Cosmopolitan has been heavily criticised over its choice of models in an online article about beauty trends in 2015.
The online version of the magazine compared "gorgeous" fashion and beauty trends with those that needed to "die".
For the 21 trends that were "gorgeous", every single photo used was of a white woman, apart from Nicole Richie who is bi-racial.
For the trends that needed to "die", almost a fifth were illustrated with a woman of colour.
!! RT @MaS1banda In dishing out advice, Cosmo not-so-subtly tells readers "paler is better" http://t.co/RGz7nXJuuO 😕
The article – "21 Beauty Trends That Need to Die in 2015" – was published on the magazine's website in January, and was shared over 80,000 times.
When the online piece resurfaced yesterday, Twitter users reacted angrily to the fashion magazine's choice of models.
Coincidence that all the "wrong" looks are on black woman/WOC? @Cosmopolitan #HowItFeelsToBeABlackGirl
Many felt that there was an implicit bias against women of colour.
Rare to see women of colour in a mainstream magazine. And when you do it's to tell us we're ugly.. @Cosmopolitan
The fashion industry has long had a problem with diversity.
A 2014 report on diversity in fashion magazines found that white models were featured on covers five times more often than people of colour.
"If these results prove anything, it's that fashion continues to have a global diversity problem," writer Jihan Forbes said in the report. "Fashion should represent beauty in all forms and it's about time our magazines reflect that."
It's not just the fashion industry that has been criticised for failing to be inclusive of people of colour and their beauty.
Dear @Dove , What skin colour is 'normal' ?!?
Brands such as Dove have been called out for using questionable language on their products.
In a statement about the label suggesting white skin was "normal", a Dove spokersperson said: "In this case, there was an oversight from our team... as soon as our teams in Europe discovered this error, they began the process of relabeling the bottles."
BuzzFeed News has contacted the online version of Cosmopolitan and the writer of the piece for a comment.
Since publishing this article, a Cosmo editor has issued a note on the article:
Since this article was published, a Cosmo editor issued a note.
It read:
A note from the editor: This article focuses on beauty trends with images that represent those trends. Some images have been taken out of context, and we apologize for any offense. Celebrating all women is our mission, and we will continue to work hard to do that.