Category: Vogue

Condé Nasty

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This is a lovely picture of Michelle Obama, as taken by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue.

Michelle Obama

The same cannot be said about the accompanying article, which trashes other political spouses:

“She’s normal,” Glanton answered, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “She stands by her man.”

Normal. Interesting word. Certainly not one that applies to spouses Bill Clinton or even Elizabeth Edwards, who is battling metastatic breast cancer and lives in a $6 million, 28,200-square-foot house (the Obamas, by contrast, paid $1.65 million for their Georgian Revival home). Nor, frankly, is it a word that would have applied to Teresa Heinz, John Kerry’s oddly flinty wife, or Howard Dean’s MIA doctor wife. Or Cindy McCain, who once stole painkillers from the charity for which she worked. Or even the arctic Laura Bush, who can barely contain her contempt for the media in her rare public appearances …

I particularly take exception to how Cindy McCain and Laura Bush are portrayed. Yes, it’s true that Cindy McCain stole painkillers from the charity, but she is also a woman who found a Bangladeshi orphan with a cleft palate, obtained surgery for the child, and most of all, made that child her own.

I have never sensed contempt for the media on the part of Laura Bush. Perhaps that’s because of my filters. I have contempt for much of the mainstream media, as do many Americans. If Mrs. Bush has contempt for the media, I suspect that’s because she stands by her man. Fisking President Bush’s decision to go into Iraq is one thing; however, the media has fed into a frenzy, as demonstrated by 1-29-09 bumper stickers, countdown clocks, and the continual jokes about the President’s intellectual prowess, which pass for smart party conversation.

Mrs. Bush is a lady. She smoothed over Michelle Obama’s comments “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country …” which antagonized many Americans, including myself.

LeBron James and Gisele on the April 2008 cover of Vogue

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This picture of basketball star LeBron James and supermodel Gisele Bündchen (so well known that’s she’s called by her first name only) on the April 2008 issue of Vogue has become controversial:



One African-American commentator said it played upon stereotypes of the sexuality of the African-American male that appears threatening to whites. He also said that the photo reminded him of King Kong and the woman whom King Kong takes captive!

I am ill-equipped to address the African-American experience. It’s hard, for example, to accept Michelle Obama’s comment that she is proud of her country for the first time in her life. I try to explain it as more a sense of alienation (despite her privileged Ivy League education) than a lack of patriotism.

I’d like to hear from readers what they think about the cover of the April 2008 issue of Vogue. Do you see a subtext here?

Drew Barrymore en Vogue

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Drew Barrymore on the March 2008 cover of Vogue

Both Beauty Addict and Christopher Drummond are aghast about this horrid Photoshopped picture of Drew Barrymore on the cover of the March 2008 issue Vogue. Beauty Addict notes the changes to Drew’s facial contours, while Christopher notes how thin her arm looks.

I’m aghast, too, as it looks nothing like Drew, and I don’t like the overly arched eyebrow.

Drew has brought new glamour to Cover Girl as that brand’s latest face. It’s easy to forget that she first made a name for herself playing Gertie, the little girl in E.T. When I last watched E.T., I was blown away by how this five- or six-year-old girl (which is how old she was then) took direction.


Gertie encounters E.T. for the first time

Yahoo News – Cheaper Chic Spills Into Vogue

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Yahoo News – Cheaper Chic Spills Into Wintour’sVogue

“[The] 832-page September issue hitting newsstands this week is the magazine’s biggest ever, with 647 ad pages and weighing around 4 pounds.”

This article notes that shopping titles such as Lucky are much cheaper to produce than Vogue and Harper’s BAZAAR. What it didn’t mention that Lucky is much more honest than other fashion magazines in that women’s magazines are about delivering the audience to its advertisers and Lucky is unabashed about its purpose. Magazines such as Vogue and Marie Claire feature both fashion and social commentary witihin its pages. For example, the September 2004 issue of Vogue had articles about John Kerry’s daughters (photographed in couture gowns) and a former punk rock singer now with the leftist MoveOn.org and a review of a book on India that perpetuates the image of that country as poor, dysfunctional, and corrupt.

This article first brought to my attention SHOP Etc., a new magazine from the Hearst Corporation (which also publishes Harper’s BAZAAR, Cosmo, and Oprah’s O), designed to compete with Lucky. SHOP Etc. uses the metaphor of a store with departments for fashion, home, and beauty and includes bifold pages to demarcate each department. While Lucky has its Lucky Breaks and stickers page, SHOP Etc. has coupon inserts.

Overall, I am not excited about SHOP Etc., because it’s nowhere as visually appealing as Lucky. This magazine will probably go the way of HotDots, another shopping title that tried to integrate a print format and web shopping, which discontinued publication after only a few issues.