The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

In Mexico, a photo session organized by the Sézane brand creates unease and controversy

2022-01-13T17:47:21.812Z


The French brand is accused of reinforcing "racist stereotypes" after posing an old woman from the Zapotec community during a photo shoot.


The photo session set the powder on fire.

It took place in Mexico, in the streets of Teotitlàn del Valle, located in the state of Oaxaca, on behalf of the Sézane brand and was revealed by a video published on January 8 on Twitter.

We can see a photographer, surrounded by a mainly French technical team and Morgane Sézalory, the brand's founder.

Everyone is busy taking a picture of an elderly woman from the Zapotec community.

The latter strikes a pose on a chair simply staged with several local rugs.

With the help (or even the insistence?) of a member of the shooting team, she then sketches a few dance steps while the photographer immortalizes the moment.

"Cultural Looting"

The criticisms have two axes: to begin with, the instrumentalization of an indigenous woman for advertising purposes. After the broadcast of these images, many voices were raised to denounce a new case of cultural looting. Among them, the Mexican Ministry of Culture, which accused the Parisian brand of “manipulating, using and exhibiting elderly [indigenous] peoples in the context of its advertising”. The National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) also condemned this "exploitation of the image of indigenous people", stating that these photo shoots, like the one carried out by Sézane, "threaten the dignity of peoples and communities and reinforce stereotypes racist against indigenous cultures and traditions". Racism, disrespect, or, at a minimum, cultural appropriation,reproaches abound. In a response to the

Parisien

, the French brand has denied the intention to use this shoot for commercial purposes.

She specifies that "these photos were intended solely for the designer's backstage diary".

Read also »

These Sézane clothes that sell for gold on Vinted

apology message

But it is also the money that would have been offered to this woman that makes people react. According to Bupu Cortés, Mexican designer, she would have received the sum of 200 pesos, or about 8.60 euros to take these photos. What Morgane Sézalory still denies in

Le Parisien

. “No payment was made, since these photos had no commercial purpose. These are the photos of a woman met spontaneously three days earlier in the streets of Teotitlán del Valle, who had agreed to come and share a lunch with the Sézane team and to participate in the photo shoot of the backstage newspaper”, explains- she.

In addition, Bupu Cortés reports a message of apology that she received in private from the founder of Sézane and of which she relays the content on her Instagram account Lienzos.extraordinarios. "I sincerely hear you and I want to offer you my deepest apologies for my errors (...)", writes the founder of Sézane. And to continue: “I want to say how much I never wanted to do anything wrong. But I understand that I did so despite my best intentions; I feel really sad and want above all to repair my mistakes.” To which the Mexican designer replies: “The indigenous communities of Mexico are not studios or souvenir shops that you can admire like on a safari. Do you understand the big difference thatbetween your reality and ours?”

Remember that this is not the first time that a brand has been indicted in Mexico.

In June 2021, the Mexican Minister of Culture had already stepped up, asking for public explanations on the use of embroidery of indigenous peoples in the collections of three ready-to-wear brands: the Spanish Zara, and the Americans Anthropology and Patowl.

Then in November, it was French fashion designer Isabel Marant who apologized after the Ministry of Culture accused her of copying a pattern created by the Purepechas.

The editorial team advises you

  • These Sézane clothes that sell for gold on Vinted

  • Bottega Veneta's monumental installation on the Great Wall of China

  • And the nominees for the most pop shoot are… Lady Gaga, Kristen Stewart and Cate Blanchett

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2022-01-13

You may like

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.