Naomi Campbell has thrown shade at British Vogue’s former editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman over controversial comments on “ethnic diversity”.
Campbell remains a vocal advocate for diversity within the business and has called out previous boss of the fashion publication Shulman for suggesting black cover models don’t sell issues in a recent interview.
“Don’t tell me black cover models don’t sell…” she wrote alongside a screenshot of an opinion piece published in The Guardian about Shulman’s statements, uploading the photo to her social media accounts on Wednesday night (15Nov17), and adding the hashtags “#Change” and “#NewVogue”.
Fellow model Jourdan Dunn, who became the first black model to appear on British Vogue in 12 years in 2015, showed her support and commented: “TALK DA TINGZ!!!!!!!!”
Under Shulman’s 25-year reign as the head of the magazine, Campbell landed just five covers, with only seven other black models and celebrities nabbing the gig. When questioned about this by a journalist at The Guardian last week, the London-born writer stated that readers need to “recognize the person” on the cover.
“I was judged by my sales. That was my remit. My chief remit was not to show ethnic diversity as a policy,” she said. “You would sell fewer copies. It’s as simple as that.”
Shulman remained adamant that cover models were simply chosen on popularity levels, and vehemently denied that her decisions at the helm of the magazine had racist undertones.
“I am upset by accusations of racism. I haven’t got a racist bone in my body, and it does infuriate me,” Shulman explained, adding that wished new editor, Ghana-born Edward Enninful, all the best. “I’m absolutely sure Edward will do really well. He’s the right guy at the right time. I’m sure that Conde Nast will be delighted, I really am.”
