The editorial crew of Elle Ukraine, one of the country's few fashion magazines, had to hastily change the cover photo of the May issue after the originally advertised cover angered public.
For a foreigner, it would look like a perfectly good cover. On it, actress Michelle Williams, known for her roles in “My Week With Marilyn” (2011) and TV series “Dawson’s Creek,” poses with her hand in her hair – the most natural pose for a fashion photo – wearing a short striped dress from the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2015 collection.
For any Ukrainian this cover has a special meaning, and not a pleasant one.
The stripes were the problem.
Williams’ dress precisely repeats the colors of the St. George’s ribbon. Originally used with a Russian Empire’s order of the same name, it became a symbol of World War II commemoration in Russia, and then – a symbol of Russian patriotism that has been worn by separatists in Ukraine’s east and Crimea.
During the spring of 2014, when Russian invaded and annexed Crimea and orchestrated a separatist uprising in Ukraine’s Crimea, the ribbon of orange and black stripes was worn by Ukrainians who wanted to indicate that they support separatism and Russia. It can still be seen on the uniforms of the Russia-backed separatist fighters.
The photo of Williams in the controversial dress was used on the cover of Elle UK’s April issue. Ukrainian magazine’s team adopted the cover, as it often does. But as soon as the ads with the May cover appeared on the Kyiv streets, they were slammed as political and insensitive.
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Elle Ukraine advertises its May issue in central Kyiv. (Facebook)
“In the context of what is going on, such cover isn’t just an innocent mistake,” Facebook user Yuliya Sokolenko commented on the Elle Ukraine Facebook page.
On April 23 the magazine published a changed cover on its Facebook page. The new version features a shot of Williams from the same photoshoot, but this time she wears a neutral white dress.
“The audience that has been actively commenting on our cover is seeing an unexisting undertone,” reads the statement at the magazine’s Facebook page. “The regular readers of Elle Ukraine know the editorial team’s stand.”
The same magazine has put Ukraine’s first lady Maryna Poroshenko on the cover of its September issue in 2014, along with her interview.
