Ondria Hardin is 16-year old white model signed by DNA Models, Ford Models, Elite Paris/Milan and more agencies
The image on the left is how Ondria normally looks.
She starring in an editorial called 'African Queen' in Numéro magazine as a black women.
This is not the first time a white model is being bronzed and set of as as black women.
And it's also not the first time Numéro tried to pull this off.
In 2010 the magazine used the white model
Constance Jablonski for an editorial were she's painted black and she sports an afro playing with a little black baby with an afro as well.
I really don't get why you can't cast a black women for this, sure there aren't so many black models as there a white but there are still black models.
Why use a white women over a black women for an editorial which represents black women?
Ondria Hardin is molded in a very deep bronze for this editorial.
She's wearings turbans, bold cuffs, statement necklaces and a smattering of prints as she's representing an 'African Queen'.
She is not quite the African Queen. Not at all. Hardin is a native to Lumberton, North Carolina.
Couldn't they just find a black model? Yes, it's true there aren't many colored or black women in the modeling industry but there still black models.
Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, Naomi Campbell to name a few.
There is actually no excuse for Numéro to use the the 16-year-old white model in an ''African Queen'' spread.
What hope to the black girls aspiring to become models have if even jobs for ''African Queen'' don't even go to black or African women?
Did they do this for the controversy sell, or does it say something greater on the lack of diversity?
Take a look below for the images and comment if you have something to say. Everyone can comment!
- Samiya Cusman
