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A spokesman for Essence confirmed to the Times late yesterday that their first white fashion director, Australian-born Ellianna Placas, has left the magazine. This is particularly notable considering the backlash that occurred when Placas was hired in July 2010. at the time, the publication’s former fashion editor, Michaela Angela Davis, responded to the news by tweeting, “It is with a heavy heavy heart I have learned that Essence magazine has engaged a white fashion director, this hurts, literally, spiritually.” she later clarified on her Facebook page:
It is personal and it’s also professional. if there were balance in the industry; if we didn’t have a history of being ignored and disrespected; if more mainstream fashion media included people of color before the ONE magazine dedicated to black women ‘diversified’, it would feel different.
Ellianna Placas, Essence’s Controversial Fashion Director, Steps Down
