Jezebel: ashley baker

A Year After The Black Hair Controversy, Glamour Marches On

Dodai — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:30:00 EST

Last August, Ashley Baker, an editor from Glamour magazine, visited a law firm to speak about the dos and don'ts of corporate fashion. While commenting on a slide show, a picture of a woman sporting an Afro popped up, and Baker called it a real no-no. She said the same thing about dreadlocks, and suddenly a storm of bad press swarmed Glamour. Last October, Portƒolio's Jeff Bercovici wrote: "Ashley is no racist, just a young writer who said something glib without considering how it would sound to someone from a different background." But you've got to wonder if Glamour is still smarting from the incident. The December issue features a "Glamover," in which they give a black "reader" a new look. Guess what?

Marketing exec Nina Wales was given an Afro.

Earlier: 'Glamour' Editor To Lady Lawyers: Being Black Is Kinda A Corporate "Don't"
GlamourPussy
Glamour "Racist" Freed From Slavery To Fashion
Glamour & "Political" Hair: What Have We Learned?
How Does A Black Woman Feel About The Glamour Controversy? I Asked Myself!
Glamour Attempts To Negotiate Peace Between Blacks, Bitchy Redheads
Related: Dear Oprah, Mariah & Leona: Don't Forget That Curly Hair Is Beautiful Too

Glamour & "Political" Hair: What Have We Learned?

Dodai — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:00:00 EST

Over on Racialicious, Latoya Peterson writes about the March issue of Glamour, which contains a transcript from the panel that editor-in-chief Cindi Leive put together after the slide show debacle six months ago in which an editor called an Afro "a no-no" and declared dreadlocks "political." The editor was fired, and the subsequent racial peace summit happened in November. The panel featured Farai Chideya (NPR, News & Notes), Vanessa Bush (Essence), Jami Floyd (TV anchor), Daisy Hernandez (Colorlines), Lisa Price (Carol's Daughter Hair Products), Venus Opal Reese (PH.D, University of Texas), Mally Roncal (make up artist/entrepreneur), and Barbara Trepagnier (sociology professor). And yet, Peterson writes, as she read the transcript, she asked herself, "How did something so right go so wrong?"

She continues:

The prevailing dominance of the white beauty ideal was not mentioned. Most of the discussion focused around corporate ideals of what is acceptable and what is not... We can discuss differences in hair texture. We can discuss differences in body type. We can discuss differences in facial features. But this does not change the reality that 'white' is considered the golden standard and that everything else is deemed unacceptable. Straightened hair, fairer skin, keener features are all considered beautiful while anything else is automatically considered unattractive. If you are a woman of color, you suddenly find yourself under enormous pressure to compensate for that you 'lack.'

Well said! In fact, we were trying to make that point very recently. Peterson concludes: "Rarely does a mainstream magazine decide to tackle race directly and so Glamour should be commended for putting the panel and article together. However, the piece feels like a wonderful beginning, a springboard to a multi-part series, the small start that leads us into a more enlightened conversation. It deserves more follow up, discussions, check-ins, maybe even a small monthly feature."

Glamour Magazine on Women, Race, and Beauty [Racialicious]
Your Race, Your Looks [Glamour]

Earlier: 'Glamour' Editor To Lady Lawyers: Being Black Is Kinda A Corporate "Don't"
Glamour "Racist" Freed From Slavery To Fashion
Glamour "Racist" Ashley Baker Calls Us, Sets Nappy Hair Story Straight
Glamour Attempts To Negotiate Peace Between Blacks, Bitchy Redheads
How Does A Black Woman Feel About The Glamour Controversy? I Asked Myself!

How Does A Black Woman Feel About The Glamour Controversy? I Asked Myself!

Dodai — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:30:00 EDT

About a month ago, we wrote about an incident at a NYC law firm involving an editor from Glamour magazine, the "appropriateness" of certain African-American hairstyles, the word "political", and some angry, offended attorneys. Yesterday, the (now-former) editor, Ashley Baker, called Moe and gave as much of her side of the story as she could. Then the proverbial shit hit the fan on the comments, followed by the news that Glamour editor Cindi Leive will be convening a roundtable on the issue for an upcoming story. Anna asked me what I thought about the situation, and wondered if she and I, as black women, ought to weigh in. She was incredibly conflicted, and not sure what to think (she still isn't). But here I am.

