British Vogue caught up in a race row over Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman cover

Instagram users have called out British Vogue for featuring Australian actresses Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie on its February cover.

The fashion bible chose the stars to appear as part of its ‘Hollywood’s New Era’ issue. But people have been quick to point out that the two blonde, white women were featured right next to a coverline that read: “Why we need to talk about race.”

The awkward positioning lead readers to head to Instagram to criticise the magazine for a lack of diversity.

“I think they missed this one. They shouldn’t have put a we need to talk about race article with this cover……Would have been great if it was 5 girls all different races or something not two blonde white women lol,” one user wrote.

“Did you really put 2 of the whitest people you could find on the cover with “Why We Need to Talk About Race”…?” asked another.

“Oh woow! We need to talk about race but wait let give you our whitest cover,” another user agreed.

The apparent lack of diversity was an issue for some fans, who had hoped that British Vogue‘s new editor Edward Enninfu, the first Black male to hold the role, would aim to put an end to fashion industry ‘whitewashing’.

Meanwhile, other fans wondered why Kidman and Robbie were wearing rubber gloves for the sake of fashion?

“Looks like a housewife magazine I think…” one user commented.

But Vogue has also this week won praise for featuring Paris Lees, who made history after becoming the first transgender model to feature in the fashion bible.

It isn’t the first diversity row that has been ignited of late. Last year Dove were forced to apologise for their controversial ad which some accused of being racist.

In the video advertising body wash, a black woman can be seen taking off her T-shirt to reveal a white woman underneath. Then, the white woman does the same to reveal an Asian face.

But some took to social media to question the ad, calling it racist and a form of whitewashing for appearing to show that black people were ‘dirty’.

And following Dove’s mishap, rival beauty brand Nivea has come to public attention for a similar reason.

The skincare company released an advert aimed at women of colour in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal for a cream called Natural Fairness, the marketing slogan used on billboards across Africa read: ‘For visibly fairer skin.’

And just this morning H&M have been forced to apologise for offence caused after using a black child to model a hoodie with the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle” written across it.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Playboy breaks with tradition to feature stunning plus size model Molly Constable

73-year-old Lauren Hutton becomes Vogue’s oldest cover star

The beauty industry is being called out for excluding black men