Vagaries of Fashion: Harmless Fun or...Gasp!

Okay. This controversial editorial from Vogue Italia seems to have been getting a bit of attention in the past few months. A link to a site talking about The Vagaries of Fashion editorial, shot by Miles Aldridge, was recently sent to me by Other Half who is always trying to help with a blog idea when he can (thanks, Sweet) and I recognised it immediately. It's from the September 2007 issue of Vogue Italia and I know that because I was in Torino at the time and brought a copy home with me.

I liked the editorial a lot because of the aesthetics. Never mind the glamorous dresses and how great Anja Rubik looks; there's just something about that opulent hotel suite and its yellowed decor that could really use an update. I'm not exactly joyous when I see an image of a mother smoking and drinking around her children; in fact I see mothers and fathers smoking around their children every day where I live in England and I want to put those fags out on their foreheads. But then do we look to fashion for social discourse? Should fashion be taken so seriously and does it wield any real power? (That sound you hear is a can of worms opening. See here.) However, I must admit that as a mother I feel my tear ducts erupt when I see this:

 

I mean you just want to pick up that baby and cuddle it and love it. Neglect is the most disturbing idea for me when it comes to the imagery with the children. But still it's fashion, and an editorial spread wasn't going to keep me up at night. The reality is this is staged.

But not so fast. Look at this:

This one doesn't slide off the brain so easily. Because oppression and racism are more serious issues than child welfare? No, each are equally critical. The comments sections of the originating post was filled with outraged readers who raised all kinds of concerns about the content of the photo. But for me, it goes back to the staging of this shoot.

It's a compelling shot, visually. The focal point is the black maid whose dark skin is starkly contrasted by the nearly translucent white baby she's holding. Anja almost blends into the wallpaper with her gaudy-bodiced dress. Strong compositional elements aside, the immediate perception is that this is wrong. The white mother takes a domineering pose over the maid who looks on for approval/next order, etc. So back to the staging of this shoot, I feel for the woman who is playing the maid. How must she have felt being dressed up this way to convey this type of image? I know that if I were asked to be the subserviant secretary sitting at a desk looking up admiringly at my smug and vacant male boss standing over me my first reaction would be "Screw you, Bud-day." We've come too far and we've still got a long way to go.

Those are my thoughts (condensed - otherwise this could go off on tangents for an eternity.) So, what do you think of these pictures?

 

 

 

Is the rich mommy not such a bad mommy after all? Was it just a misunderstanding?

Thanks for the scans

Comments

[Fifi Flowers]

Wellll... I have no problem with a little drinky poo here and there and in front of children is ok... rip roaring drunk in front of children not good idea. Smoking in front of or around children is a definite NO! Listening to music with headphones on to avoid screaming... OH YEAH... I TOTALLY understand that!
I must say the FASHIONS are FABULOUS in the spread... I would LOVE to wear everything!!!

[TERI REES WANG]

Just bigger-that-real-life-Fabulous-fashionista-fun!

And better still than "The Nanny Diaries".

[David Barrie]

This is a hurtful, sardonic and callous - which is *great*! Trophy hedgie girlfriend fails totally to manage trophy child. If I have a 'problem', it's that the last image, by design or accident, looks like it was created to make everything OK - i.e. "...and they all lived happily ever after", or "....no animals were hurt in the making of this movie." Also, the target's a cheap, easy (but God, how beautiful!) shot. Would the photographer dare do the same with, say, five Gulf playboys who ride the city by day in a Bentley and abuse/ignore their wives/girlfriends at night? Think not.

[dreamsequins]

Bejeweled, pampered New York City mommies... I don't know any mothers like this, but as one friend said to me about motherhood in the metropolis when I was concerned about trading off one lifestyle for another: "You can be as involved as you want to be in your baby's life." Um... really? For some people, maybe... But I would like to think that my life will be completely different.. in a good way once I hit the land of motherhood.

Non-US Vogues always have such controversial, slightly uncomfortable making content like this. Which is a whole lot more interesting than women in Ralph Lauren running around in wild fields.

[jennine]

yah... i have to agree with the smoking part... but i hate smoking in fashion eds...

HOWEVER, i do love how cutting this story is it really does make you think about the hollywood baby accessory trend that's been going on these past few years....

[Ashe Mischief]

Perhaps because my parents did it, I tend not to notice smoking in front of children. Though it's possible I was a one in a million case, as I don't smoke (except perhaps twice a year).

I tend not to get up in arms about editorials like this, because it always seems they're making some greater social commentary. This one tends to remind me of the Mad Men-era, wherein women felt begrudged if they had to stay at home and raise the kids, where they had no alternatives, became resentful. At that time, blacks were seen as second rate citizens.

You said, "We've come too far and we've still got a long way to go," and I completely agree. But I think part of that journey is reminding us, often, what it took to get us there. Repulsing us by our past. There are still people who carry these attitudes, and until we can get them to repulsed by it as well, than we really haven't come as far as we think we have....

