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Why Elle Germany has been called out over ‘back to black’ issue

Fashion magazine Elle Germany has issued an apology over a 'racist' issue which features a tagline that appears to suggest models of colour are back in fashion.

Published: 30 October 2019 15:56 CET
Why Elle Germany has been called out over 'back to black' issue
Joan Smalls, pictured on the catwalk during Milan Fashion Week in 2016, was one of the models in the feature. Photo: DPA

People across the world have been reacting furiously to the November issue of the magazine, which has 'back to black – black is back again – irresistibly' written on the cover, next to a picture of a white model.

Meanwhile, a feature in the publication shows the profiles of six black 'new' models, including the famous catwalk star, Joan Smalls.

The feature says:  “Beautiful, successful, engaged: Never have models of colour been so in demand as now. These amazing women inspire us both on and off the catwalk.”

Furthermore, the biography next to the model Janaye Furman mistakenly features a picture of Naomi Chin Wing.

Instagram account Diet Prada, known for calling out the fashion world, posted on Instagram to say it wasn't a good look.

“You can’t make this stuff up!” they wrote in the post.

In a statement, the publication said it regretted “making several mistakes”, adding “we apologise to anyone we might have hurt”.

READ ALSO: Sharing stories of everyday racism: #MeTwo takes off in Germany

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Not a good look, @ellegermany . For their November 2019 issue, the presumably white-led publication declares that “black is back”. Ironic when they, along with much of the fashion industry, have been complicit in denying visibility to black models until relatively recently. Oh, and apparently they can’t actually tell models apart. In the bottom middle, a picture of @naomichinwing is used in place of @iam_janaye . And @joansmalls has been around for a minute/hasn’t gone anywhere lmao. The issue, titled “Back to Black”, also features a white model on the cover. You can’t make this stuff up! • #elle #ellemagazine #ellegermany #naomichinwing #janayefurman #models #blackmodels #modelsofcolor #runway #fashionweek #fashionmonth #pfw #nyfw #mfw #lfw #paris #london #milan #nyc #wtf #fail #magazine #print #editorial #editor #editorinchief #media #sabinenedelchev #dietprada

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Oct 29, 2019 at 8:10am PDT

On Wednesday afternoon more than 86,000 people had liked the Diet Prada post, while people vented their outrage in the comments.

One user wrote: “What a boring editorial framework on their part even if it wasn’t ahistorical and racist.”

Another said: “This is what happens when companies who “want” to be diverse try to speak on diversity and have no diversity in their offices….”

Supermodel Naomi Campbell wrote in an Instagram post that the actions were “highly insulting in every way”. She added: “It's ok to celebrate models of colour but please do it in an elegant and respectful way.”
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Dear sabine nedelchev @ellegermany This makes me so sad to see this, @bethannhardison @the_real_iman and I are here if you are not clear on the guide lines of diversity.. your mistake it is highly insulting in every way, .. you go further to say that BACK TO BLACK, even if you ment the fashion it’s is misleading on your headline and Type !! ! I’ve said countless of times we are not a TREND. We are here to STAY. It’s ok to celebrate models of color but please do it in an ELEGANT and RESPECTFUL way . I too in my career have seen pictures of others models called me just because of the color of our Skin, and recently seen many pictures of models of color being called being @adutakech .. do you know what it feels like to do the job ( @naomichinwing ) and not even be given the right name credit ? . Very disappointing to say the least . If you would like a conversation to know how to have A diverse mind we are here to sit and accommodate . It’s very important for a publication to be culturally sensitive and give credit where it’s due . We all need to unite on this matter NAOMI THANK YOU @diet_prada . #defendingmybabies ♥️

A post shared by Naomi Campbell (@naomi) on Oct 29, 2019 at 2:21pm PDT

The magazine has also sparked a debate over lack of diversity in Germany.

Motsi Mabuse, a South African dancer who has appeared on Let's Dance, the German version of Strictly Come Dancing, said in an Instagram post: “Another day for us black woman in Germany…I am sure Elle Germany meant no harm. Not trying to defend or attack anyone!!

“I do think if there was more diversity in the firm or in the magazine advising this would never have happened!!! Black is not back lol! It was never allowed.”

Mabuse went on to thank Elle for apologizing but said it wasn't enough. She called for “more inclusiveness”.

In the statement Elle's editor Sabine Nedelchev said: “In our current issue we are approaching the colour 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 which we apologise to anyone we might have hurt.

“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. 

“Misidentifying the model Naomi Chin Wing as Janaye Furman has also been a mistake which we regret and for which we apologise. 

“We are aware how problematic this is. This has definitely been a learning experience for us and we apologise for anyone we may have hurt or offended.”

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

A post shared by ELLE Germany (@ellegermany) on Oct 30, 2019 at 2:29am PDT

 

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DISCOVER GERMANY

Eight amazing German museums to explore this spring

With thousands of years of history in Germany to explore, you’re never going to run out of museums to scratch the itch to learn about and fully experience the world of the past.

Published: 5 April 2024 10:46 CEST
Eight amazing German museums to explore this spring

Here are eight of our favourite museums across Germany’s 16 states for you to discover for yourself. 

Arche Nebra

Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt

One day, around 1600 BCE, local Bronze Age peoples buried one of their most precious objects – the Nebra Sky Disk, a copper, gold, and bronze disk that acted as a calendar to help them plant crops. This was a matter of life and death at the time. 

