The world’s first digital supermodels are sparking quite a bit of controversy. The world’s first digital supermodel is called Shudu. She can be found in your Instagram feed. She is also in a Fenty beauty campaign. However, her creation has already triggered quite a bit of discussion. Shudu already has over 80,000 Instagram followers. She was created by photographer Cameron James Wilson using a 3-D modeling software program, DAZ3D. Creating Shudu requires a painstaking level of detail. A single image takes Wilson about three days to complete and weeks of prior planning. Wilson took inspiration for Shudu’s look from African beauties like Lupita Nyong’o and Alek Wek, as well as the South African princess Barbie.
Shudu isn’t the only one of Wilson’s CGI model creations. He recently created a male counterpart. His name is Nfon. But controversy is brewing around these models, as Wilson is a white photographer designing an idealized black woman based from his view of a female beauty. Others have also pointed out Wilson could redirect his time and resources to photograph real life dark-skinned models, thereby helping elevate the careers of real life women of color who are already at a disadvantage in the mostly white industry as Shudu threatens to replace real black female models. What do you think? Are digital models the future of human beauty ideals?
