This blog is replete with commentaries exposing the fashion industry’s Marie-Antoinette sense and sensibility, antebellum notion of beauty, and nakedly prurient appeal. Indeed, regarding this last point, cognitive dissonance is such that the best-dressed women these days are often the least dressed.
But I have decried everything from mannequins strutting their skinny bones on catwalks at fashion shows to editors enforcing a de-facto quota for the appearance of black faces on the cover of their magazines. I cite in this regard such commentaries as “Skinny Models (Still) Reign at NYC Fashion Week,” February 6, 2007, and “No Blacks Please, We’re Fashionistas,” June 15, 2011.
Still, I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the cosmetic changes that have taken place. And, again, the best way to do so is to cite such commentaries as “Airbrushed Models Banned in the UK. Hallelujah!” July 29, 2011, and “France: Skinny Models Must Fatten Up to Perfect their Catwalk,” May 26, 2017.
I am also heartened that the Harvey Weinstein of the fashion industry is finally facing his #MeToo day of reckoning:
On the eve of fashion month, six women, all former models, flew into Paris from across the world — not to walk runways but to be interviewed by the child protection unit of the Paris police.
Their testimonies, which were heard Sept. 7, include allegations of rape and sexual misconduct against Gérald Marie, who for three decades was one of the most powerful men in the fashion industry.
‘Enough is enough — I stand with Carré and the other survivors of Gérald Marie as they come to Paris to testify against their abuser,’ said Carla Bruni, one of the most famous models of the ’90s and the former first lady of France. She was referring to Carré Sutton, a onetime American supermodel who is leading the group of women testifying in Paris.
(The New York Times, September 7, 2021)
That said, I am all too mindful that, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Only this explains practically every woman admitting that she starved herself just to fit into her gown for this gala. More to the point, though, I’ve always been acutely aware that the Met Gala is about as relevant to the fashion industry as Mardi Gras is to the film industry …
Perhaps this is why The Hollywood Reporter gave Nicki Minaj so much ink in its coverage – even though she did not even attend:
Rapper Nicki Minaj also tweeted earlier in the day that she wasn’t on board for the event’s requirements for attendance — which included proof of full vaccination and a negative rapid PCR test, writing, ‘They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. If I get vaccinated it won’t [be] for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research.’ Vaccine advocates, including fans of Minaj, quickly called her to task by tweeting her with science-based research.
(September 13, 2021)
Sadly, whether she realizes it or not, Nicki Minaj is doing with tweets what black thugs do with bullets, namely making the death of black folks the collateral damage of their nihilistic and arrogant ignorance. Trump believed the mere fact that he had over 80 million twits hanging on his every tweet meant that he was smarter than Dr. Anthony Fauci or any of his advisors. I suspect Minaj suffers this same mistaken belief because she has over 150 million saps thirsting over her every post.
But she’s probably the first person to crash a party she never even attended.
Meanwhile, apropos of the more things change…, heads were probably spinning trying to keep up with Kim Kardashian. After all, she made quite a show of filing for divorce from Kanye recently .
Yet there she was – dressed in a white wedding dress – as they reenacted their marriage vows at a listening party for his new album. And here she was – attired blackly from head to toe – attending this Met Gala with a masked man clearly pretending to be Kanye, presumably to give the impression that this outing was part of their second honeymoon.
Kim’s sister Khloe has become infamous for showing her baby daddy Tristan that, despite him repeatedly humiliating her, she will always forgive him. In a similar vein, Kim appears to be showing Kanye that, despite him repeatedly humiliating her, there is nothing she will not do to win him back. And this includes even wearing a full blackface mask that everyone thought only a fool like Kanye would wear in public.
Related commentaries:
Skinny models still reign… no blacks… airbrushed models…
models must fatten up… #MeToo… Dr. Fauci…