Fan Art or Blackface? These Vitiligo Makeup Tutorials Hit a Sore Spot

You may recognize model Chantelle Brown-Young from her stint on American's Next Top Model. Maybe you've seen her face on the cover of Ebony magazine, or perhaps you spotted her on the Desigual runway or on the fashion brand's billboards above New York City. The point is . . . this model is everywhere! Under the stage name Winnie Harlow, she's one of the first women with vitiligo to catapult to supermodel status. Recently, her fans have taken to Instagram with makeup tutorials to celebrate Chantelle's unique skin pattern. However, what some may consider fan art others have labeled blackface. Chantelle responded to the claims on her Instagram:

My response to this is probably not what a lot of people want but here it goes: every time someone wants fuller lips, or a bigger bum, or curly hair, or braids does Not mean our culture is being stolen. Have you ever stop to realize these things used to be ridiculed and now they're loved and lusted over. No one wants to "steal" our look here. We've just stood so confidently in our own nappy hair and du-rags and big asses (or in this case, my skin) that now those who don't have it love and lust after it. Just because a black girl wears blue contacts and long weave doesn't mean she wants to be white and just because a white girl wears braids and gets lip injection doesn't mean she wants to be black. The amount of mixed races in this world is living proof that we don't want to be each other we've just gained a national love for each other. Why can't we embrace that feeling of love? Why do we have to make it a hate crime? In a time when so much negative is happening, please don't accuse those who are showing love and appreciation, of being hateful. It is very clear to me when someone is showing love and I appreciate these people recreating, loving and broadcasting something to the world that once upon a time I cried myself to sleep over #1LOVE

A photo posted by ♔Chantelle Winnie♔ (@winnieharlow) on Aug 22, 2015 at 9:13am PDT

Keep reading to see all the images and decide for yourself!

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