Let me begin with a deep sigh. I do not know Ashley Baker, and I was not in the room of lawyers when the alleged incident occurred. Do I think the remarks, as reported, were racist? Yes. Do I think that Ashley Baker is racist? I honestly don't know. The facts are black and white, so to speak: She made offensive, bigoted comments; then Glamour sold her down the river. But the rest is all shades of gray. I believe that plenty of well-intentioned people make ignorant, misinformed, undereducated statements all the time. Does that make them racists? I can't tell you how many times I've been asked, "can I touch your hair?" by a new friend. Does that make them racists? I can't tell you how many people have been shocked to discover that I, as a black person, can get a tan. And that I enjoy doing so. That I like my skin to be darker.

Are they racists? This is the world we live in. Hair is political. Some people do actually think that some hairstyles are more "professional" than others. We're a nation with a shameful past, from slavery to Jim Crow, and whether Adrienne Curry can see it or not, we're still dealing with the aftermath and ramifications. The dream is of equality, but the reality is that this nation is built on uneven ground. It's not right, or something we must endure silently. But is calling dreadlocks and/or Afros "political" and "inappropriate" hairstyles the same as cross-burning or unapologetic hatred of black people? Isn't it more like xenophobia or racial illiteracy or insensitivity? I think that what Ashley Baker has is the luxury of never having been "other." She's probably never had to even think about the meaning behind dreadlocks or an Afro, so how could she have an informed opinion? The best possible outcome of all this is that she now knows something she didn't know before.

It's not that I excuse or tolerate this self-centered or majority-centered thinking, it's just that I understand it, and I believe that the cure lies in information and education. Sometimes I think that flat-out, straight-up, old-tymey racism, where someone is capable of blind hatred, has its advantages: You know who the enemy is. These days, there are friends and enemies and frenemies and spies and plants and double-crossers and ringers. We are all part of the problem. Would Beyoncé be the star she is now if her skin were darker, like her Destiny's Child cohorts? What if she had an Afro? What about Halle Berry? As a nation, we like our black people pretty white: Narrow noses, straight hair. Hair is complicated, race is complicated, and we are still living in a world in which many people believe, without seeing that it's wrong, that the closer you are to Caucasian, the better. Ashley Baker's remarks reflect that thinking, and, to be honest, I can't say that I was surprised. We are talking about a fashion and beauty magazine editor here. Not a teacher, lawyer, doctor, social sciences professor. An editor who was representing an elitist publishing company well-known for its nepotism and homogeny. And I feel about her the way I feel about new friends who ask questions about my hair or "nationality": I can only respond with weary patience and resolve to show them the error of their ways.

But that's just my opinion, and a gut reaction. This issue is just a symptom of several larger diseases of the American Psyche; Hair, Skin color, the banning of baggy pants, the Jena 6 and Bill O'Reilly being some other indicators of how far we have to go, how much there is to talk about. Hopefully, Glamour's Cindi Leive will invite Toni Morrison (pictured above!), Angela Davis, and anyone else with an "unprofessional" hairstyle to weigh in during that roundtable.

Earlier: Glamour "Racist" Ashley Baker Calls Us, Sets Nappy Hair Story Straight
Glamourpussy
Glamour "Racist" Freed From Slavery To Fashion
'Glamour' Editor To Lady Lawyers: Being Black Is Kinda A Corporate "Don't"

'Glamour' Editor Looks Like Shit, Sees 'Vogue' Editor On Subway

Moe — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:16:32 EDT

"It took a certain courage," Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour writes in her August editor's letter, for such luminaries as Harvard physicist Lisa Randall and Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin "to admit to the pleasure that fashion brings them." Well, Glamour "Slaves To Fashion" blogger Ashley Baker — for whom exemplifying that sort of courage is just another day at the office — today exhibited a new brand of fearlessness: she posted this picture of herself after a rainy trip to work, adding a succulent detail:

And of COURSE there were a few fellow editors on my train, including one very illustrious one from the twelfth floor (otherwise known as Vogue).

