Vogue Italia: Water & Oil

Oh for Christ's sake.

Vogue Italia August 2010 Issue
Editorial: Water & Oil
Photographer: Steven Meisel
Model: Kristen McMenamy
Fashion Editor: Karl Templer
Hair: Orlando Pita for Orlo Salon
Makeup: Pat McGrath
Set Design: Mary Howard

Vogue Italia had the brilliant idea of using the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history as a starting point for a fashion editorial. According to them model Kristen McMenamy is "in the 'survivor' version, where she interprets in images the environmental drama that's afflicting the Gulf of Mexico."

Pictures first; rant second:












Oftentimes, we get saddled with the term "fashionistas." It's a label we tend to reject for a couple of reasons. First, because it implies a level of knowledge that we never claimed to have. Oh sure, we have that stereotypical gay male fascination with all things fashion and Lorenzo worked as a stylist for a time, but "fashionista" connotes someone who lives and breathes fashion and has an encyclopedic knowledge of it. All we ever claimed to be was fabulous and opinionated. Second, the term also implies (to us, anyway) someone who's willing to put up with a lot of the bullshit the fashion industry tends to dish out from its ivory tower, far from the little people. And that DEFINITELY doesn't apply to us. We'll quite happily point out when the industry does something amazingly stupid and borderline offensive. Like now, for instance.

There's nothing wrong with using current events as a backdrop or inspiration for fashion. We get that. On the other hand, we know for a fact that if U.S. Vogue or any other U.S. fashion magazine featured an editorial based on some form of natural or environmental disaster that occurred in another country, the international press would skewer them for it - and rightfully so. The damage that the oil spill has done to the Gulf hasn't even begun to be measured yet, but most experts (who don't work for the oil industry) agree that the cost in wildlife as well as the financial damages to the region in the long term will be extensive. Based on that alone, we wish the idiots in charge of this editorial had taken a step back and rethought this one. It's stupid and it's offensive. Go sell your clothes using images that don't have to do with natural and economic devastation.

[Image Credit: thefashionspot/omnis]

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