The American designer is in the news, but not for his gowns. Rather, for allegedly white-washing an Asian model he used for his runway show through a photograph he shared on social media

He cast a Taiwanese-American model for his show two weeks ago. But, when he shared an image of her on Instagram in the dress he assigned her to wear on his runway, the face belonged to a glaringly Caucasian woman. Los Angeles-based gown designer Michael Costello’s love of transformed photos was not noted until Shereen Wu, whose face morphed to the other woman’s, claimed that someone made the alteration through digital manipulation (she did not know who it was). On TikTok, Ms Wu, an independent model (not represented by an agency), alleged that the photo Mr Costello posted on his Instagram Stories was not of her. She showed an image of her on the runway—during Los Angeles Fashion Week, marketed as an event “powered by Art Hearts”—and another of the other model. The two faces were clearly not the same, although they appeared on somewhat lookalike bodies (more on that later). Mr Costello denied he made the changes to the face.

This was not creating a countenance in the ‘likeness’ of a subject, such as the artistic encounters of Singaporean model Duan Meiyue last year and the year before that; this was a total head replacement, although some feel that Ms Wu was “edited to look white”. Ms Wu was understandably livid: “editing my face and removing my race,” she said, “is completely disrespectful.” Mr Costello reacted to the allegations on IG (the post has been removed), saying he did nothing to the said photo. Rather, it was, according to him, “fan art” sent to him by an unidentified devotee. He told the model that he received the photo that way, but when she checked with the photographer, he claimed he did not make the edit. In a text exchange with Ms Wu, which the model shared on TikTok, Mr Costello sounded miffed when she asked him “why you replaced my face?” He replied: “…we have no control on (sic) the photographers or artists who send us pictures, videos, edits, illustrations, drawings renderings (sic), or Ai (sic) images”, but he did not explain why he had no control in the sharing of an image that was plainly irregular.

Shereen Wu (left) and her digital sister (right). Screen grabs: shereenwu/TikTok

If the two photographs were placed side by side, we could see more than Ms Wu’s entire head replaced. Even the sheer-in-many-parts dress was tweaked. In the second photo, the shoulders were sharper and more pronounced, the biceps were less shapely, the torso was elongated, and the waistline was visibly lowered. The dress was enhanced. Perhaps Mr Costello was happy with how the dress now looked and did not concern himself with the person who wore it. He told Ms Wu in their text interface: “I would understand your message if you weren’t casted (sic) or posted on both my stories and in the videos.” Did he mean to say, what more do you want? He continued: “there is nothing I can do to the artist who send (sic) me edits or photos but post them and say thank you.” That is not true: There is something he could have done—not share the photo, and still thank the sender by DM-ing the person. He did not say why he needed to post everything sent to him. In an era of deepfakes and synthetic media, his lackadaisical approach to dealing with Ms Wu’s valid concerns left little to be desired.

Michael Costello made a name for himself as a contestant on the reality TV show Project Runway (season 8), although he did not win—he came in second, losing to his “best friend”. A runner-up he might have been, he did quickly became recognised as a “designer to the stars”: He has dressed Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Cardi B, who according to Elle, “was literally peacocking in a massive Michael Costello dress at Paris Fashion Week” in 2018. His clientele is, thus, imaginable and that he would participate in LA Fashion Week expected. Despite the fame, he is not exactly a quiet figure plugging away in his studio, free from controversy. Mr Costello, who now looks different from the time he was in Project Runway, was embroiled in controversies involving his celebrity friends and clients, which included Chrissy Teigen (who allegedly bullied him to the point that he was “traumatised”) and Leona Lewis (who was “embarrassed” and “deeply hurt” because the designer apparently did not want to dress her). Amid these very public conflicts, Michael Costello was called out for using a racial slur, for body-shaming, even for sexual harrassment when he purportedly sent “dick pics” to a male photographer he wanted to work with. And all these unfolded in just one year—2021. Will the latest be a foretaste of the festive season to come?

Illustration: Just So