Is mixed race the new normal? This family portrait is going viral for all the right reasons

© @jkmcclure/Instagram The McClures' beautiful family portrait has gone viral for its representation of diversity.Family's multicultural photo shoot

The McClures' beautiful family portrait has gone viral for its representation of diversity.Family's multicultural photo shoot 

The McClure's family photo sends a beautiful message. "There's a certain education you get from books, and there's another education you get from experiencing the world, experiencing cultures," Justin McClure told TODAY Style.

This family photo is beautiful in every way!

The McClure family of West Orange, New Jersey, recently shared a gorgeous family portrait that is stealing people's hearts.

In the photo, parents Aminat and Justin McClure dressed their entire family in gorgeous, custom-made outfits inspired by Aminat's background.

Aminat, 36, was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States as a young child.

Aminat wore a striking, mermaid-cut gown while her husband sported a tunic and loose trousers inspired by traditional West African designs.

Their 4-year-old twins, Ava and Alexis, wore flowing, princess-style dresses, and the littlest McClure, 7-month-old Jersey, wore an adorable suit in the same turquoise fabric with a purple-and-gold pattern.

The outfits were created for the family by Cameroonian designer Claude Kameni. She approached the McClures and asked if she coulddesign something for them, and they jumped at the opportunity.

"We just let her do whatever she wanted as far as what she thought would fit best for our family," Justin, 43, told TODAY Style.

He said he loved this opportunity to celebrate his wife's heritage.

"As a Caucasian man, I embrace my family, I embrace my wife's Nigerian culture," he said.

He also hopes that the photo shoot will help his daughters understand the beauty of their blended background.

"We wanted them to take away how elegant they can be in anything, it doesn't matter what culture they represent," he told TODAY. "There's a certain education you get from books, and there's another education you get from experiencing the world, experiencing cultures."

The sweet family portrait quickly went viral, racking up more than 330,000 likes on the Instagram page created for the twins.

Many people sent messages of love and support, and some shared stories about their own interracial families.

"I love this!!" one person commented on Justin's Instagram page. "We definitely celebrate each other's cultures in our household. I'm black and from the Deep South and my husband is from Puerto Rico."

"Happy to see this," another woman wrote. "I am Cherokee and my husband is African American we celebrate both with our kiddos."

The photo was also liked and shared thousands of times on Facebook, where Ava and Alexis star in a web series called Discovery Twins, filmed and produced by their dad.

The show follows the kids as they "discover something new about life every week," and that often includes learning about their Nigerian background.

In one recent episode, they learned how to cook traditional Nigerian dishes such as jollof rice and puff puff, a doughnut-like dessert.

For the McClure parents, teaching their kids about traditional Nigerian food, customs and dress is a priority — both for their own cultural upbringing and for their appreciation of diversity in general.

"We try to allow them to embrace whatever culture they're in, because with culture comes wisdom and sophistication," Justin said.

SOURCE