Over three thousand years later, in 1999, it was uncovered by black market treasure hunters, becoming Germany’s most significant archaeological find. 

While the Sky Disk itself is kept in the (really very good)  State Museum of Pre- and Early History in nearby Halle, the site of the discovery is marked by the Arche Nebra, a museum explaining prehistoric astronomy and the cultural practices of the people who made it. 

Kids will love the planetarium, explaining how the disk was used. 

Atomkeller Museum

Halgerloch, Baden-Württemberg

From the distant to the very recent past – in this case, the Nazi atomic weapons programme. Even as defeat loomed, Nazi scientists such as Werner Heisenberg were trying to develop a nuclear bomb. 

While this mainly took place in Berlin, an old beer cellar under the town of Halgerloch, south of Stuttgart, was commandeered as the site of a prototype fission reactor. 

A squad of American soldiers captured and dismantled the reactor as the war ended. Still, the site was later turned into a museum documenting German efforts to create a working reactor – one that they could use to develop a bomb.

It’s important to note that you don’t need to be a physicist to understand what they were trying to do here, as the explanatory materials describe the scientist’s efforts in a manner that is easy to understand. 

German National Museum

Nuremberg, Bavaria

Remember that scene at the end of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, where an unnamed government official wheels the Ark of the Covenant into an anonymous government warehouse? This could possibly be the German equivalent – albeit far better presented. 

The German National Museum was created in 1852 as a repository for the cultural history of the German nation – even before the country’s founding. In the intervening 170 years, it’s grown to swallow an entire city block of Nuremberg, covering 60,000 years of history and hundreds of thousands of objects. 

If it relates to the history of Germany since prehistoric times, you’re likely to find it here.

Highlights include several original paintings and etchings by Albrecht Dürer, the mysterious Bronze Age ‘Gold Hats’, one of Europe’s most significant collections of costuming and musical instruments, and a vast display of weapons, armour and firearms. 

European Hansemuseum

Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein

In the late Middle Ages, the political and economic centre of the world was focused on the North Sea and the Baltic German coasts. 

This was the domain of the Hanseatic League, one of the most powerful trading alliances in human history. Centuries before the Dutch and British East India Companies, they made in-roads to far-flung corners.

The European Hansemuseum in the former Hanseatic city of Lübeck tells the story of the league’s rise and eventual fall, its day-to-day operations, and its enduring legacy.

This museum is fascinating for adults and kids. It uses original artefacts and high-tech interactive elements to tell tales of maritime adventure. Younger visitors will also be enchanted by the museum’s augmented reality phone app that asks them to help solve mysteries. 

Fugger & Welser Adventure Museum

Augsburg, Germany

The Hanseatic League was not the only economic power in the late Middle Ages. The Fugger and Welser families of Augsburg may have been the richest in the world until the 20th century.

From humble beginnings, both families grew to become incredibly powerful moneylenders, funding many of the wars of the 16th century and the conquest of the New World.

The Fugger & Welser Adventure Museum not only explains the rise of both patrician families but also the practices that led to their inconceivable wealth—including, sadly, the start of the Transatlantic slave trade. 

The museum also documents the short-lived Welser colony in Venezuela, which, if it had survived, could have resulted in a very different world history.

This museum has many high tech displays, making it a very exciting experience for moguls of any age.

Teutoburg Forest Museum

Kalkriese, Lower Saxony

Every German child learns this story at some point: One day at the end of summer 9 AD, three legions of the Roman army marched into the Teutoburg forest… and never came out. 

Soldiers sent after the vanished legions discovered that they had been slaughtered to a man.

Arminius, a German who had been raised as a Roman commander, had betrayed the three legions to local Germanic tribes, who ambushed them while marching through the forest. 

Today, the probable site of the battle – we can’t entirely be sure – is marked by a museum called the Varusschlacht Museum (Literally ‘Varus Battle Museum’, named after the loyal Roman commander). 

The highlights here are the finds – made all the more eerie by the knowledge that they were looted and discarded from the legionaries in the hours following the ambush. 

German Romanticism Museum

Frankfurt, Hesse

The Romantic era of art, music and literature is one of Germany’s greatest cultural gifts to the world, encompassing the work of poets such as Goethe and Schiller, composers like Beethoven and artists in the vein of Caspar David Friedrich.

Established in 2021 next to the house where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born, the German Romanticism Museum is the world’s largest collection of objects related to the Romantic movement. 

In addition to artefacts from some of the greatest names in German romanticism, in 2024, you’ll find a major exhibition exploring Goethe’s controversial 1774 novel, ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, and another on the forest as depicted as dark and dramatic in the art of the period. 

Gutenberg Castle

Haßmersheim, Baden-Württemberg

Sometimes being a smaller castle is a good thing. The relatively small size and location of Guttenburg Castle, above the River Neckar near Heilbronn, protected it from war and damage over eight hundred years – it’s now the best preserved Staufer-era castle in the country.

While the castle is still occupied by the Barons of Gemmingen-Guttenberg, the castle now also contains a museum, that uses the remarkably well-preserved castle interiors to explore centuries of its history – and the individuals that passed through it.

After you’ve explored the museum—and the current exhibition that uses Lego to document life in the Middle Ages —it’s also possible to eat at the castle’s tavern and stay overnight!

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