Solange Knowles has given the side eye to ES Magazine for touching her hair - or should we say removing?
The Grammy-award-winning artist - whose third album ‘A Seat At The Table’ gained respect for its discussion of her black female experience - shared a photo from the magazine’s cover shoot that shows her hair braided into an elaborate halo and top knot.
She simply captioned the shot “dtmh”, - a reference to her single ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’, which plays as an anthem for those who were made to feel different due to their hair and which includes the lyric:
“Don’t touch my hair, when it’s the feelings I wear.”
The same image appears on the cover of the latest edition of ES magazine, but one aspect of Solange’s appearance is notably absent.
The photo editing is all the more surprising as in the interview that accompanies the shoot Solange spoke about how important her hair is to her as a means of expression.
“[Braiding is an] act of beauty, an act of convenience and an act of tradition,” she said.
“To be honest, owning my body this year was really important to me. That can mean a lot of things. That can be in the physical form — wanting to have control over my physical body — and also wanting to have control in the way it is presented to the world.
“And it isn’t always easy. I often lose opportunities based on my will to want to navigate through that ownership of my body in the most authentic way.
The style had been created by hair artist Joanne Petit-Frére for Solange’s Orion’s Rise tour that closes at the Greek Theatre in California, on Sunday 22 October.
Solange’s followers on social media have repeatedly posted on The Evening Standard Magazine’s Instagram variations of “DTMH” sending out the simple statement that you should not be able to erase a part of someone; especially without permission.
One wrote: “They cut off her crown... how’s that for micro aggression?”
Another quesioned: “Grace her on the front cover of your magazine but disgrace her all at the same time... is that how we doing it now?”
HuffPost UK has contacted ES Magazine for comment and will update this article upon their response.