“I didn’t speak Paris”: Model says she can relate to problems of women of colour because she’s blonde

Model Devon Windsor has been left embarrassed and is now apologising for comments she made on an episode of a new show on E! called Model Squad.

In the episode, Shanina Shaik, an Australian model whose father is half Pakistani and half Arab, expressed her frustration with the modelling world and told her fellow models how people used to tell her she would never do high fashion because of her skin colour. She added that black girls were left out of big shows in Milan because the designers didn’t want women of colour, according to The Cut.

Which is already a pretty sad story, but then Devon tried to equate her own struggles as a white, blonde model with those of WOC in regards to diversity in the modelling world. 

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“I literally f**king went through hell and literally lived in different countries like every other month and didn’t speak that language,” she said. “I didn’t speak Paris, didn’t speak Italian. And I did that for like, two years.”

Then, instead of keeping quiet and listening to another model who said that maybe she wasn’t able to relate, Devon made things so much worse by saying: “You know how hard it is to be blonde? I have to get a highlight every month! Do you know how expensive that is?”

And then Model Ping Hue said the best thing ever in response: “Oh my God, tiny violin.”

I personally laughed and laughed at Devon’s comments because they were so ridiculous. As if having to highlight your hair every month and constantly moving cities presents the same struggles as not being able to find work simply because you’re brown. 

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But while I still think Devon’s comments are hilarious, they must also be taken seriously as an example of how white privilege is still so prevalent and toxic to the point where it tries (and most often succeeds) to mute the voices of POC.

So after the clip above went viral, model Olivia Culpo said that maybe Devon’s comments were taken “out of context” and “misconstrued to manufacture drama”, but even Devon herself admitted to being at fault and saw the error of her ways. 

She posted this apology on Twitter:

Which still feels like a non-apology really, but she tried and hopefully she will never say anything as stupid ever again.