Weekly issue #1

 Issue: Kim Kardashian Black-fishing

Article #1: Kim Kardashian’s latest vouge cover isn’t winning her new fans- The Sydney Morning Herald

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/kim-kardashian-s-latest-vogue-cover-isn-t-winning-her-new-fans-20220211-p59vp7.html

 

Article #2: Kim Kardashian Was Accused Of Blackfishing And Copying Looks From Famous Black Women For Her Vouge Cover Shoot, Naomi Campbell “Liked” A Post Calling Her Out- BuzzFeed News https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/naomi-campbell-kim-kardashian-vogue-shoot

 

Kim Kardashian- a well-known social media influencer and entrepreneur was accused of black-fishing in her latest vogue cover shoot. The photos have drawn accusations of culture appropriation when Kardashian’s skin appeared very dark, similar to that of black women; and many of her looks showed a strong resemblance to famous figures like Naomi Campbell, Beyonce and Nina Simone. The controversy first sparked when a social media account posted comparisons between Kardasian’s Vouge shoot and the above figures, drawing over 200,000 likes.

I came across this issue through online articles, one from The Sydney Morning Herald and another from BuzzFeed News. The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily Australian news source while BuzzFeed News is an American news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Both articles from the two sources conveyed a negative attitude against Kim Kardashian. While The Sydney Morning Herald balanced things out by including a range of opinions from the public’s point of view to Kardashian herself, to Olivia Suleimon- an African Australian model and actress; BuzzFeed News only included quotes from Campbell and Kardashian’s previous interviews that were related to the issue and seemed to focus the attention on the Instagram comparison post rather than the topic of cultural appropriation itself.

The Sydney Morning Herald shared a lot of background information about this matter, as such: Kardashian’s pass controversies with black-fishing, why she was on the cover of Vouge, and the importance of this matter due to it being Black History month in America. The article starts to show negative attitudes when comparing the images and stating that Kardashian’s photos are “fashion crimes”. To explore more about the topic of cultural appropriation, the article included Olivia Suleimon’s opinion that “Kim Kardashian makes money from looks that black women were ridiculed and defiled for”. She explained how black women have been smudged out of fashion magazines and pop culture for decades and that they are treated as “mood boards” which makes people “complicit in this racism”.

  

                                                Naomi Campbell’s Vouge shoot next to Kim Kardashian’s vouge shoot

 

Contrarily, the article from BuzzFeed News is more fixated with the news that Naomi Campbell liked the viral post which compared Kim Kardashian’s photos to her own and other black female influencers. When comparing the images, BuzzFeed also commented that her Vouge shoot was in “remarkably similar poses and styles” as famous black women; and that “Naomi herself approved of the post- because she gave it a like”.

                                             A screenshot from Instagram proving that Naomi Campbell has liked the post

 

My opinion definitely agrees with both articles from The Sydney Morning Herald and BuzzFeed News. I think that an extremely influential person like Kim Kardashian should be conscious of what she is putting out in public and acknowledge that appropriating black culture through make-up and styling during Black History month is undoubtedly inappropriate. It had been a difficult journey for black models and actresses to have those significant moments, so for Kardashian to replicate those significant looks on the cover of Vouge is a mistake from both Vouge and Kim Kardashian herself.