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We’ve got the SheerLuxe girlies’ TikTok takeover to thank for our obsession with Ganni t-shirts, Sambas and wide-leg jeans. The impossibly beautiful staff members who work at the online magazine have been a social media success: their TikTok pages @sheerluxe and @sheergen have a combined following over more than 800,000 followers. So when they unveiled their newest team member, the internet was intrigued.

Only, this employee was not like the others. Fashion and lifestyle editor, Reem, is created by AI, and was introduced by the brand on Instagram this week. We saw Reem adorned in Zara, Reiss and Mint Velvet, and a snap of the salad she bought for lunch.



But the reveal has been met with outrage by fans. While SheerLuxe has not been specific about Reem’s ethnicity, they have said that the AI company who created her is based in the Middle East, and that is therefore ‘reflected in her likeness’. ‘Am I tripping or did you create an AI woman of colour as a staff member instead of.

..hiring one?’ asked one user on Instagram.

Another said: ‘This is not it. Instead of hiring an actual woman of colour or a plus size woman, you’ve made a virtual one? Disappointing.’ And a third added: ‘This is incredibly weird and also insulting.

It’s essentially taking away a job from an Arab woman when we are already under-represented and/or misrepresented in media.’ It’s not the first time SheerLuxe has been criticised for a lack of diversity. When celebrity stylist Nana Ac.

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