STYLE HUNTER

WHAT THE ELLE?

Popular fashion magazine, Elle is in haute water again, only one month after their controversial Melissa McCarthy cover, where they styled the plus size comedian in a less than stellar cover look that had critics none too happy.

Fans of curvy Indian American actress/comedian, Mindy Kaling, are not too thrilled about her February 2013 cover- shot in black and white and cropped to show only her face and a strange hand over chest pose. What's the big deal? Kaling is one of four cover stars for the annual Women in TV issue, but the other ladies (Amy Poehler, Zooey Deschanel, and Allison Williams) are styled wearing high fashion clothes, appear in full-body poses, oh- and they are all shot in color.

 Twitter went nuts, angrily tweeting that the cover was both "racist and fat-ist", prompting  Kaling to  defend the magazine.  The star seemed to have no hard feelings and tweeted to her near 2.7 million followers, "I love my @Ellemagazine cover. It made me feel glamorous and cool. And if anyone wants to see more of my body, go on thirteen dates with me." 

Elle is no stranger to un-popular covers. In addition to the McCarthy mishap, earlier last year the  magazine featured actress Gabourey Sidibe in a horrible wig with visibly lightened skin and  a very closely cropped shot, which also prompted outrage by critics.  It is not a myth that fashion magazines have a hard time selling covers with non white celebrities (unless you are Beyonce) but it is 2014 and I can't believe we are still having this conversation about color and size...