Fashion designer Michael Costello has broken his silence after an Asian model accused him of photoshopping and whitewashing her face in pictures posted online.
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A few days ago, a Los Angeles-based model named Shereen Wu, 21, took to social media to accuse American designer and former ‘Project Runway‘ contestant Michael Costello of whitewashing her face by photoshopping and using AI to replace her face on a runway photo with that of a white woman.
Wu, who is of Asian descent, said that she confronted Costello about the overly edited photos and he reportedly blamed the photographer. She alleged that he told her the photographer sent him the edited photo as she had seen it. Wu then confronted the photographer, who insisted that he had nothing to do with the dramatic edits done to the photo she had seen.
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With no real answers received from Costello or the photographer, Wu subsequently took to her TikTok account to bring her situation to the public eye and also call out past incidents where Costello has been accused of racist behavior; like when he allegedly called someone the n-word.
After being aired out by the Asian model accusing him of photoshopping and whitewashing her face, Micheal Costello not only deleted the edited photo of her, and seemingly blocked her, but he reportedly began posting on his Instagram Story photos of AI art and AI models. Reacting, Wu claimed that she felt as if the designer was trying to mock her and imply that she had no reason to be upset seeing as the fashion industry is already employing the use of AI. She said, “In the end, I’m just another disgruntled model.”
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Eventually, Michael Costello had also posted and deleted a formal address to the situation. Taking to his Instagram, he posted several posts with text, and receipts including a photo of the original picture being posted on his Instagram Story, plus additional text messages and behind-the-scenes videos proving Wu was on the designer’s “official list” to walk for him.
Costello even posted a screenshot of a text he allegedly sent to the model that read, “Hi Shereene, This is Michael Costello. I watched your videos the past few days and I wanted to reach out to you privately.” The message showed as “read.”
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