Whenever black models are scantily dressed alongside white models the blogosphere goes wild with stories about the photos being racist. The latest editorial to stir up allegations of racism is titled "Start Me Up" and was shot by Matthias Vriens-McGrath for Numero Tokyo and stars VS supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio, British model Rob Evans and TaeJahn Taylor. The shoot was styled by Masha Orlov and features designs from Dior and Thakoon. The sensually charged editorial featured Alessandra with bleached hair wearing glamorous gowns while surrounded by two black male models wearing leather bikini cut undergarments. In one shot Alessandro has a chain around Taejahn Taylor.
The risque and obviously was meant to shock and some bloggers and online commenters have already labelled the shoot as being racist. One commenter on Models.com wrote; "But, this oversexualization of black models in fashion, especially in editorials is really starting to annoy me. Out of the very little editorials featuring black models the majority of them have a emphasis on sex, or a ferine theme." and "I’m a little tired of seeing this perverse sexually objectified concept of blacks in fashion. It’s so one-dimensional, vulgar, and offensive. Don’t get me wrong, Rob and Tae look amazing just as David did in the Calvin Klein ad, but seriously…this song is played and tired. " However not everyone agreed that editorial was racist another user on Hurricane Vanessa wrote, "I’m sorry but am going to have to disagree with you. I don’t think its racist at all and its when we nit pick on every little irrelevant detail that problems arise. If it was two white males,you wouldn’t think its racism. So why think any differently now? This is high fashion. It's beautiful and I love this."







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