Beyon the pale - Beyonce Knowles
Beyonce Knowles, Fashion, Jay-Z, L’Oreal, Perfume-Fragrance, Rumor No Comments »
Cosmetics giant L’Oreal was under fire last night over claims it made black star Beyonce Knowles’ skin appear white in an advert.
It seems we’re not all “worth it” after all.
The Crazy in Love singer looks almost unrecognisable with a bizarre light complexion and reddish-blonde hair. When the image appeared in Elle magazine — to promote the French firm’s Feria range of hair dyes — it sparked outrage in America.
The New York Post called the picture “shocking” and accused L’Oreal of making Beyonce, 26, look like a “weird, nearly white version of herself.”
And yesterday Britain’s best-selling black newspaper The Voice said it would be “disgusted” if the image had been “whitewashed”.
Editor Steve Pope said: “There is an attitude in the modelling industry that black models do not sell. Models that end up in magazines tend to be very, very light-skinned or Asian. It appears Beyonce has been the victim of that kind of attitude. If it is true, I cannot understand why anyone would want to do anything so ridiculous. It is offensive to Beyonce. It is trying to distort who she is.”
Last night L’Oreal denied any tampering.
A spokesman said: “It is categorically untrue that L’Oreal Paris altered Miss Knowles’ features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair colour.”
A spokesman for Beyonce — who is wed to US rapper JAY-Z, 38 — repeated L’Oreal’s statement.