A fashion magazine has caused controversy with a photo shoot called “be my slave” that has been blasted for being insensitive and racist.
The racially charged backlash against Pakistan’s Diva magazine was sparked by an editorial shoot curated by fledgling designer Aamna Aqeel, who chose to showcase her creations in the magazine in a less than sensitive way.
The provocative shoot sees Ageel’s designs hanging from a model being pandered to by a dark-skinned child slave, seeing the designers labelled racist and naive.
Pakistan’s arm of the International Herald Tribune reports the designer denies accusations of any racist angle in the shoot, saying it was a coincidence that a dark-skinned child had been cast in the ‘slave boy’ role.
“He works in a garage and wanted some work,” she said.
The designer, who is herself involved with a children’s charity, said she didn’t mean any offence but wanted to spark debate on child labour.
“She says she is involved with a children’s charity and wanted to highlight how ‘society madams employ child labour in their homes,” Pakistani fashion writer Salima Feeresta wrote.
“She is educating and supporting the child used in the shoot — it seems the least she can do after exploiting him in this fashion.”
Ageel’s explanation of the shoot has been described as facetious and hypocritical, earning global criticism of the designer and the magazine that published the images.
The incident joins a list of racially insensitive fashion shoots including a ‘blackface’ shoot from the Netherlands edition of Vogue which followed the publication of a white model who was ‘heavily bronzed’ to appear in a shoot entitled ‘African Queen’ for a French fashion magazine.
