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South Sudanese Model Addresses Discrimination in Instagram Post

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Mary Paige Nesfeder

South Sudanese model Nykhor Paul, who has modeled for Vivienne Westwood, Louis Vuitton and Rick Owens, has some words for makeup artists in the fashion industry. Apparently Paul still has to bring her own makeup to shows, while her lighter-colored counterparts “…don’t have to do anything but show up,” Paul posted a lenghty paragraph on her Instagram:


 

Dear white people in the fashion world! Please don’t take this the wrong way but it’s time you people get your shit right when it comes to our complexion! Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional show when all the other white girls don’t have to do anything but show up wtf! Don’t try to make me feel bad because I am blue black its 2015 go to Mac, Bobbi Brown, Makeup forever, Iman cosmetic, black opal, even Lancôme and Clinique carried them plus so much more. there’s so much options our there for dark skin tones today. A good makeup artist would come prepare and do there research before coming to work because often time you know what to expect especially at a show! Stop apologizing it’s insulting and disrespectful to me and my race it doesn’t help, seriously! Make an effort at least! That goes for NYC, London, Milan, Paris and Cape Town plus everywhere else that have issues with black skin tones. Just because you only book a few of us doesn’t mean you have the right to make us look ratchet. I’m tired of complaining about not getting book as a black model and I’m definitely super tired of apologizing for my blackness!!!! Fashion is art, art is never racist it should be inclusive of all not only white people, shit we started fashion in Africa and you modernize and copy it! Why can’t we be part of fashion fully and equally?

A photo posted by nykhor (@nykhor) on

What is your take, collegiettes? It’s about time equality made its way to the fashion industry, no?

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Mary Paige Nesfeder (known as MP on the volleyball court) is a junior Media and Communication Studies major at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She is about as contradictory as the Instagram accounts she follows (her faves are dcfoodporn and yoga_girl)! She finds solace in Jack Johnson, her Pinterest account and a good nap. She can't go a day without talking to her mom or daydreaming about the future.