[alexandra keller]

as a mommy, i sometimes need a drink, i sometimes want to block out the noise, i sometimes need a cigarette (i don't smoke anymore), or i want Calgon to take me away!

[lisa]

This is a really thought-provoking editorial. I don't think the last image implies that the rich mommy was misunderstood, but rather that the preceding images of the negligent, smoking, drinking mother were part of some fanciful dream. In the last shot, the mother's hair and makeup are much more natural, and she looks as though she's fallen asleep, completely tuckered out from running around after her toddler (who is still awake and playing with a toy, waiting for Mom to wake up).

[Denise @ Swelle]

Wow, everyone's comments are so varied. This is interesting; there are so many interpretations and overall everyone is pretty easy-going about the editorial, which wasn't the case elsewhere! People got really heated up.

Dreamsequins: you're right, editorial is always edgier in Europe and Asia. It seemed to me they were having fun. And I think with motherhood and lifestyle, you will give up what you're willing to and you'll hang on with a death grip to what you're not!

Jennine: I can't believe the baby trend didn't occur to me, considering it's on my mind a lot in light of the Hollywood baby boom and rumours of moms on drugs to lose weight and nannies taking care of the kids round the clock.

Ashe: Good point. If the scene was meant to take place in the past, which now I'm sure it was, then it is indeed a good reminder of how times have changed, but also that some insavoury attitudes still prevail.

David Barrie and Lisa: Interesting, your interpretations of the last photo are completely different. Is it a rather offensive band-aid or was it simply all a dream? When I get back to England I'll find that issue and have those last two paragraphs translated. This may help understand Aldridge's intention, though the photos speak volumes regardless.

Fifi, Terri and Alexandra - I like your sense of fun! And the exhausted mom really would see headphones as a coping mechanism!

[Michelle]

I don't know, it seems rather tasteless to me! Like yeah, the clothes are pretty, but I'm just not a big fan of the trend in fashion, or in general for that matter, to have the "We're doing something borderline (at the very least) offensive! We're so edgy and hip and cool! Look at us!" attitude. Which is definitely how this photo shoot comes off to me. And the shot with the nanny REALLY bothers me, not because racism is worse than child neglect, but racism is still very much a problem in fashion (and of course, elsewhere). I mean, it's relatively rare to to see non-white models, let alone really dark models, on the runway.

I don't think I'd call myself up in arms over it, because quite honestly I've come not to expect any better from the fashion world at large, but it definitely got an eye roll from me.

[AngatDorotheasCloset]

This reminds me of the book "Mommy Dressing" by Jo Copeland's daughter, Lois Gould. Its not only a great book for fans of fashion (vintage or otherwise) & fashion design but an up close and painfully personal true story about a child growing up in a world not unlike depicted above. Her mother, while not technically a trophy wife as she was a self-made very respected fashion designer, flitted from abusive husband to abusive husband in search of the perfect love...all the while working relentlessly to build her design empire. Her drive to succeed in a business dominated by males coupled with her inability to reconcile the competitive streak with a need to be loved led Jo to drinking and self-alienation. Not unlike Joan Crawford, really, though more emotionally abusive than physical.

Its an interesting narration about a certain faction of society that will always exist, as long as the media and the star struck allow it. To me it appears to take place in several decades....the clothing modern, the decor 60s/70s, the maid servant could be anywhere from the 50s back. There will always be people in way over their heads who cannot see past the insides of their own skulls....people willing to give birth to or adopt children to use as a status symbol (interestingly, the "it bag" trend seems to go hand in hand, with bags big enough to haul said children in!). People willing to abuse hired help, willing to live in a state of denial in their own luxe little bubble, willing to do anything to receive what they perceive as love and adulation.

Sadly its those children (and hired help, I imagine) who suffer for these women's shortcomings. Truly I believe everyone a victim in these cases....no one comes out unscathed, whole and happy. I'm not sure this Vogue shoot does anything to throw light on this sort of behavior, if anything perhaps to mock it a tad. Certainly thought provoking and a great platform for debate!

Ang

[WendyB]

I love it -- I think it's quite amusing and I bet everyone who worked on it all had a laugh at how some people were going to get their panties in a knot over it.

[Jen Laceda]

Hmmm, I don't know about this one. I usually have a sense of humour, but this one seems to be hitting a sour note more than a sweet one. Maybe because it's a little bit TOO REAL. I think that's it--what it purports to be fantasy is a bit too real in today's society. So really, maybe this editorial is actually genius!

[Chi Darling]

I loved reading the comments as much as the post itself (which was brilliant, by the way). I especially enjoyed thinking about the commented theory about how all of the pictures might only be a dream. Oh, and I will also put the 'Mommy Dressing' book on my reading list. ^^

Keep up the good work! I really love this blog. :)

[iullia]

Awesome! Thanks for posting this article Denise!