Wasn't I just being critical of Donna Karan, though? Isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? I can see an argument like that having validation. I did call attention to Donna Karan's ill-chosen outfit that she wore to the CFDA's which was based more on a "wow, she's been around the fashion world for decades and i know she knows how to look better than that" than an all out attack on her. I think Donna Karan is a beautiful woman, but her choice in attire confused me.
What did Jefferson Reid say that pissed me off so much?
Isn't Lily Allen glamorous? In a word, no.
Ooh, coming out swingin', aren't we JR?
JR is hating on this girl because of her outfit and the fact that she dyed her hair pink right before the Glamour Awards - which she was attending:
In a world where celebrity means instant criticism and lack of privacy, we rarely stop to consider the kinds of gauntlets we put celebrities through. If they complain about the stalkerazzi or the judgemental press, we derisively mock them. They deserve to be under the microscope! They're famous! How dare they complain! They trade privacy for a life of luxury!
Our treatment of celebrities sucks. It has come to the point where talented young women sell out their talent to crotch shots and nights of drug-induced mistakes in order to stay in the public eye. The whole "no such thing as bad publicity" line is loaded with bullshit. There is bad publicity and it sells magazines. I'm sure that 1/2 of what we hear is generated by publicists and hollywood spin doctors. We make celebrities the victims and the scapegoats in this society, which is just completely effed up. These "crimes against women" will stop only when we, as a society, stop feeding the Beast (read: stop buying trashy gossip magazines).
So, our intrepid reporter, Jefferson Reid, goes further to say of the adorable Lily Allen:
Allen completes the look in a Giles Deacon satin prom dress patterned with images of Bambi shooting gushers of blood, hideously accessorized with turquoise-and-blue heels and a mismatched pink hair bow.
Glamour editor Jo Elvin chose to look away from the trainwreck and to stick with her prepared spiel introducing Lily:
"With reams of column inches to match her considerable talents, no Women of the Year lineup could be complete without the one and only Lily Allen."
Well, there's no accounting for taste, or the lack thereof.
Lily Allen is a DIY kinda girl with an obvious sense of humor (the Giles Deacon bambi dress). Let's punish her for looking unique! Let's lambast her for not having Rachel Zoe hovering in the corner orchestrating her attire from start to finish! Let's chase her out of town with pitchforks and torches because she dares to look different!
I appreciate that Lily Allen didn't chase the trends here and that she looks unique. Yet, there have been times that I have succumbed to the notion that criticism of celebrities is basically a free-for-all. I'm not proud of this. It's only after I bristled at the constant deconstruction of female celebrities that I was able to self-evaluate. I deconstruct them, too. What makes it okay for me to do that? What societal standards have we made the norm that makes it okay to rip apart anyone in the public eye?
Thus, I have, on very rare occasion, called attention to celebrity outfits that are bad. Sometimes their outfits are bad, but mostly because their stylists are bad. There are very few celebs left who style themselves anymore. I would never go so far as to call any of them a "trainwreck," but I did feel like it was safe to question their choices. There are ways of doing it that don't appear like you're just circle-jerking with your reporter friends, like, say, Jefferson Reid did. Yet, overall, it's not a nice thing to do. Think about being on the receiving in of such abuse. It would suck, wouldn't it?
2 comments:
I completely agree! It's one thing to be critical about someones choice of clothing, but this whole celebrity gossip industry has become oversaturated with bullshit. You know it's bad when you not only see pictures of celebrities at red carpet events but grocery shopping and picking up laundry. Its all spun out of control!
I personally adore that dress. Very cute! And I have some serious hate going on for celebrity gossipers just as much as people I know gossipers, it's much the same. Although some 'slebs' are asking for it *cough* kerry katona *cough*
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