Vogue Brazil's style director Donata Meirelles has resigned after being accused of hosting a slavery-themed party for her 50th birthday.
According to CNN, the celebration was a star-studded event in Brazil. When photos of the party hit the internet, critics pointed out it seemed to make light of the country's history of slavery. Following this criticism, Meirelles decided to resign.
The whole ordeal began when commenters began critiquing a now-deleted photo of the party posted by journalist Fabio Bernardo that showed Meirelles sitting in a throne-like chair bracketed by Afro Brazilian women. The Black women were dressed in high-rising head wraps and were wearing white-and-gold traditional gowns.
Vogue Brazil confirmed Meirelles' resignation and said her position would no longer exist, "since it has been designed specifically to her."
"We understand and respect her resignation and will be eternally grateful for all the passion and talent she has dedicated to every page she has edited," the magazine's statement on the issue read.
Meirelles claimed the party was not slavery-themed and argued the photo was taken out of context, News.AU reports.
"It was not a theme party," Meirelles claimed. "Since it was Friday and the party was in Bahia, many guests and the receptive[s] were in white, as tradition says. But it is also worth clarifying: in the published photos, the chair was not a Sinha chair, but a candomblé chair, and the clothes were not a maid, but party dresses from Bahia. Still, if it looked otherwise, I'm sorry."
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Rita Batista, an Afro Brazilian journalist and television host, responded to the apology in a post on Instagram, comparing the photo to a historical 19th-century image in which two enslaved Black men stood on each side of a similar chair with a woman in the middle.
"The slaves of wealthy houses were adorned by their own masters," Batista wrote in Portuguese. "When they went out into the streets with their ladies or children, they were displayed in fine, jeweled garments. The slave herself was an object of the owner's ostentation, a luxury object to be shown publicly."
Vogue has formally apologized and promised to do better.
"Vogue Brazil apologizes profusely for what happened and hopes that the discussions generated have served as a learning opportunity," the iconic fashion magazine said in a statement. "We take the reflection generated to broaden the voices within the team and create, on a permanent basis, a forum formed by activists and scholars who will help define contents and images that combat these inequalities."
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