From Jean Paul Gaultier dressing male models in skirts to Lady GaGa’s meat dress, fashion is already an established medium for making political statements. But the selfie, well that’s new.
We don’t yet fully understand the power or value of the selfie phenomena that has invaded our culture. Amazon views them as the next stage in password evolution, while three students from the University of South Texas are using selfies for social activism.
At Outkast’s reunion tour, Andre 3000 wore a jumpsuit with the words “Across cultures darker people suffer most, why?”.
His outfit struck a chord with Pax Jones, Mirusha Yogarajah and Yanusha Yogarajah, and inspired them to start a movement that fights colourism – one selfie at a time.
Colourism is still apparent in South East Asia, Latin America and Africa, where it isn’t uncommon for people from the same race to show discrimination towards those with the darkest skin tones.
The ‘Unfair and Lovely’ campaign invites male and female Instagram users to post selfies alongside the hashtag #unfairandlovely. The images sent into the campaign are accompanied with posts about the individual’s experiences. It’s hoped the campaign will challenge attitudes, while inspiring people to embrace who they are, and their skin tone.
Via. Protein