Shereen Wu accuses Micheal Costello of ‘whitewashing’ her face
Asian model Shereen Wu has accused American fashion designer Micheal Costello of editing her face to look white.
American fashion designer Micheal Costello has once again landed in controversy after model Shereen Wu accused the designer of digitally altering her face to look White/ Caucasian.
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SHEREEN WU: ‘REMOVING MY FACE IS COMPLETELY DISRESPECTFUL’
In a viral video shared to TikTok Taiwanese Model Shereen Wu explained how the designer who she in the last minute walked for replaced her face with the face of an AI white woman.
“I recently walked for Michael Costello, but that’s not me he posted on his Story. Michael’s a big designer with 1.7 million followers. Editing my face and removing my race is completely disrespectful”, she said pointing to the altered pictured of herself.
She continues: “He claims he casted me because he likes me, but I wasn’t even on the official list. The only reason why I walked for him last minute was because the model went missing and I could fit in her dress”.
Wu further explains that she asked Micheal Costello about the edited picture to which he blamed the photographer, who confirmed that he did not alter or edit her appearance in the photograph.
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Shereen also shared that the photographer told her that Costello had “deleted” and “unsent” DMs between him and the photographer to make it seem as if the photographer was engaging in a “one-sided conversation”.
In a quest to search for answers Wu said a model close to the designer asked him about the situation on her behalf. Micheal told the model that the photo was “fan art” which contradicts his previous claim noting that the photographer edited the photo.
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MICHEAL COSTELLO RETALIATES
The Taiwanese American model also notes how instead of apologising about the AI edited picture Costello retaliated by deleting her photo from his account and then posting a series of AI generated images that were used by other fashion brands and designers.
The publicity she missed out on due to the designer not showing her face made Shereen feel disappointed because she felt like she was taken advantage of by the designer.
“I understand as a model, I am replaceable, but I don’t get paid to do these shows. While I don’t get paid, there’s an understanding that I’m doing this for exposure and photographs. By not using My face, He’s taking advantage of models without the same influence as he does”, Wu expressed.
@shereenwu Michael Costello has yet to take responsibility for his actions. I want to explain what happened, and I hope other models in the future feel comfortable to speak up. He has since offered to post my photo side by side with the AI one, but has not voluntarily post it. This offer did not contain an apology, and only happened after a model who’s close with him brought light to the situation. Some points I couldn’t fit: -Replaced the face of a model from the same collection -Lightened the skin of a black model in a photo and proceeded to push blame on the makeup artist (mua did not lighten the skin) -Screamed at models backstage (he screamed at the girl who stumbled on the runway to near tears, only to make an Instagram post praising her after.) But considering how long he’s been acting like this, I doubt any apology from him would be sincere; they would be performative at best. (Sorry for the weird cuts and sped up video I was trying to fit as much as I can in) #michaelcostello #greenscreenvideo #drama #michaelcostellocontroversy ♬ original sound – shereenwu