Gabourey Sidibe, during the course of her career, has been refreshingly open about the mistreatment she's experienced because of her size and skin color. In March she revealed screenwriters have crafted characters for her that are explicitly referred to as "hippos" and "elephants." In 2016 she told People magazine that she has to constantly block racist trolls on social media. Sidibe's also frequently discriminated against at high-end clothing stores, a topic she discussed at length in a new essay for Lenny Letter.
The specific incident Sidibe addressed in the essay happened at a Chanel store in Chicago, where she lives while shooting the Fox TV show Empire. Sidibe writes that she went to the brand's boutique near her apartment to pick up a pair of eyeglasses for herself and sandals for her costar Taraji P. Henson. She explains that she was confident in her outfit—and topped it off with a vintage Chanel bag—but the salesperson didn't care. All she saw, according to the essay, was the color of Sidibe's skin and her size and, from that, wrote her off as an undesirable customer. Instead of trying to help the actress with her request, the salesperson coldly directed her to a discount eyeglasses store across the street.
"She greeted me, but the look on her face told me that she thought I was lost," Sidibe wrote. "I had been at her display for less than a minute, and she was literally directing me to another store. I knew what she was doing. She had decided after a single look at me that I wasn’t there to spend any money. Even though I was carrying a Chanel bag, she decided I wasn’t a Chanel customer and so, not worth her time and energy."
This awkward exchange went on for a few more minutes before the salesperson begrudgingly took Sidibe over to the sandals display (remember, her very famous friend needed shoes). That's when some of the employees of color recognized Sidibe as, ya know, a huge movie star and Oscar nominee, and the salesperson's demeanor completely changed. She became friendlier and encouraged her to take a second look at the glasses display before she left. Sidibe's celebrity status miraculously made her a worthy customer in the salesperson's eyes.
It's pretty appalling this kind of snap judgement still exists, but Sidibe writes that it's nothing new for her. "It happened to me in St. Maarten on vacation after shooting a film, when I went to a Dior counter to look at lip gloss and the saleswoman literally took a gloss out of my hand and put it back down in the display case," she wrote. "It used to happen to me at my neighborhood beauty-supply store in New York, where I was relentlessly followed around whenever my mom sent me to pick up shampoo and Q-tips. "
Sidibe continued, "No matter how dressed up I get, I’m never going to be able to dress up my skin color to look like what certain people perceive to be an actual customer. Depending on the store, I either look like a thief or a waste of time. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground between no attention and too much attention."
A similar incident happened to Oprah Winfrey in 2013. (The media mogul had her eyes on a pricey handbag at a Switzerland boutique, but the salesperson refused to take it off the display.) We've seen this in pop culture too—from the sizeism that Jane experienced in Drop Dead Diva to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. (Roberts' character received the cold shoulder for the revealing clothing she chose to wear, not her race or size, but the scene still resonates.)
Talking about these incidents is the first step toward making sure they never happen again. Good for Gabby for coming forward with her essay—and for this line, specifically, which perfectly sums up the solution to this problem: "Does it matter whether my waist is wide or if my skin is black as long as my money is green?" (The answer, in case you're wondering, is no.)
Update Chanel issued a statement in response to Gabby's essay in Lenny:
Chanel expresses our sincerest regret for the boutique customer service experience that Ms Sidibe mentioned in the essay she published on a website. We are sorry that she felt unwelcome and offended. We took her words very seriously and immediately investigated to understand what happened, knowing that this is absolutely not in line with the high standards that Chanel wishes to provide to our customers. We are strongly committed to provide anyone who comes in our boutiques with the best customer service, and we do hope that in the future Ms Sidibe will choose to come back to a Chanel boutique and experience the real Chanel customer experience.
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