twists done in Rwanda:

While her gorgeous mug illustrated the piece for the story online, the magazine cast model Phillipa Steele to accompany the article’s print edition. On Models.com, Steele identified as half Fijian, and also Tongan, French, English, and American.


The story went on to include other women of color who have adopted braids, locs, and the like, including Zendaya and Zoe Kravitz. Critics of the article wondered why Teen Vogue wouldn’t use at least one darker skinned woman to display the trend.

While some Twitter fans displayed their distaste, writing, “@TeenVogue A hairstyle predominantly worn by varying shades of Black ppl and you pick the lightest skinned black ppl to feature,” and “@TeenVogue Why’s your Magazine so Anti-Black?” Buzzfeed highlighted @JoJoThaJawn as one of the most adamant critics of the display. She wrote,

F*ck @TeenVogue for their bullsh*t article about Senegalese twists and only showing one black girl for example! How could you!!!!
Seriously not buying @TeenVogue again. I’m so insulted by this! You interview a White girl about African hairstyles!!
Zendaya is not the only POC who wears these hairstyles. So why is she the only POC you showed as example!?? @TeenVogue
Snuck a pic of Zoe Kravitz in there. Two light skin black women. What about Solange? Janelle Monae?? Non celebrity POC??!!
It’s bad enough that your cheap ass mag barely has any BW but the ONE time you should, you don’t deliver. @TeenVogue

Model Phillipa Steele eventually wrote, “For the record, if anyone even cares . Yes im half black and half French.”

What do you think of the hubbub? I personally am always an advocate of diversity, and highlighting the various shades of brown skinned beauties. A woman of Lupita Nyong’o or Viola Davis’s complexion would’ve been a great addition to the article. Mainstreams magazines should be more mindful, especially when addressing black topics (I mean look at all the gorgeous examples they could’ve used below).




That said, not sure this is a reason to write off Teen Vogue. At least they didn’t act as if twists were a cool new thing without providing any historical context (which many magazines tend to do). The original story gives credit to and celebrates the origin of the hairstyle.
What do you think?
See more and read the comments on Buzzfeed.
*Elaine penned a personal essay about the controversy.

She wrote, “Black comes in a myriad of colors and textures—all of them beautiful, all of them deserving of representation. In the telling of this particular story, which is my own personal story, it was important to me to include a model that is also mixed-race (she is Black and French). The model, like myself, the author of this piece, and Zendaya, the celebrity who inspired it, represents a broadening spectrum of what Black looks like. I can only hope that this story and the conversation it ignites can help shed light on the reality that race cannot be defined by just skin tone, eye color, or hair texture. “ Read the rest here.