So wait a second, Vogue editors take the subway? On rainy days? But what of their blow-outs?

We sort of wish Ms. Wintour had the courage to recognize these illustrious editors for having the courage to commute amongst the paralegals and accountants, but we have a feeling Vogue editors only ride the subway because the MTA takes credit cards and they've spent their last twenties on resort wear and coke. Hey, it happens to the best of us.

Rain, Rain, Go Away. SERIOUSLY [Glamour]

Dear Women's Magazine Editors: Please Stop It With The Rich, Matchy-Matchy, &%#!#!^% Merch Already

Anna — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:13:34 EDT

Glossed Over's vain and vitriolic blogger is taking her favorite target, Lucky, to task for its unyielding — and subsequently totally meaningless — use of the word "rich" to describe various items (sandals, bags, blouse) featured in the July issue. Does "rich" mean "expensive" she asks? "Shiny"? "High-quality?" "Well-pigmented"? No one seems to know (although according to market research, the word "rich" would best describe the women who read the magazine!) What we do know however, is that "rich" is one of those words or phrases that needs to be jettisoned from the product pages of women's magazines, and pronto. Some other words we have in our sights: "matchy-matchy" (cutesy, annoying, redundant); "merch" (lazy, insidery). And of course, our favorite: "lurve" (sorry, Ashley Baker).

Lucky's Taste Too "Rich" For Us [GlossedOver]
Earlier: Hating The Word 'Lurve'
'Lucky' Magazine Readers Have A Very Good Year. The Rest Of Us? Not So Much!

Hating The Word "Lurve"...

Moe — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:40:40 EDT

Sometimes reading all the bullshit we have to read every day on the internet allows us to claim obnoxious pieces of slang as our own, somehow rendering them inoffensive and even a little bit cute by virtue of our own totally ironic re-appropriations. This is not happening with "lurve." Look up "lurve" on Technorati and you will inevitably be assaulted by links to blogs with names like "Pink Is The New Blog" and "London Underground Fashion Victims." Chick shit, in other words. It's even been abused by the likes of our favorite Conde Nast women's mag blogger, the adorable Ashley Baker (right), who threw out the term in blog posting she put up today. Anna and Moe, fed up with the silliness, decided to discuss.

Annanova: when exactly did LURVE become something it was acceptable and un-embarrassing to say?
Moesha: Hmmmm. somewhere on the internet there is probably an answer to that question
Annanova: and is it something women over 30 say? oh wait, you're the wrong person to ask.
Moesha: hahaha
Moesha: i think women over 30 say it. women over thirty who are like in fashion
Annanova: well they should be shot. oh! did i just sound like peter braunstein?

Moesha: is there an origin of the word i don't know about ?
Annanova: I dunno. but it's both pretentious and cutesy at the same time, which is a doubly-annoying-whammy
Annanova: it also reminds me of the word "perv"
Moesha: i think it's for people who have too many BFFs
Moesha: whom they "love"
Moesha: so they don't have a word that is undiluted enough to express the emotion they feel toward their
Moesha: balenciaga
Moesha: Lurve, to me, says: "I took lots of highly impractical theory classes in school"
Moesha: "And have no debt"
Moesha: It says i go on all-day shiatsu/bistro/pilates/tea dates with my friends
Moesha: and subscribe to Granta
Moesha: do i read it?
Moesha: NEIN.
Moesha: but I LURVE how it looks on my coffee table, which I also LURVE, it is from some design boutique in the flatiron district that makes Design Within Reach look, well, impossibly WITHIN REACH.
Moesha: lurve also reminds me too much of "louvre"
Moesha: i have never been to the louvre
Moesha: but anyone who says "lurve" studied in paris
Annanova: what if julie started using "lurve". would you call her out on it?
Moesha: YES.
Annanova: or any other close friend? i'm debating as to whether i would. then again, i've never actually heard it uttered. just seen it written.
Moesha: yeah it's totally just written
Moesha: I don't think my bffs would do it though.
Annanova: so have we decided exactly why "lurve" needs to go?
Moesha: the same reason Whole Foods needs to die
Annanova: because it's too expensive?
Moesha: the same reason our logo couldn't be one of those nameplate necklaces
Annanova: HAHA
Moesha: it's a new yorky ref warmed over seventeen thousand times removed from annie hall already and we are allowed to hate new york because we live here

