Lupita Nyong'o accuses Grazia of airbrushing her hair to fit 'Eurocentric' notions of beauty

'Despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too'

Grazia the shifted blame instead of apologising to Nyong’o

Lupita Nyong'o has accused Grazia of editing out and smoothing her hair to "fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like."

The Oscar-winning actor posted the comment on Twitter, featuring an image of the magazine's front cover, alongside what appears to be unedited shots from the same photoshoot.

On Instagram, she elaborated on her disappointment, adding: "As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too."

"Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are."

"Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women's complexion, hair style and texture."

She ended the post with the hashtag "#dtmh", a reference to the Solange track "Don't Touch My Hair", from her 2016 album A Seat at the Table. The Evening Standard previously apologised to the musician after airbrushing out her braids for the cover to its magazine.

The photo shoot involved the musician donning an elaborate crown of braids, a nod to "Don't Touch My Hair" and its tribute to the powerful historical, cultural, and artistic legacy of black women braiding their hair. A topic point ironically discussed within the magazine's own interview, which also saw Solange discuss her upcoming album.

After it emerged the crown of braids had been digitally airbrushed out of the magazine's cover, the musician posted the original, unaltered image to Instagram with the caption "#dtmh".

After the publication was widely criticised for erasing such a core part of Solange's cultural and artistic identity, The Evening Standard posted the following statement: "The decision to amend the photograph was taken for layout purposes but plainly we made the wrong call and we have offered our unreserved apologies to Solange."

Grazia has issued an apology for the cover, stating: "Grazia is committed to representing diversity throughout its pages and apologies unreservedly to Lupita Nyong'o. Grazia magazine would like to make clear that at no point did they make any editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong'o's hair to be altered on this week's cover, nor did we alter it ourselves."

"But we apologise unreservedly for not upholding the highest of editorial standards in ensuring we were made aware of all the alterations that had been made."

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