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Marie Claire's Cornrow Confusion

April 4, 2014
Written by Featured Partner

By Chris Hoenig

Social media editors at Marie Claire magazine found themselves in damage-control mode this week after they tweeted out a picture of Kendall Jenner with her hair in partial cornrows, praising the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star for taking her “bold braids to a new epic level.”

Kendall Jenner takes bold braids to a new epic level: http://t.co/IMPn41xorh pic.twitter.com/Cgp7X8CfNg
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Except there’s nothing new at all about cornrows. Most common in America among Blacks, cornrows are a traditional African hairstyle that traces back thousands of years. We’re talking as far back as 3000 B.C. Jenner’s “new” and “bold” look has been seen in ancient Greek and Roman art. The magazine’s ignorance of history was certainly not lost on social media users, who immediately began calling out Marie Claire across the Twittersphere.

I remember when Cosmo credited Bo Derek with putting cornrows on the map. I guess I’ma have to send Marie Claire… http://t.co/svVyJgmxb9
Yaba Blay (@fiyawata) April 3, 2014

Hey @marieclaire remember when Obama’s daughters were called “ghetto” for their #boldbraids What are your thoughts on that
Divinity Matovu (@divinitymatovu) April 2, 2014

@ohitsbarbara white people invented cornrows in 2014, y’all. @marieclaire, we melanin-abundant call that “I can’t leave the house yet”
Danielle (@Dani_Knope) April 2, 2014

Bold. New. EPIC! If only @marieclaire called any of the millions of brown and black girls rocking braids these terms with regularity.
Pia Glenn (@PiaGlenn) April 2, 2014

The backlash quickly reached Marie Claire editors, and just over two hours after the initial tweet was sent, the magazine sent out an apology.