Lupita Nyong’o tells Grazia #dtmh after it edits her cover photo to fit "Eurocentric notions" of beauty

Date
10 November 2017

Lupita Nyong’o has spoken out against Grazia for editing her cover photo to fit “the standards of beauty”, using the hashtag #dtmh (don’t touch my hair). In an Instagram post, the actor showed the before and after shots side-by-side, showing the original photo with her natural ponytail and the final cover, with the ponytail removed and her hair appearing to have been “smoothed”.

Lupita said in an Instagram post: “As I have made clear so often in the past with every fibre of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too.

“Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfils me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are. I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like.

“Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture. #dtmh”

This is a direct reference to recent controversy surrounding Solange’s photograph on the Evening Standard Magazine cover, in which the singer’s braid had been edited out. In response, Solange said #dtmh – the title of her song about the disrespect of black culture.

Lupita also said on Twitter she believed Grazia had “smoothed” her hair to “fit a more Eurocentric notion of beautiful hair looks like”.

Grazia has since released an apology, stating: “Grazia is committed to representing diversity throughout its pages and apologises unreservedly to Lupita Nyong’o. Grazia magazine would like to make it clear that at no point did they make any editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong’o’s hair to be altered on this week’s cover, nor did we alter it ourselves. But we apologise unreservedly for not upholding the highest of editorial standards in ensuring that we were aware of all alterations that had been made.”

Share Article

Further Info

About the Author

Jenny Brewer

Jenny oversees our editorial output across work, news and features. She was previously It’s Nice That's news editor. Get in touch with any big creative stories, tips, pitches, news and opinions, or questions about all things editorial.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.