Vagina Monoblogs: Examining The Mystery Of Alyssa Shelasky's Breakup With The One Guy She Respected Enough Not To Bestow A Gay Nickname Upon

Moe — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:21:40 EDT

Alyssa Shelasky has just announced on her blog that she has inexplicably broken up with her boyfriend of a month and a half (and she's making a valiant effort not to equate it with the Virginia Tech tragedy!). In light of this surprising romantic development, and Alyssa's unsatisfying lack of explanation for it ("It didn't work out") we've come up with a few theories as to why things went south.

The Glamour online team has laid down the law. Ostensibly a dating blogger, Alyssa has not actually blogged about a date since agreeing to see her no-name-ex, a guy who didn't want to be blogged about. To compensate, she's focused on issues like how she stays thin and other really, really boring shit we can't remember, and posted lots of photographic evidence of her giant forehead, all of which rendered Miss Lyss virtually unreadable. Furthermore, there is reason to believe Glamour is laying down the law with all their bloggers, given the curious timing of both "Suze on Style" blogger Suze Yalof Schwartz and "Slaves To Fashion" blogger Ashley Baker's joining of some fledgling social-networking site called MySpace (interestingly, only Suze has figured out how to register her own permanent, personalized MySpace URL). Perhaps Conde Nast forced Alyssa to choose between love and her unquenchable thirst for self-promotion?
"Edgy English Teacher" edged his way back into her... ew.
If there's been one anchor in Alyssa's online life, it's been a mysterious, sometime guest blogger she's dubbed "Edgy English Teacher," a moniker we assume she's given him because he's an English teacher given to sublime utterances like "better buy her some Prada this weekend or no nookie."
Alyssa's dad walked in on her and her no-nickname-ex having sex.
Alyssa lives with her parents, dontcha know? And dad was weirded out. Or aroused! And Alyssa was weirded out by that. Or aroused! Imagine the possibilities! No, seriously, don't.

Alyssacentric: Stormy Everything [Glamour]

Point finger. Laugh.

eurotrash — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:15:49 EST

Speaking of Britney, the dear girl once wrote a letter accusing the journalists who 'hounded' her, of being fat jealous bitches. As we gazed around our newsroom, inhaling the heady aroma of gay man and anorexic fashion assistant, we had to smile.

But admit it. You've always wanted to know what those bitches that try and tell you that leggings, skinny jeans and bubble skirts are this season's MUST HAVE, no matter how fat and ugly you are, (in which case you should just die anyway), actually wear themselves.

Well, thanks to Glamour editor Ashley Baker's blog ("Welcome to my blog, which is guaranteed to be chock-full of all sorts of style stuff, day in, day out." Wow!), you now can. Our analysis after the jump.

Because "Stable Girl" is what this season is ALL ABOUT.

Congrats on the pregnancy dear, but do take a moment to think: What Would Anna Wintour Do? Not this, we fear.

Now that's nice to see. A shout out to soccer moms everywhere. This line available exclusively at K-Mart!

Finally, we hit the Chloe Sevigny/Maggie Gyllenhaal motherload. This girl will go far.

Legginsg! Big funny pinafore thingy! Red ballet shoes! Oh we think we just died and went to heaven!

And let's not forget your mom needs an outfit for that wedding in Kansas!

The finale. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Ashley. We are beside ourselves at the thought of being able to look like giant skirt-shaped aliens have landed are are slowly sucking us into their slimy maw. But you know, maybe we could lose a little bit of the shine. Hmmm? I feel sure the anorexic two cubes over will have just the ~~freebie~~ product for you.