Black Mirror: Famous Fashion Ads, Recreated
Dear friends around the world,
The belief that some races are inherently superior to others is an incorrect perception fabricated thousands of years ago. People of different ethnic groups especially the Africans have been heavily discriminated against in the Western world and that is where the term “white racism” is derived from.
We may think that racial discrimination is not as prevalent in the 21st Century but the unfortunate truth is that racism is still very much existent, whether overt or subtle. Thus, it is very important that we educate our children and the younger generation to abandon such distorted views, to respect and embrace all races and to practice true democracy and equality.
It is wonderful how Deddeh Howard has conceptualized a very creative, imaginative way to highlight the racial inequalities that pervade society at all levels, including the fashion industry. Please read the short article, look at the pictures and share with your friends.
Tsem Rinpoche
She Re-Created Famous Fashion Ads to Make a Great Point About Diversity
December 9, 2016
Parker MolloyBy Parker Molloy
From a young age, Deddeh Howard was enthralled by fashion and its role in culture. Unfortunately, she was never really able to see herself in it.
“Something that always bothered me when you see these amazing images [was] that very rarely you ever see a black woman on them,” Howard, who grew up in West Africa but now resides in Los Angeles, wrote at her blog, Secret of DD.
“Black girls are almost invisible,” she wrote.
So Howard created “Black Mirror,” a photo series in which she re-creates famous photos with herself in place of models like Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Gisele Bundchen, and others.
Howard’s partner, Raffael Dickreuter, shot the series. As its title suggests, it holds a “black mirror” up to the fashion world. The project’s goal is both to make people notice the lack of diversity in the fashion world and to provide inspiration to other non-white models.
Of the models featured on the fall 2016 runways, 75% were white. There’s a major need for a diversity boost.
Sometimes, that lack of diversity can be downright embarrassing. Earlier this year, one fashion show featured models walking to Beyoncé’s “Formation,” a song Essence described as a “wholly and undeniable tribute to Blackness — particularly Black girl power.” The problem:
The show didn’t feature a single non-white model.
Diversity, representation, and visibility play key roles in shaping ambition and self-acceptance in the real world.
It’s important to be able to see yourself in the world, and it’s important to know that someone who looks like you can succeed.
“The next generation can only get inspired and reach for the stars themselves if they believe they can do it too,” Howard wrote on her blog. “For that reason diversity in ad campaigns is in my opinion much more important than you might think.”
Source: http://www.upworthy.com/she-re-created-famous-fashion-ads-to-make-a-great-point-about-diversity
For more interesting information:
- Shall We Hate The Jews and Those Different Than Us?
- The Unwanted Widows of India
- The Secrets of Ukraine’s Shameful ‘Holocaust of Bullets’
- Racial Tensions Cause Travel Alerts for the United States
- Racism?
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Deddeh Howard is countering racism and lack of diversity in fashion industry in her own creative way. Her effort might cause some ripples but not an overwhelming hit to the perspective of people on skin color, or inequality in the fashion industry or larger society.
Even we are now live in 21st century and a so called digital era with almost everything moving so fast, with new ideas flock in so rapid; however there are still old perspectives that are not moving forward together with time, one of them is racism, inequality of sex, color or culture. Or showing no respect to another’s choice of life o faith.
However, no transformation of self or the larger society happen overnight. Even it seems happens overnight, there are inner transformation took place before a whole landscape of things changed and noticeable by many.
Deddeh Howard’s effort may be small, but she started it somewhere. That’s important, especially when she or anyone wishes to see changes in inqueality or distorted views related to skin colors starts somewhere and continue put in effort to create awareness and provide education, about the discrimination and no matter what our skin color is, we experience up and down in life, we still going to aged and die, we still subject to self cherishing mind and many attachments which make us unhappy and uncontended.
Thus there is so called supremacy of certain races or culture. All are equal in front of death, in term of how much time we have in a day. And it differences only when we know and applied the wisdom to use and live our live in meaningful ways before death comes.
I personally think whatever Deddeh Howard is doing will change the modelling industry but not that fast because the rasism has been there for a very long time. However if we put in efforts we will see result.
I personally think whatever Deddeh Howard is doing will change the modelling industry but not that fast because the rasism has been there for a very long time. But if we put in efforts, we will see result.
I am all for diversity in all places of the world and I agree that there should be no discrimination or segregation in current times, even though there still is which is wrong.
I agree with what she is doing but at the same time, people need to understand that not all things are meant to reflect racism, sexism or any kind of oppression. Sometimes people seem to take everything as an insult without caring to understand. I am just saying this not because I disagree with what this model is doing, I do agree, I am just saying that labelling something racist almost isn’t always the case. Understand both sides of the argument. Middle Path.
This is quite a cool project to highlight that black people are not visible in the fashion industry at the very least. Deddeh Howard was helped by her partner Raffael Dickreuter who is a leading Film Visual Effects Designer and Photographer in Hollywood, who has made sci fi films with huge budgets.
