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H O
W A R D U N I
V E R S I T Y
Faces
& Voices IV
AN ANTHOLOGY OF VERSE AND
PROSE
Letter
to the Editor
Sadia
Bruce October 29, 1999
Dear Editor:
An avid Bazaar reader, I am naturally discerning and judicious with regard to my reading selections. Perhaps it was for this reason that I was completely appalled by the recently published “Beauty Has Gone Global... [October].” Your falsification of an emerging “concept of world beauty for the new millennium” is farcical at best, claiming the myth of the emergence of a changing face in the modeling world, which has so long been dominated by proverbially white “beauties,” each armed with her own sharp features and bone straight hair. Contrary to popular belief, the “Ken and Barbie mold” has not been broken, but merely modified to allow for occasional deviation The term “globalization” with regard to the fashion industry has come to signify a kind of westernization of outsiders, as opposed to true inclusion.
The images of the piece speak for themselves: every model featured has quite apparently been blessed (or forced to pose as though she has been blessed, as in the case of nearly all successful black models) with virtually identical figures, pointed noses, and straight hair. Admittedly, each model does possess a slightly “distinct look and her own beauty secrets,” but it is at this point where the consequential differences end. You say so yourselves in pointing out Marleen Berkova’s “chiseled” look, Audrey Quok’s Americanness, Gisele Bundchen’s first “blow out (and the subsequent Rapunzel-esque, or distinctly European feeling she experienced),” and Agola Kataka’s agency’s firm suggestion that she chemically straighten her Afro. The fact remains that a white-oriented standard of beauty is still very much in place. Young girls worldwide still live in perpetual discontent with themselves merely because they have been fooled that being Asian, Black, South American or otherwise is not enough. Nothing has changed.
Don’t kid yourselves, Bazaar. More importantly, take care not to impart your less astute readers with fantastical myths of progress. Your status as a progressive publication at the forefront of the fashion industry should not compel you to perpetuate lies in the name of casting a positive light on the industry. In fact, it is the industry that owes you favors—not vice versa.
Sincerely,
Sadia F. Bruce
Howard University
Washington, DC
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