It’s been a big few weeks in the beauty industry.
First L’Oreal made us all very happy by announcing that they’d hired their first ever transgender woman to front one of their campaigns. Then, after that woman posted an impassioned statement about race, L’Oreal sacked her, stating that Munroe Bergdorf’s views were at odds with their ‘values’… despite the campaign proclaiming to be all about diversity. Interesting.
That sparked massive debate and disappointment.
Clara Amfo quit the campaign. Other long term L’Oreal fans, including Estée Lalonde, who’s previously appeared in L’Oreal promo, expressed their dismay in the brand’s decision.
Meanwhile, Fenty Beauty launched and showed the beauty industry how diversity is actually done. ASOS joined in with their own makeup launch, too. See? It’s been a big few weeks.
Munroe kept speaking out, she kept patiently explaining her views, and the internet rallied around her, campaigning for Munroe to get hired by other brands (including Fenty Beauty, which would be glorious).
Now, Munroe’s been announced as one of the faces of Illamasqua’s new campaign – because not every beauty brand will refuse to work with someone brilliant for speaking out about race.
Munroe announced the news on her Twitter and Instagram, sharing a behind the scenes photo of herself getting her makeup done.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY9F-uTH04D/?taken-by=munroebergdorf
We reached out to Illamasqua to find out more, who told metro.co.uk that the upcoming campaign centres around gender fluidity, and will feature Munroe Bergdorf and model Rain Dove as the faces championing gender fluidity and beauty.
This isn’t a hugely surprising move from Illamasqua, to be clear – but it is one worth celebrating.
The brand has previously worked with Munroe through their Beauty Spotlight feature, and when the news of L’Oreal’s decision to fire the model broke, Illamasqua released a statement to say they were ‘angered’ by the choice.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtqJ50lp8Y/?taken-by=munroebergdorf
‘As a longstanding Illamasqua collaborator, we are angered to hear that Munroe Bergdorf has been dropped from the L’Oreal True Match Campaign,’ the brand wrote on their Twitter.
‘Illamasqua is a brand that stands proudly and unashamedly for diversity and equality.
‘We don’t stand or accept any form of racism, but we also believe Munroe’s comments have been edited out of context by a certain media title (who we won’t bother naming) without telling a true story.
‘In order for our generation to move forward and create a more inclusive society, it’s not just about showing diversity. We must all be free to talk about social issues in a constructive and tolerant way.’
Hear hear.
We can’t wait to see Munroe back where she deserves to be – fronting a major beauty campaign and being entirely free to speak about whatever issues she chooses.
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