Modemerk Marni in opspraak vanwege ketens om voet van zwart model

28.07.2020 | 21:24 UUR | Anna Neeltje de Boer

Het Italiaanse modemerk Marni staat bekend om zijn eigenzinnige kijk op mode. Maar de SS20-campagne valt niet geheel in goede aarde. Zwarte modellen trekken blootsvoets door de jungle en naar de zee.

Ook deelde Marni een foto waarop een model een strandtas aanprijst, met ketens om zijn voeten. Die foto is inmiddels van social media verwijderd.

Racistisch

De reacties op de campagne zijn niet mals. ‘Hoeveel mensen met kleur werken er voor Marni? En daarmee doel ik niet op de uitgebuite modellen’, valt er onder de Instagramposts van het modehuis te lezen.

‘Dit is het slechtste voorbeeld van zwarte mensen door de ogen van witte mensen. Schaam jullie! Hoeveel procent van jullie personeel is zwart?’ en ‘Hoe steunen jullie Afrikaanse vluchtelingen die zich op Italiaanse stranden bevinden? Krijgen zij een fotoshoot?’

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Modehuis Marni

Marni zelf heeft nog niet op de ophef gereageerd en ook de campagne staat nog online.

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The adorned White Queen appeared compliant yet sculptural. #Marni @gb65 @edgarazevedo

A post shared by Marni (@marni) on Jul 25, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

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On Friday, Italian brand @Marni , known for its quirky, irreverent take on luxury fashion, sent out an e-mail blast for their new SS20 campaign. In the series of images, which were also simultaneously posted on Instagram, Black models are juxtaposed with some choice words evoking the season’s mood–“jungle mood,” “tribal amulet,” and “barefoot in the jungle” among others. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ You might remember H&M’s “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle” hoodie from 2018, which was photographed on a young black boy, and recalled a legacy of simianized representations of Black people as apes and monkeys. Ditto Prada’s “Otto” keychains which caused a scandal later that same year and in the months prior, an incident with Gucci’s blackface balaclava. It was a rough year for fashion brands, but it hasn’t stopped. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Marni’s new campaign is more nuanced, but no less problematic. With the models styled in a smorgasbord of ethnic accessories like Bayong wood necklaces from the Philippines, Caribbean woven grass hats, and other non-descript wooden jewelry (none of which are Marni), the images begin alluding to racist, colonial stereotypes of Black people as primitive, uncivilized, and unmodern people. One model is even painted in clay, evoking tribal bodypaint. In another image that’s since been deleted from the brand’s Instagram account, a link of chains near the model’s feet resulted in some terrible shackle-like optics. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It becomes a more layered conversation though, when you discover the photographer Edgar Azevedo is Afro-Brazilian. Meanwhile Giovanni Bianco, the art director, is Brazilian-Italian. Was something lost in translation? More context provided by the brand to explain the vision and collaboration with the photographer could have helped in this situation, but needless to say, the damage was done when the marketing team decided on those words. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ These stereotypes are just some of the ways the institution of white supremacy has oppressed, dehumanized, and deprived Black people of their human rights. For yet another fashion brand to reflect these tropes further proves the work that needs to be done to dismantle the pervasive racism throughout the world.

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Jul 28, 2020 at 9:07am PDT