Nylon Germany Put A Bald Billie Eilish-Looking Cyborg On Their Cover, And She’s Not Happy

Billie Eilish, who is the reason why you might have heard Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road about 0.000004% less than usual this month, is feuding with Nylon Germany over a cover that she says is bogus. Before seeing the cover, I assumed Nylon pulled a classic fashion magazine stunt like Photoshopping her face until she was left with two eyes, lips, and a floating set of nostrils. How wrong I was! The image that ended up on their cover was far less human.

This is the cover:

Billie Eilish for NYLON Magazine Germany. pic.twitter.com/7fFqM0OjwY

— جوزفين (@JosphineMamdouh) August 27, 2019

17-year-old Billie saw the cover when it was posted to Nylon Germany’s official Instagram account, and she responded quickly, letting them know that she was not pleased. BuzzFeed says that Billie took issue with many parts of the cover. The least of which being that they made her look like a weird sex doll version of the 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon SilverHawks.

billie commented on NYLON germany’s instagram post pic.twitter.com/w9p8J0svIn

— billie eilish source (@billiesource) August 28, 2019

Nylon Germany responded to Billie’s comments with an explanation of why they did Billie like they did, and they weren’t sorry. They were just trying to make a digital avatar of her to honor her power as a digital artist.

Nylon Germany eventually deleted the Instagram post with the cover, Billie’s response, and their explanation. However, another similar cover is still up, this one featuring German Instagram stars Lisa and Lena. And I’m sure Lisa and Lena thought it was going to be all about them, but Nylon Germany kind of stole their spotlight by using their Instagram post to address the situation with Billie.

 

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Revealing our second collaborative „double” cover featuring boundary-breaking twins @lisaandlena as digital avatars in our futuristic 3D artwork. New issue #8 on DIGITAL PRODIGIES drops this FRIDAY. This issue is all different while still keeping our NYLON spirit alive: Telling the story of digital prodigies who are redefining the future of being a Teen Superstar. The artistic creation of the avatars is dedicated to the achievements and the positive effects they have had on millions around the globe ­­– including us. What’s more: @kiernanshipka, @stefaniegiesinger & @kimpetras opened up about the struggles and chances of the Generation Z. We’re transcending the limits of growing up and follow @iv.jay around New York City, talk messing up with @riconasty and channel the laissez-faire vibe. Issue available at newsstands on Friday and to order online via link in bio. Cover art designed by @e.memories⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ➡️ EDIT We as NYLON Germany value and stand for artistic freedom, but we also respect the feelings of @billieeilish and her fandom. We are fans ourselves. Therefore we decided to remove our second cover of Billie Eilish. For this cover, it was never our intention to create a look that is confusing or insulting to Billie. It was only ever our intention to honor her impact by creating this avatar, which is part of a cover series highlighting the power of digital prodigy artists. ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ ・⁠ #lisaandlena #leli #lelifamily #twins #loveit #musically #lisaandlenalove #lenaandlisa #nylongermany #coverstory #3D #genz #digitalprodigies #releaseday #friday #boundarybreaking #cover⁠

A post shared by NYLON magazine germany (@nylongermany) on Aug 28, 2019 at 9:14am PDT

American Nylon is doing everything they can do remove themselves from the giant PR nightmare of a hole Nylon Germany dug for themselves.

Nylon America is a different company than Nylon Germany and we strongly disagree with their decision to appropriate Billie Eilish's image without her consent. Nylon America is very sorry to Billie and her fans.

— NYLON (@NylonMag) August 30, 2019

I’m not sure what Nylon Germany was trying to pull when they put that version of Billie on their cover. After all, it’s well established that Billie’s aesthetic is “Boogie Man’s high school drop-out daughter,” so a robot avatar thing feels really off-brand. And lazy! It barely looks like Billie. It looks more like a poster for Emilia Clarke starring as no-nonsense android in a dystopian future TV series called Game of Drones.

Pics: Wenn.com, Instagram