Beyonce’s sister Solange Knowles was featured in Friday’s issue of the Evening Standard. The spread discussed her music career, art and fashion.
It also featured an absurd hairdo that was likely made possible with wires and a lot of hairspray.
.@solangeknowles for the October issue of Evening Standard Magazine pic.twitter.com/nARSWZlOGN
— SOLANGE LITE (@SolangeLite) October 19, 2017
And since the cover photo didn’t allow enough vertical space to feature the hairstyle in its entirety, some of the braids were edited out.
.@solangeknowles tells magazine “don’t touch my hair” after they edit out her braids https://t.co/nuoph3RfJQ pic.twitter.com/q4qptEEUO0
— i-D (@i_D) October 20, 2017
But because this is 2017 and we can’t have nice things, tons of people started to argue over the decision to crop the braids out. Some said there was an ulterior motive behind edit.
Solange herself quickly criticized the Evening Standard, insinuating the edits were racist and ignorant. She posted the cover photo to her personal Instagram and captioned it “dtmh,” which stands for “don’t touch my hair.”
“Don’t Touch My Hair” is the title of one of Solange’s songs, which speaks to a misogynistic patriarchy that unfairly views black girls’ hair as undesirable.
Friday’s Evening Standard spread did include additional photos of Solange’s braid crown and even featured several quotations from the singer discussing the value of hair braiding. So some naturally found it odd that the Evening Standard would choose a cover photo without the updo.
That magazine photoshopped Solange’s braid off the cover when in the interview she is literally talking about how important braids are t her
— rose (@boredhoney) October 19, 2017
One Facebook user suggested, “Maybe it’s because the whole picture doesn’t fit the sizing and layout of the cover. There’s a lot of blank space in that crown and it just doesn’t work.”
Others were way more blunt about their feelings.
ummm that pic of solange was for a magazine cover and they photoshopped her top braid out. so y’all hate black women that much
— albrica (@2_versions) October 19, 2017
A journalist for Vulture, who collaborated on the issue, voiced her strong discontent with the spread.
I am publicly disowning the Solange piece London Evening Standard published today. The entire piece was a fiasco despite my efforts.
— Angelica Jade (@angelicabastien) October 19, 2017
The Evening Standard has not yet commented on the growing controversy.