I think there is some truth in what she is trying to highlight, that the fashion industry is dominated by the Whites. However other races are equally under represented in the global fashion industry, Chinese,Malay,Indians,Hispanics,Arabs,Persians, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Javanese…. and the list goes on. I am not saying it is fair to have so little black faces in fashion industry, perhaps a look into the racial demographics of the world would provide more insight?
Racial discrimination is one of the biggest issue in the world, just about everywhere on earth there is racial discrimination take for example the United States of America, even though it is a highly democratic and free country black people are mostly exceptions. Not long ago there were a few cases of unarmed African Americans getting shot dead, this lead to massive protest all across USA.
Racial discrimination is most of the time the cause for killings, and in almost all cases the person killed is unarmed. Since racial discrimination can kill we have to abolish it fully, we must not even have small amounts of racial discrimination as this could lead to scuffles that could evolve into a major issue.
I really hope that more African Americans will start to protest against racial discrimination, and hopefully by pressuring people and communities it will be able to make a change and end racism forever.
There are have many types of people in the world but we are all the same. We will face the same sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death. And the truth is no one can be escape until or unless we become an enlightened beings. As such, there is no different between these
Black or White.
Woman or Man.
Young or old.
I wish Deddeh Howard will be recognized by others and applaud her talent.
Thank you Rinpoche sharing this article.
This article shows a series of very inspiring photos to promote diversity in fashion world. No matter how developed a nation is, racial discrimination still exists. Some individual might hold a false belief that some races are more superior than others. This kind of belief is extremely dangerous especially in a multi-racial country. I’m glad to see that citizen of Malaysia which consists of 3 major races have been living harmoniously for centuries. It’s crucial to educate our next generation to respect others who come from different races, cultures and religion, so that we can continue to preserve the harmony in the society. It all starts from us who as parents to lead our children by example, to walk the talk, to show them how to interact with all races with respect and modesty.
Racial discrimination has always been an ongoing issue since hundreds of years ago, although laws have been introduced in between centuries, the issues has not ceased even up to this day.
It is a very wrong way of thinking to think that one is more superior than the other while we are all inhabitants of this planet earth. No one is to judge and ostracise anyone for their culture, race, gender, and religion.
Black Mirror: Famous Fashion Ads Recreated
Perception plays tricks on us. We are so confident that what we perceive as real is indeed real. Take the example of race and skin colour. Actually the color of one’s skin is only skin deep. Beneath the black, yellow , white or brown skin, we are all the same. It’s the same heart that beats with excitement and exultation when happy and with fear and anxiety when one’s life or space is threatened.
Hence, I like some of the most forgotten American ideals concerning Equality – that all men are born equal in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. If we are born equal in these respects, why can’t we all be treated equally as we all share the same aspirations about Life, Liberty and Happiness?
If we persist in viewing people as different, according to their skin colour, we will always be trapped in labels , prejudice and discrimination.
These recreated fashion ads -black mirror – that Deddeh Howard has conceptualised in a wonderfully creative way , highlights this bigotry and discrimination that are still rampant in this modern world, even in the fashion industry.
We need to educate the younger generation about the beauty and richness in diversity of the people of the world. WE need to tear down walls and teach the young that there are no walls between people. We are one big family of humanity.
Discrimination due to different races, skin colours, religion, nationalities and etc still exist in these days and age. We would like to think that people should learn from history that all discrimination are bad and bring lots of negative impact.
But the truth is, it still exist. We human are just so stuck with the wrong mindset. We have to bring awareness to all that human are all the same and that we are all oneness no matter what our physical outlook maybe. We must learn to accept differences. No one is more superior that the other.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article.
There has always been discrimination and I think will always have. The silver lining is that there are more activists like Deddeh Howard who are working to level the playing field for all across the board from racial discrimination to gender discrimination and they are making inroad in their respective areas.
These are very interesting takes on the advertising and fashion industry. It shows that any color is just as beautiful not just white is beautiful. Maybe in the ancients times, being fair and white means that any illness can be easily detected and a health is easily measured with a glance. But with the advance of medicine, that cannot be the case. So, favoring any color over another is not right anymore.
Great of Deddeh Howard to step forward in such a bold way.
The stark contrast in this Back Mirror project to the usual fashion culture can be overwhelming for some who had hardly seen any non-white representation showcased as fashion icons or lifestyle spoke person before. Discrimination based on skin color do exist and it is an open secret that it happens in all walks of life, and perpetuated by racial hierarchy that has the most to gain from it. It is therefore imperative for general public to understand and be aware of the discrimination against coloured people so that this distorted view can be minimised and hopefully eliminated for the benefit of our future generations. Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing. I enjoyed very much the images produced by Deddeh Howard, she is stunning in every image and has nothing lesser to offer than the supermodels in comparison. That much is clear. 🙂
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this post with us. DIscrimination do exits even at this current era, is very sad to see that especially among the younger generation we as a human should practice equality among ourselves by right we has no different because we all are in the samsara world but because of our deluded mind that perceive others as different that is where the discrimination arise and we will perceive them less superior than us or in some extreme case there will exploitation less privile
We would like to think that racial discrimination does not happen in this 21st century, but it is not true. It is still pretty much alive and it may be getting even worse. When I see what happened in USA, the country which is so-called upholding the freedom has recently got herself into a lot of racial tension cases. It is really sad that we are moving backwards.
