Essence Loses Its Essence

So, these past few days, blogs have been descending like vultures on this little tidbit: Essence hired a white woman to be the new Fashion Director of the magazine. If you weren’t aware Essence is a publication catering to black women.

I’ve already said my peace on other blogs like The Fashion Bomb and Clutch Magazine about the issue. But I want to take a different approach…A possibly legal one.

To me, this hiring feels like Essence felt that black men and women could no longer dictate fashion for themselves and needed a white woman to fix this problem. No racism intended, but if a publication proclaims to be for black women, then hire black women. Especially in this type of position. Another opportunity lost for many aspiring and inspiring black people.


The woman who will now hold this position is Ellianna Placas. She seems nice enough. But after reading on Project Duh that she styled Ciara in the worst fashion spread I’ve seen in a long while…well, I’ve got some problems. I sensed that whoever styled Ciara thought this is what black women like and want, but they missed the mark. I guess, in a way I was right.

Moving on from my own personal thoughts on the matter, I did some thinking on the issue. Could Essence rescind its employment offer to Placas? That doesn’t seem very possible at this point. And really, I don't want to see that happen. Essence made its mistake and now must live with it.
But hypothetically, before actually hiring Placas, did Essence feel that it must hire a white woman in order to meet some legal obligation? Was there a concern that legal action could be taken against the magazine for not hiring other races?
I am not aware of the staff situation at Essence, but let’s assume that everyone is black. Alright.
Now here was the job posting that I found on Fashionista that was circulated a few months back:

ESSENCE is looking to hire a Fashion Director to oversee the daily management of the fashion department. The right candidate will be someone with strong fashion magazine experience, on top of the latest trends and able to interpret them in a fresh way for the ESSENCE reader.
The Fashion Director will:
–Conceive, develop and direct the creation of 5-7 FOB pages and 1 COB feature per month
–Plan all elements of fashion stories
–Present well-executed run-thrus
–Maintain relationships with designers, stylists and PR reps, in order to obtain exclusives and features Works with other departments
–Identify new models, photographers, makeup artists and hairstylists
–Manage a staff that includes one accessories editor, one market editor, one fashion assistant and one fashion writer
–Attend industry events regularly, including launch parties, fashion week shows and events, market appointments and charity benefits
Candidates must have strong showroom relationships, solid managerial skills, keen attention to detail and an ability to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment. Candidates should also be able to work effectively with the advertising team to communicate the ESSENCE style mission on sales calls and represent the brand on television.

I do not know if these requirements are a lot to ask of a fashion director, but considering how well I’ve seen some blogs run from week to week, I think 5-7 pages from the Fashion section isn’t too much to ask of a director--especially at a major publication. And attending industry events is half the fun of being in the industry! So moving on…

Let’s say that there were many candidates for this job. Interviews revealed a lot of potentials, but Essence really needs someone with experience.  The pool dwindles a bit and the staff decided to take on someone as a Contributing Fashion Editor—a trial for a possible long-term offer.



Apparently, these are some of the looks from the spread that Placas helped style. Honestly, they are outdated and show a severe lack of taste. Bustier, jean leggings and high-heeled pumps? With a fedora on steroids? They just don’t go together. The denim skirt suits definitely isn’t working for me either. The low-budget shoe choices are something to be desired. How much are those black pumps? $245, you say? Not worth it for the Essence reader. And quite frankly, not worth it for most people even in the industry.
This is one of the many complaints I hear from women about why they don't read Essence. There aren't a ton of black women going out to buy the type of merchandise they are hawking. 

Back to our scenario: Someone at Essence salivates over this spread and Placas past work for other well-known publications, and then campaigns for the diversification of the magazine’s staff. The power people mull this over. Their readers would be proud that they are opening their doors to women of all races! Besides, they don’t want Placas or any other women/men taking them to court for discrimination! And Time Warner will be thrilled.

Generally, employment discrimination cases are argued using Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This protects a person from discrimination of race, color, religion, sex and/or national origin. Hopefully, soon this will include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Placas, or others, could argue that Essence discriminated against her because of her race/color. As the first white fashion director to be hired at the magazine, one could certainly say that there were discriminatory practices afoot.

But Essence has a defense if they chose to use it: bona fide occupational qualification. This means that if the job requires a certain qualification, they can discriminate for it. For an easy example, one could say Hooters. They really only want attractive women to work as waitresses, so they can discriminate against men, unless they’re working on the food line!


As a magazine that caters to black women, it can argue that the particular position of fashion editor needs a black woman. In the comments section of some blogs, I saw that many people felt that a white women could not dictate black fashion to a black female audience. If the above work is Placas, I’d have to agree. I also think Essence could argue that the fashion industry in itself is discriminatory toward black talent, and feels that as a black magazine, they must nurture that talent as much as possible.

Admittedly, this would be a difficult position to argue from. If you really start thinking about it, merely saying that your readers want a black fashion editor isn’t enough for a bona fide occupation qualification. But, I think there is a great need to see a black face in a position of authority in the fashion industry. And major magazines are not satisfying that need. In a different position such as Events Director, I feel there would be less of an uproar. But fashion director implies that this person intimately knows their audience's wants.


I’ve also seen many people say that there needs to be a give and take. If we want to see more black people in the fashion industry, then we should also accept other races in our realm. This is where I think there is a major difference between magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, etc. Essence is a publication that was created to promote and celebrate black people. To create more of us in an industry that was sorely lacking. Fashion is still lagging behind to this day.. (Let’s set aside the fact that Essence is actually failing to grow with its demographic as of now…)

The Vogues and Cosmos would have to say that they do not cater to black women. That the only woman that knows its target audience is a white woman. I must say that I hope Vogue and other mainstream publications do not preach this doctrine. But for Essence, there is a reason for its existence. Black men and women are still underrepresented in a vast industry. Just using African prints as inspiration isn’t enough. We need faces! Maybe there could be a legal argument for that. It’s a bit risky, and probably not the road Essence wants to take, but it’s just my two cents.

 
I am in no way an expert in law. Especially not employment discrimination law. This topic just interested me, and I wanted to look at it in a different way than just feeling slighted. As you can see, some of my opinions are clearly written in, but I hope you don’t mind.
I also want to point out that I’m in no way prejudice against other races. I believe that there are talented women of many races that can help others in their dressing needs. In this particular situation, I feel that the industry needs to become more diverse, and Essence has not done its part in accomplishing that.
I’d love to see comments on this, because I know everyone has an opinion, and I still don’t know if I am right or wrong in the way I feel. I want to give this woman a chance, because everyone should at least have that. But I think the magazine keeps making these weird and detrimental decisions to its image. And soon, there won’t be an Essence to speak of.

Technorati Tags: Essence,Fashion Bomb Daily,Clutch Magazine,Elliana Placas,Fashion Director,Law,Employment Discrimination