Naomi Campbell appeared in a preliminary cover of Vogue Thailand that circulated the internet showing her almost unrecognizable in an extremely fair tone. Outrage immediately ensued citing racism and immediately a statement from 24 year old photographer Marcin Tyszka was released. Tyszka says this was a stylistic choice and all of his work includes lighter pastel covers. Apparently he didn’t realize Naomi Campbell is not of a pastel complexion.
The cover shot of Naomi Campbell was taken in Paris by Polish photographer Marcin Tyszka, whose signature style is pastel, with light (natural) soft colours created by using lighting techniques and make-up for his results. In his own words he explains, “Naomi is always super sexy – our idea was to create the Prada ‘60s look – more natural– pastel – sweet – soft.”
It was an incredible opportunity for me to work with such an icon as Naomi Campbell and we were so pleased that she agreed to grace our November cover. We chose Naomi because she represents a strong, intelligent and beautiful woman and we did not enhance or need to enhance her looks in any way.
We at Vogue Thailand believe in the universal beauty of women and I have had a chance to work with so many gorgeous women such as Liu Wen, Carolyn Murphy, and Coco Rocha as our cover models, and to be able to add Naomi into our portfolio is something that I am very proud of.”
The revised cover can be seen on the right showing Naomi Campbell a tad bit closer to her normal complexion.
Did you find the original Vogue Thailand cover of Naomi Campbell racist?
Vogue Thailand Explains Naomi Campbell"s Light Skin Cover