I believe Rinpoche’s motive to bring this up is not to create even more discrimination, but to highlight our way of thinking, and we need to constantly remind ourselves not not get involved into racial discrimination because sometime we got into this unknowingly.
What a breath of fresh air! Deddeh Howard is gorgeous! It gets kind of boring to only see one colour, i.e. white on runways and ads. Yes, white is a colour too, so why do they call only black, brown or yellow coloured? Pure discrimination. LOL and for those who think they are superior, do they know that black people age much better than white? ‘Black don’t crack’ rings true, thanks to their melanin in their dermis. Eat you heart out!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. It is quite sad to see that the blacks around the world being discriminated and not given a chance to be on the limelight. Deddeh Howard is showing us now how the blacks can also be as successful and turn out elegent in the ads. Correct mindset should be taught to the younger generation so that this kind of discrimination will not happen again in the future.
With folded palms,
Vivian
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. It is a very powerful message from Deddeh Howard to remind the world about racism. It’s really sad to know that some people in the world now are still keeping racism in their mind, maybe they don’t know, the world takes different race, different skin colour, and different kind of people to exist. Whether we can accept or not, this is the fact. With or without other races, people of same race will still fight against each other. Then why do we discriminate? Let’s not forget, the most influencing “mouth” and most famous lady in US is a black lady, Oprah Winfrey. The greatest basketball player in US are black men, Shaq O’neal, Michael Jordan. The fastest man in the world, be it Justin Gatlin or Usain Bolt, both are black men. And, the most powerful economy country is China. I think people who racist, should start contemplating and start changing their perception. We should all love more, and no discrimination. _/\_
Racism is a very sad yet interesting phenomenon. It occurs again and again and again throughout history. Sometimes we are at the short-end of racism, sometimes we are the racist subtle it may be.
This exercise to highlight “white racism” give rise to more questions that are endless. For example if Africans are equally if not more attractive than Caucasians, what about Chinese, Indians, Eskimos, Polynesians, etc. What about fatter people, thinner people, taller people, shorter people, people without hair, with hair, short hair, long hair…
The moment we discriminate and label (which we all do) we enter an endless chain of turmoil and suffering because of the negative karmic seeds it creates or reinforces over and over and over again.
In a way, it reminds me of the teachings on “Interdependent Co-Arising” or “Interdependent Origination”. The existence of Caucasians means the existence of non-Caucasians. The existence of short persons means the existence of tall(er) persons, etc.
Until we are able to dissolve the discrimination in our minds, suffer we will.
Discrimination is happen everywhere, we may experience it regularly from our daily life experience. It happens frequently in government and school’s policies, office, neighbourhood and even from our friends. Some people thinks they are more superior than others so they deserve better treatment and have every rights to put others down. Well we should stand up for what we believed in and trust ourself. Those who always discriminate and put others down, it just shows that they we very insecure and lack of confidence for them self.
Racial discrimination is everywhere especially when there is a so called “white supremacy”. However I do give some level of credit to the USA governance that at least the discriminated can talk about it. With their origins as slaves in USA, their right of speech is tolerated due to a guilt complex. But really the advancement of equality is still lacking. May that end soon.
Discrimination of religious choices is also prevalent in many countries and that too is still happening in this 21st century. As such I am very proud and grateful that the discrimination against Dorje Shugden devotees is a cause taken by HE the 25th Tsem Rinpoche to stop and eradicate. And HE the 25th Tsem Rinpoche is doing so with logic and grace and appeal to compassion.
As said in the blog, “We may think that Racial Discrimination is not as prevalent in the 21st century, but the unfortunate truth is that Racialism is still much in existent, whether overt or in subtle”. Britain is the most racially tolerant country on the planet, a Survey claims. Surprisingly, the global social attitudes study claims that the most racially intolerant populations are in the developing World, with Jordan and India, in the top five. Whereas, over 3 decades of study over 80 countries, found western countries most accepting of other cultures with Britain, the U.S., Canada and Australia more tolerant than anywhere else. This data is derived from the World Value Survey, as reported by the Washington Post. Jordan was found to be the highest proportion of “intolerant” people who wanted neighbours similar to Jordanians than to live next door with someone else of a different race. Next was found to be India with 43.5 percent. Racism exists in every country around the globe, albeit ar different form, nature or rates of incidents. Racism is of course widely condemned throughout the World. As such, like what Rinpoche has once said, that the cycle of Racism’s unpleasantness, violnence and hatred should be defused to reduce Racial violence to save lives. Om Mani Padme Hung.
Interesting short article to bring awareness of racial discrimination ,as its still very exist .Deddeh Howard was wonderful to create advertisement, with a photo series in which she re-creates famous photos with herself in place of white models.Her initial goal is to make people notice the lack of diversity in the fashion world. She is trying to motivate and inspired more black models into fashion.
Quoted.. The next generation can only get inspired and reach for the stars themselves if they believe they can do it too,
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring article.