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Both racist and childish, the post caused outrage with Asian editors and influencers like Eva Chen and Bryan Boy who called out their Instagram post. Instead, it turned into a racist debacle when a group of editors of the magazine posted a photo on Instagram with their hands on their eyes, pulling them at the corners, trying to create a slanted shape. In November 2016 Glamour Brazil was about to launch a new project Glamour in Japan which could have been a great moment in celebrating Japanese culture. In an Instagram post, the model wrote: “This has upset me, has made me angry, it has made me feel very disrespected and to me is unacceptable and inexcusable under any circumstances.” She adds, “not only do I personally feel insulted and disrespected but I feel like my entire race has been disrespected too and it is why I feel it is important that I address this issue.” Sounds great, right? Except there was one big problem - they used a photo of the model Flavia Lazarus instead of her. Perhaps the editors just weren’t aware of her? Then the piece misidentified model Naomi Chin Wing with Janaye Furman - the publication celebrated black models so much that it couldn’t even identify them correctly.Īdut Akech (pictured above) is one of Australia’s most successful models and was recently featured with a lengthy interview in the magazine WHO. The Puerto Rican model is an industry titan who has walked for Chanel, Prada, and Gucci. Weirdly, they mentioned Joan Smalls, a supermodel that has years on the industry, as an emerging talent. It mentioned six black models who were new to the industry in an attempt to celebrate them and how they added diversity to the industry. However, the article inside was even worse. Paired with a white woman on the cover it was an odd statement. Despite this, Akech is adamant that Australia "definitely still has a long way to go".Īkech is in Melbourne as the 2019 Ambassador for Melbourne Fashion Week.The cover of their November 2019 issue proclaimed “Black is Back” - which in itself is strange since black people are definitely not a trend. "In the three years since I started my modelling career, I have seen a lot of change," Akech said.
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The fashion industry in Australia and across the world has made concerted efforts to be more inclusive of diversity in recent years. "If this is what is going to make them listen and catch up to the rest of the world, then that's what is going to take," she added. "I'm going to call out the Australian fashion industry," Akech said. The issue, curated by Meghan, singles out Akech along with 14 other women, including Jacinda Ardern, as forces for change. Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex recently hand-picked Akech to be on the cover of British Vogue's September issue. "It is about time that somebody starts this conversation and if I'm going to be that person, then so be it." "I think Australia is very behind, due to the fact that when these things happen, nobody calls them out," she said. The first time it happened I didn't speak out about it."Īkech believes racism is still a "big problem" in Australia, saying she feels a responsibility to use her platform to address it. "This is not the first time an incident like this has happened to me. "I want to change the way people view refugees and people of ethnic backgrounds in general, and by this happening, I felt like it kind of defeated the whole purpose of what I was talking about," she explained. Akech herself spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya, and the issue of how refugees are represented is extremely important to her. In the article, Akech also spoke about refugees. "It was an interview that I don't give a lot of people."
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"The article itself is something very personal to me," the 19-year-old model said.