About
#ArmaniCaptions is a Twitter hashtag accompanying various photographs of black celebrities who are intentionally misidentified as another seemingly unrelated black actor of the opposite gender, in a similar vein to troll quote image macros. The hashtag was adopted by the Black Twitter community in November 2013, after the Italian fashion house Armani shared an Instagram photograph confusing actress Alfre Woodard with actor Idris Elba.
Origin
On November 18th, 2013, the official Armani Instagram[10] feed posted a photograph of actress Alfre Woodard at the 5th annual Governors Awards (shown below). After several Instagram users pointed out the error, Armani amended the caption.
Spread
Immediately after Armani shared the photo, the African American culture blog The Root[9] published an article containing a screenshot of the gaffe, criticizing the fashion company for confusing two black people of different sexes. On the same day, Twitter users began tweeting photos of intentionally misidentified black celebrities with the hashtag “#armanicaptions.”
#ArmaniCaptions Vivica Fox rocked it! pic.twitter.com/NL84YIk4ZI
— A$AP Feminist (@FeministaJones) November 19, 2013
Solange Knowles covers Vogue magazine in Armani menswear! A true beauty #ArmaniCaptionspic.twitter.com/UtuW3tSYOj
— Talisha (@charmful) November 19, 2013
In the coming days, several news sites reported on the Armani Instagram incident, including The Grio,[5] Vibe,[6]UpRoxx,[8] Complex,[2] Jezebel[3] and IBI Times.[4] According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,[1] tweets containing the hashtag reached over 12,200 mentions on November 16th (shown below).
Notable Examples
Tamar Braxton meets up w Lil Kim & works the red carpet in our Fall '13 cream blouses. #ArmaniCaptionspic.twitter.com/eWQcfCPHS3
— جان فارين (@Califarrenicate) November 19, 2013
#ArmaniCaptions Will and Jaden Smith! http://t.co/uUxzaiw2D2
— T. (@iN3RT_) November 19, 2013
Gwyneth Paltrow giving you face and rocking the latest from Armani outside the Academy Awards. #ArmaniCaptionspic.twitter.com/CYJgnOw07T
— Rusty Redenbacher (@rustymk2) November 19, 2013
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[1]Topsy – #armanicaptions
[2]Complex – Armani Mistakes Alfre Woodard as Idris Elba
[3]Jezebel – Armani Confuses Alfre Woodard with Idris Elba
[4]IBI Times – Armani Confuses Alfre Woodard with Iris Elba
[5]The Grio – ArmaniCaptions Meme
[6]Vibe – Black Twitter Goes Off
[7]Awesomelyluvvie – Armanis Instagram Mistake
[8]Uproxx – Armani Mistakes Alfre Woodard#
[9]The Root – Alfre Woodard Shows Up as Idris Elba
[10]Instagram – Alfre Woodard looking stunning