Michelle Williams Photo Sparks Controversy

Is this offensive?

1. Michelle Williams poses for the cover of British fashion magazine “AnOther” this month… in a Native American-inspired ensemble.

The Oz the Great and Powerful star poses in stark black and white in a jacket and with feathers in her long braids, but the look might carry a more dubious subtext. As Refinery 29 notes: “The photo is in black-and-white, so you can’t tell for sure if they’ve altered her normally fair skin, but there is some definite contouring around the nose and the cheekbones that not only makes her look nearly unrecognizable, but also appears to mimic the stark relief of facial features often seen in early portraits of Native American women. The same mimicry applies her stoic, unsmiling pose — also a typical trope in that particular genre and period of art history.”

Source: anothermag.com

2. There’s another version of the cover too — but this one will definitely be less controversial.

Source: anothermag.com

3. Of course, this isn’t the first time fashion’s gone the headdress route recently.

Exhibit A: Karlie Kloss at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Weigh in: Is Michelle’s cover offensive?

(h/t Huffington Post)

Image by Bryan Bedder / Getty Images