From models to magazines: how anti-Semitism is spreading in the fashion scene

Starting at: 6:22 pm | Reading time: 4 minutes

YesSince the Hamas terror in Israel, the fashion world has been quiet for a long time. Suspiciously calm for a bubble that for at least a few years has been happy to make high-profile political statements, which has declared sustainability in the sense of climate protection its top priority and takes care to decorate its accounts with black tiles (after of the murder of George Floyd) or light blue and yellow garlands after the attack on Ukraine.

It only grew stronger after an incident involving model Bella Hadid, who drew attention with frequent anti-Semitic slogans such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” But instead of criticizing the 27-year-old, the model is receiving support. Bella Hadid has 61 million followers on Instagram. She was one of the most sought-after models on international runways last year and, especially with her cyborg facial features, she helped shape the prevailing beauty ideal for an entire generation. In the past, many women asked their plastic surgeon to have beautiful cheekbones or lips.

Hadid has repeatedly made anti-Israel comments in the past and has publicly accused Israel of oppressing Palestinians. In May 2021, he walked during a Palestinian demonstration in New York waving a Palestinian flag and shouting slogans and posted videos of it on his Instagram account. Now the model’s fans have spread that the contract between her and Dior Beauty was canceled after the Hamas attack. Amid a wave of shit storms, she then called for a boycott of Dior. Shortly after, a simple investigation on the Internet revealed that Hadid was no longer the face of the brand as of 2022.

With this conspiracy theory, anti-Semitic propaganda has now reached the world of fashion, using familiar clichés from the dark decades of the last century and targeting the industry’s greatest representative. Dior is the flagship of the LVMH group, whose boss, Bernard Arnault, was until recently the richest man in the world. Arnault himself does not come from a Jewish family, although that is often stated. But he built his empire with the support of the Jewish banker Antoine Bernheim, who was a sort of mentor to Arnault until his death.

A few weeks ago a blatant incident occurred in the American “Harper’s Bazaar”. Editor-in-chief Samira Nasr criticized the Israeli reaction to the Hamas massacre in very harsh words. Publisher Hearst Magazines then sent an internal memo to employees making clear that Nasr’s comments “do not represent Hearst’s values.” However, there was no external statement from the editor about the incident and Nasr was also allowed to keep her work. A few days ago in this country, Deborah Middelhoff, the Jewish editor-in-chief of three lifestyle magazines at Saisonn Verlag, resigned from her position because she no longer felt safe in Germany. “In view of my membership in the Jewish religious community and due to current events in Germany, I have decided to move the center of my life abroad,” she said in a statement from the publisher.

Slogans that mean the destruction of Israel

And the silence of the influencers is gradually being broken. However, it is often noted in pro-Palestinian statements. For example, mega-influencer Camille Charriere, a British-based Frenchwoman who writes for the British magazine Elle, is a confidant of such popular designers as Jacquemus and Nensi Dojanka and has 1.4 million followers on Instagram, and was recently filmed in a Palestinian demonstration in London and shared the video on his Instagram stories. In this context she did not mention Hamas terrorism.

Anti-Semitism is also noticeable among other influencers, previously hidden in the stories. Amid cream interiors and oatmeal beige color schemes, black, red and green Palestinian flags or “Free Palestine” slogans shine again and again, which in turn signify nothing other than the destruction of Israel. As a fan, all I am left with is the horror that, while one may agree that Tabi shoes may have been one of fashion’s ugliest inventions, there are obviously fundamentally different assumptions about the right of the State of Israel to exist.

The lack of responsibility towards the platform itself is becoming a breeding ground for widespread anti-Semitism. Palestinian flags and slogans pile up in the comments and are barely or barely deleted. Hate is now allowed to spread uncontrollably, casting its shadow over beauty, elegance and style. And so, even the faces of supermodels end up turning into grimaces.