Negligence Is The New Black

Another day, another racial faux pas courtesy of Vogue. “Anna Wintour is a bitter, old, white woman,” was the message broadcast to the group chat. Okay, tell us how you really feel; she was incensed. I’d yet to consume my first cup of coffee and already drama was brewing (very Carrie Bradshaw. SATC sans Samantha still weighs heavy on the heart and mind). Opening the notification, I expand the bite size image accompanying her statement. Before me was a picture of Madam Vice President Kamala Harris, standing in front of shoddy draping, the color scheme of watermelon. She was blindsided by the cover, having along with her team selected the powder blue power suit, against a consciously curated, rich, golden backdrop as seen above. A furor unfurled across the internet, the public perceiving the February (Black History Month) cover as disrespectful, intentional even.

Being the first Black and South Asian American woman to fill this position, Kamala Harris is groundbreaking on multiple levels, a historical figure who will be inscribed in textbooks forevermore. She deserved better. Fool me once shame on you, fool me 19 years shame on us all. This isn’t the first time Vogue has been in hot water over Wintour’s lackadaisical approach regarding diversity. In 2008 Lebron James and Gisele Bündchen, replicated a King Kong poster where the gorilla recklessly dangles a dainty white woman from his brute arms. Then we have the dismal cover of Olympic champion Simone Biles, shot by Annie Liebowitz, making the reputable photographer look like a dilettante rather than a professional.
Condé Nast has a penchant for linking dark skin women with connotations of slavery. Academy award winning actress Viola Davis on Vanity Fair was the spitting image of “The Scourged Back.” A painful photo from 1863, where a former slave displays his heavily scarred back, marred by whip lashes. So no I’m not jumping to conclusions, the watermelon reference was calculated.

Adding his two cents was former editor André Leon Talley (you said come for you, ight bet), whose speech in an attempt to be eloquent insulted my intelligence and offended me, not only as a person of color, but as a woman. A direct quote from his book calls Wintour out for the same behavior he’s now defending. “I want to say one thing, Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad, she’s a colonial dame, she comes from British, she’s part of an environment of colonialism. She is entitled and I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege.”

Talley it seems is woke when it profits him. Continuing his bid for attention in a long winded caption under Wintour’s choice, he references culture vultures the Kardashian Jenner klan, as beautiful and that there will be more women wearing Converse due to this unkempt cover, because not everyone aspires to be empresses like them. You mean Kamala who was born with the features they purchase isn’t an empress? Google the word and take a seat. What year and century do you think we live in André? Gee golly, do you think we’ll wear pants too? Converse has been on the scene since the days of punk, so save it. The audacity of him as a black person to even reference them with the likes of Harris is VERY telling. It’s people like him, their inconsistency, that keeps us in this position. Furthermore your opinion is irrelevant, if the VP (reread her title please) wasn’t feeling it, that’s what matters. You’ve pulled strings for people of lesser stature, borderline con artists.

Speaking of the KarJenner klan who’ve been called out for racism and seemingly rewarded for it, something I’ve experienced first hand with them stalking and trolling me, let’s get into the social media models. In the words of supermodel Stephanie Seymour “the bitches of the moment,” an accurate description. Equally true was former creative director Grace Coddington calling the same ladies out for not being hungry enough, it shows in their work as well as their NASTY personalities.

Kendall Jenner has finagled her way to the highest paid model in the game, despite having the facial structure of the Pilsbury Doughboy. Besides modeling her activities include throwing money in the faces of service staff after not tipping, being involved in politically incorrect ads, creating troll accounts to combat fans who have grown weary of her deadpan face, trash family and pernicious behavior. Both her and bff Hailey Baldwin were called out by a NoBu hostess on TikTok, for being horrific. While Hailey apologized for attentions sake, she and Kendall went to visit the restaurant almost immediately afterwards. Typical.

