Saturday 25 December 2010

Race row over Elle's front cover shoot after Bollywood actress' skin is 'whitened'


Elle magazine has come into a race row after supposedly whitening the skin of a Bollywood actress on its cover. Many readers are angry and upset after it was ­suggested that the fashion bible might have digitally ‘bleached’ the skin of Bollywood actress ­Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
The 37 year old appears on this month’s cover of the Indian edition of the magazine. Though, her skin appears to be much lighter than her normal colour (seen left).
Inside the magazine, she has a series of shots which again all show her with pale skin. It’s not the first time that Elle has been accused of appearing to lighten the skin of its non-white models.
In September this year, black actress Gabourey Sidibe appeared on the cover of an American edition of the magazine with a much paler skin tone. On that particular time Elle said they had not altered the star’s skin.
Skin lightening is a controversial issue in India and those with a lighter complexion are perceived to be rich and successful. Skin-lightening products in India aimed at young men and women now form a multi-million-pound industry.
Elle is seen upon as a fashion bible and should not be lightening models skin. They are portraying to their readers that lighter skin is always in fashion and this is wrong, and they should not be sending out this message.
Please share your thoughts and opinions on this subject. Do you think its right for magazines to lighten model’s complexions?

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