Controversy followed Versace’s FW16 ad campaign that featured Gigi Hadid as the matriarch of an interracial family earlier this month.
The ad was criticized for being unrealistic in portraying Hadid, 21, as a mother of two (making her a teen mom) to a son and Black daughter (whom many noted on social media appears to be chained to her stroller).
Even Jezebel chimed in on the criticism referring to Hadid as the kids’ “new mommy.”
Sigh! Racist Trolls Attack Old Navy for Ad Featuring Interracial Family
Family Affair. #GigiHadid stars in #Versace's new F/W '16 campaign. pic.twitter.com/VzYlVZxlAP
— IMG Models (@IMGmodels) June 3, 2016
“With my collections, I’ve been thinking more and more about the real life of Versace, and the complexity of women’s lives,” Donatella Versace told The Telegraph regarding the controversy. “[Women] run their own business, look after their family, travel, share time with friends, all often in the same day. I wanted to show the fullness of the Versace life in our campaign,” she explained, not fully grasping the motive for the backlash.
While showing people of color in a luxury ad campaign is admirable, the question critics posed is ‘did she get it right?’
What do you think?
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