French Vogue has started a serious uproar, portraying a very pale Dutch supermodel in blackface make-up from head to toe. Lara Stone, the gorgeous, blonde model in question - was styled by French Vogue editor Carine Roitfield and photographed by Steven Klein. Her inclusion in the 14 page October spread was meant to praise her for her 'alternative look', being that she is a size 4 and not a size 0 and has imperfect teeth. This was Vogue's way of including an 'oversized' model, which is all the rage these days, as waistlines balloon out across the globe to an all time wide. Karl Lagerfeld, however, refuses to mix words about the controversy of using heavier models in magazines and fashion shows.

But, back to Lara Stone. No doubt, French Vogue intended to start a sh!t storm here. It is great publicity and fashion is always pushing the envelope of controversy and running over societal norms and P.C. fragility like a speedaway train. The bottom line, is does the dark coffee colored make-up in the photos make you believe that this is racist? Do you feel that it was intended to portray a negative stereotype? Or is something else happening here? The October issue of French Vogue focuses on historical art and the other photos in the spread convey images of paintings and art from long ago.

To me, it is one of those things that it is walking the line. It is not the traditional blackface of minstrel shows from 50 years ago. Stone is not portraying a negative stereotype. She is sitting there looking gorgeous and provocative. The make-up is bringing up something from within each individual viewer, and it is up to each person to understand what that is.

I also question whethe they are trying to portray her as an African woman, at all. I think they used the make-up to incite a visceral reaction from each viewer and the public and it is interesting to read the hundreds of comments being left on blogs about these photos. People are talking to each other about racism, about art, about fashion, stereotyping, political correctness and how to walk the line of all the above.

When I first saw the photos, it was shocking but, in a mischievious way. From the first glance, I knew that Roitfeld had done it to get people talking about the magazine, about the model, about race, about art, and most of all- about the world of fashion and how fashion can bring up the controversies involved in being human.

I think the photos are provocative and are doing what they set out to do, get people talking. Whether or not they are considered racist... is up to the each individual. What do you think?