The Daily Bird #458. » « Hieronymus Bosch Piñatas.

Dear Fashion Magazine Editors…

“I guess Melania is used to wearing heels around a disaster area.”

Like everyone else the other day, I rolled my eyes over Ms. Trump heading into Texas on 4 inch spikes. The sheer inappropriateness of these vulgarians is always and never surprising. What would be truly fabulous, though, is if one (or all ) the powerhouse fashion mags published serious articles on how to be stylish and practical when touring disaster areas – avoid those embarrassing fashion faux pas with our guide! If only the editors had the spine to do so, that would be one happy and grand statement.

 

The Daily Bird #458. » « Hieronymus Bosch Piñatas.

Comments

  1. says

    What is the point of politicians showing up and looking at a mess and going “yeah that’s a mess.”
    Send marines and money not Melania and a clown.

  2. says

    I don’t know. People expect it, at least they do from actual presidents. From what I’ve been reading, Texans want Trump the fuck outta their state.

  5. says

    While I agree with the story they should do, I have to strongly disagree that the fashion magazines are lacking a spine to take on Donald’s regime. While Teen Vogue is the current reigning champion, most of the other magazines have also been sharply critical and have been doing some fine reporting. While they can improve (I follow several on Twitter now, and there is a lot of chaff to wade through (even with Teen Vogue)), I do feel like this portrayal of them is unfair.

    And holy crap, if someone told me a year ago that I’d be defending the integrity and reporting of fashion magazines…

  6. says

    Tabby Lavalamp, you have a point, and yes, I’m being on the unfair side, but it was in the manner of poking with a stick. “Hey, bet you wouldn’t do this!”

  7. chigau (違う) says

    She should have been wearing steel-toed boots.
    I just looked, they come in high-heels.

  8. says

    Chigau:

    She should have been wearing steel-toed boots.

    I don’t know. I have a pair, but I don’t think I’d be wearing them in a flood situation. Not ideal if you get swept into the water.

  11. says

    Busterggi:

    Those were practical shoes — never know when an alligator might attack.

    Spikes work on people, not alligators. :D

  12. blf says

    Spikes work on people, not alligators.

    They work just fine for alligators. Break one or both on the gator, can’t run away, the gator eats you.

      ─────────────────────────

    Not exactly a powerhouse fashion magazine, but one (actually, essentially the only) fashion† writer I read is Hadley Freeman in the Grauniad. Usually, her column and, often, articles are wonderfully snarky, and whilst she doesn’t seem to have one on this incident, it would probably be a gem.

    An example from one recent column, Why Muslim supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid are powerful weapons against Trump:

    For a new generation, the names ‘Hadid’ and ‘Malik’ bring to mind a heart emoji and not ‘Ugh, terrorist’. In her weekly advice column, our style expert suggests this can only be a good thing. […]

    [Reader’s question:] I keep reading about the Hadid sisters […] is this another set of siblings I need to care about?

    “Need” to care about? Possessing an in-depth knowledge of two models is not the law yet […], as far as I know. But in order to be up to speed on the zeitgeist, you absolutely need to know about them. Thankfully, I am here to guide you, sherpa-like, through the dark forest of fashion facts and gossip.

    The short summary is that Gigi and her younger sister, Bella, are enormous supermodels, the “enormous” referring to the size of their careers as opposed to the size of them, obviously. Obviously.

    […]

    [… T]he Hadids are Muslim and were raised observant by their immigrant father. Mohamed Hadid was born in Nazareth and lived in Syria and Lebanon, moving to the US when he was 14. “He was always religious and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim,” Bella said in a recent interview, and she has been very open about her opposition to Trump’s travel ban.

    All of this makes the recent furore over the US Vogue cover interview with Gigi and Malik even more hilarious than it already is. Vogue excitedly claimed that Gigi and Malik are “gender fluid” because they, er, occasionally wear one another’s Gucci and Anna Sui clothes. Gender fluid? To paraphrase Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, you keep using that term Vogue. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    But what makes this story even more hilarious is that while Vogue was trying so hard to make Malik and Gigi sound exotic by claiming they are “gender fluid” it could instead have focused on reality and pointed out the remarkable fact that the most famous celebrity boyfriend and girlfriend in the US now are both Muslim. I honestly can’t remember another Muslim pin-up couple in America, ever, and for them to be so popular now of all times in US history, well, it is both remarkable and in some ways does not feel like a coincidence. Zayn [Malik (Gigi’s partner)] in particular has put up with an enormous amount of Islamophobic abuse — let’s just call it racism and call the whole thing off — from everyone from internet trolls to Bill Maher (two equally predictable sources of anti-Muslim abuse). And yet, the teenage girls don’t care. Maybe this is a testament to how strong teenage hormones are, or maybe it’s a bit of a political statement from some of them. But it can only be a good thing for a new generation in the US to grow up seeing names like “Hadid” and “Malik” and for their first thought to be a heart emoji and not “Ugh, terrorist”.

    It may well be that two of the most powerful weapons against Islamophobia in the US and President Trump’s general stupidity are a pair of young, ridiculously wealthy Muslim supermodels. I know some people will mock that, but bear in mind that a reality TV star and national joke can become president and mock no more, people. Mock no more.

    […]

      † She also writes on other subjects.

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