Jaw drop. Okay, now this is a high falutin’ fashion shoot and not one of this sit there and smile routine pictorials that only garner interest from me because it features an actress or actress I like. Top Korean model Han Hye Jin is featured in an eye dropping Bazaar Korea photo shoot that is dramatically black against a white backdrop. Note, it is NOT the picture above which is Han Hye Jin in an earlier Bazaar shoot, I’m keeping all the edgy pictures after the jump in case anyone doesn’t want to see it.
Without it being set in the US with the whole “blackface” legacy and African-American historical baggage, Han Hye Jin was painted entirely in pitch black body and face paint and shot against a stark white backdrop. All I see are sinewy lines almost like she’s wearing super thin armor and is stretching before going to kick some ass in battle. Fantastic and creative pictorial, kudos for pushing the envelope on this one.
I agree with you Ms. Koala. Somebody creativity with such a boldness like this and got approved…wow…amazing! HHJ could pose as well…delivered great pictures for the magazine. I like her back picture.
She looks amazing but this is nothing new in fashion magazines or pictorials, it’s been done many times and it’s not blackface and most black people don’t consider it so and didnt care about this spread. Let’s put that to bed because some people will jump at any opportunity to insult black people and/or African Americans (like some Koreans did).
And I’m guessing this shoot mostly caused a stir in Korea because even their fashion magazine pictorials tend to be pretty conservative.
I have to agree with @Deb. This all over body paint isn’t blackface and has certainly been done many times before in fashion magazines in other parts of the world. Obviously a radical departure for South Korea and HHJ looks fabulous.
pics or painted?..doesn’t seem like pics. Either way, it could be new in K entertainment but these pics are dime a dozen in the west.
Idont feel offended by this pictorial at all I am in awe of her body actually. However I can see why it would be seen as insensitive sorely because how south Korea view black people, brown people or other koreans with tanned skinned. That in addition to countless of time in which there has been publicized moments of actual black face.
Also Vogue is an international brand. While yes Vogue Korea is based specifically in that country and may focus on the culture and fashion of that country it remains an international brand in which has featured alot of American celebrities on its cover and uses international photographers and editors. So I dont know how much room that the magazine can be given for being ignorant of how the international fashion community sees the painting of light bodies in black.
Gucci is not an American brand and has suffered major backlash for a similar issue very recently.
The way that SKorea view dark skin as unattractive and capilizes on bleaching skin I can see why someone would be bothered by a model painting their skin black (when there are many models in the world Duckie Thot comes ot mind with that skin tone) for a temporary photoshoot basis and then washes it off before going back to the percieved beautiful white skinned self. All to sell a magazine calling it art. Lets call it for what exactly it is Vogue is a business that survives on its consumers.
All I have to say is that I always allow room for people to feel offended about something even if i dont understand where the offense is coming from and will take out the time to understand their point of view on things. I have seen comments about the pictorials in which koreans declare that it is not at all offensive and I think that is unfair to growing black community in the country to not give them the space to feel how they feel without trying to understand them first.
Smart comment.
Actually I would like to correct myself the maggazine is actually Harper’s BAZAAR not vogue but my position remains the same as it is an international brand
Now this is art.
lololol gets why it can be considered offensive, but what a shame that Koala seems so dismissive of it, trivialising the history of blackface as being ‘baggage’. The lack of empathy is disturbing.
HHJ can wash this colour off at the end of the shoot, but someone with that skin tone cannot.