Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie And Zadie Smith Talk Diversity In Fashion Magazines.

Two very non-basic literally ladies united last week at Harlem’s Schomburg Center in New York City to discuss a small percentage of their myriad complex thoughts, some of which involved ethnic diversity in fashion magazines.

Obviously the conversation is worth watching in its hour-long entirety, touching upon hair and feminism and sprinkled with too-short passages from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s new book Americanah. After the conversation is handed over to the normals, a question from an audience member prompts a short discussion about women and fashion magazines. Zadie Smith starts it off thusly and definitely controversially:


“I have a probably unpopular opinion, but when I think about those arguments about putting more black women in magazines and the rest of it, I grew up with a mother with no interest in any of that — makeup, magazines, anything — and I was really happy. So my feeling is, to be honest, I don’t really want to be in those magazines. I don’t really like those magazines. And I know it’s a matter of representation and equality, but do you want to be equal with something that makes so many people miserable? I quite liked the fact that we had our own aesthetic and our own way of being and it had nothing to do with weighing five pounds… I don’t care about those magazines. I know it’s important to be represented, but personally, if you’re asking me honestly, I don’t like that stuff and I don’t want to be a part of it anyway.”

Adichie, who has always been an outspoken advocate of why the fuck can’t smart women love fashion, gives a wonderful response:


“.”But here’s the thing, I think it really does matter. It’s one think to have our own verified, wonderful little bubbles and to be happy in them, but there’s a wider world out there. And so you’re raising a daughter, and there’s no way you’re going to be able to keep her away from those things…. I don’t even think about men when I make my choices, because they’re irrelevant. It’s about me. And I don’t want to live in a world where I have to apologize for liking what I like

Zadie Smith, who has just scorned one of the things I love most in the world while somehow making me like her even more, points out that black models aren’t immune from whitewashing:


“But the black women they put in those magazines, they don’t look like black women that I know. They’re under a different aesthetic.”

“But you are stylish!” cries the audience, correctly, in affectionate outrage.


“But it depends what kind of style. I don’t like to look vulnerable — that’s not a look that particularly interests me. It depends what kind of fashion you mean.”

Adichie then demonstrates precisely why her TED talk was sampled by Beyoncé.


“Here’s the thing, though. When you say that those magazines make people miserable, why do they? They do because the images are in some ways unattainable. The women are all zeros. But it doesn’t have to be. Even for me [featuring thin black women] is progress. Even black women who weigh five pounds are progress, to a certain extent.”

As for looking vulnerable, I don’t mind looking vulnerable. I like flirty little skirts.”

I’m devastated to not hear Adichie’s thoughts on the #WorldsMostTalkedAboutCouple, but can you really ask for more? Watch the whole conversation in this link. http://www.styleite.com/