Vogue Brazil Editor Resigns Over Racist Birthday Photos

The fashion director of Vogue Brazil, Donata Meirelles, has resigned after photos from her 50th birthday party show her sitting on a throne surrounded by black women.

The Guardian reports that the party was thrown in Bahia and that the white attire worn by the black women in the photo is similar to clothes worn by house slaves. The throne as well bears a strong resemblance to those used by slavers.

After the party Mereilles reportedly responded on Instagram defending the clothes as traditional Bahian party attire and the chair as an artifact from Afro-Brazilian culture, but apologized for causing “any different impressions.” After Mereilles announced she was resigning over the images, Vogue Brazil released a statement on Instagram apologizing for the incident and letting readers know they are assembling a group of “activists and scholars” to aid the magazine in being a little less racist (I guess?)

This is certainly not the first time a Vogue editor has expressed racist sentiment or casually peddled racist imagery. Just last week American Vogue creative director Grace Coddington was photographed with a set of “Mammy” jars in her kitchen and the Vogue magazine franchise has a long history of running racist imagery.