Vogue China (left) Kendall’s filtered insta photo (right)

Speaking of Hailey Baldwin, although attractive is basic by industry standards, with a squat neck and a stout jaw, the proportions of her face are akin to Baby Peanut, which is why she wasn’t booked nearly as much as her contemporaries until her marriage with Justin Bieber. Who unlike her has worked to the point of madness for his art (rehearsals, choreography, vocals, instruments, songwriting, abnormal childhood…), a talent she seems set to ride into the grave with her abhorrent antics. What do you expect from a girl who believes:

“Fame is my family business.” (Grazia Daily 2016)

No ACTING, a skill, is your family business, with Alec Baldwin being the head bitch in charge, the most talented and handsome of the Baldwin brothers. Like most people who seek fame for fames sake, Hailey Baldwin is a duplicitous bully. Another TikToker exposed Baldwin for being the schools resident tormentor. On top of her blocking random fan pages for Selena Gomez (that literally didn’t interact with her) and deactivating her twitter after being called out for shading the multi-talented star with bff Justine Skye (known less for her music and more for being friends with, then getting her man stolen by Kylie Jenner).
“Nobody says Selena,” her partner in crime stated while hitting the gym. Except everyone says Selena when singing along, including Hailey’s husband who stars in the video (posting this exact clip to his instagram, sending users of the platform into a tizzy). You chose to be an option, that’s your fault not hers. Grow up and stop tearing other women down, then crying cruelty when you are not only complicit with racism, but a participant. I unfollowed her and then saw her racist tweets resurface.
I’ve had friends who’ve met Hailey Baldwin at industry events recall her being a mean girl. Having met her father Stephen Baldwin, who was not only sweet, but humble, the apple falls far from the tree, but then again he is a Trump supporter.
Maybe Hailey Baldwin needs notes from doppelganger Camila Morrone, fellow model and longtime girlfriend of academy award winner Leonardo DiCaprio and stepchild of academy award winner Al Pacino (ICONS ), who carries herself like a lady. Morrone seems to know she’s representing their legacies and acts accordingly. Out of the two, she wins the family fame game hands down and yet doesn’t behave like a hateful brat.

Numerous celebrities profit off black culture, Justin Bieber, was one of the FEW to cop to it in response to BLM and deserves better. Yes, he’s been problematic but he’s remorseful and genuinely apologetic about his past indiscretions. In fact people respect how he’s cultivated his craft so much, no one’s called Hailey out. Although he’ll suffer eventually due to her grotesque behavior tarnishing his image, one he’s worked hard to rebuild.

We can’t forget about Bella Hadid, so creepy it gooses my flesh. The sheer nerve of her entitled behavior after pulling a full blown Hannibal Lecter to look like an emaciated Carla Bruni. I mean shit’s weird, you stole an entire face, but want to get defensive and deny the obvious surgery that catapulted your career? How is that deserved and why do you expect us to accommodate your delusion? Oh that’s right, because they still made you the cover photo on Condé Nast’s website. Despite the following:

Bella as usual does the bare minimum (as they all do) from facial expressions, angles, composition, evoking or expressing emotion and storytelling. Irina Shayk hits every single mark: the crook of her neck, the forlorn expression, even her fingers are filled with that je ne sais quoi that can’t be cosmetically enhanced, or bought. And yet Bella got the V Magazine 2021 calendar cover. Bella is the only person who doesn’t deliver in the entire shoot.

“In 2016, it seems the vital ingredients for a successful model are: an A-list surname, a legion of fans on social media and a #squad of famous friends.” (Grazia Daily 2016)

How is this fair? Especially when the public is screaming to use new faces and bring back the artistry? Social media is filled with tributes to models past, because we’ve rolled around in the mud long enough and now it’s time to clean it up.

Rounding it out was Donatella Versace’s lackluster S/S 21 collection, homaging her late brother Gianni Versace’s ready to wear spring 92 collection. The ads were better than the clothes, which is a shame since the same racially problematic people are rocking the black aesthetic, acrylic nails and gold name plates to boot.

The collection is tattered, sloppy, erratic, boobs are just oddly placed and it pales in comparison to what was done in 92, because all that matters is clickbait. The fashion industry seems committed to negligence and favoring the cesspool of personality disorders from entitled, undeserving, immoral, unethical, hypocritical, two-faced, racist brats. Who prove more often than not, privilege breeds mediocrity. And we should just be happy they showed up. Social media has made these girls lazy, falsely believing they’re icons, but quality will always beat quantity in the end.

And as for Anna Wintour, when someone shows you who they are believe them. “More than any other institution, Vogue has defined fashion and beauty for generations of women, and the runway looks encouraged by the London born Ms. Wintour, 70, have trickled down from haute couture houses to fast fashioned retailers and into the hands of everyday consumers. From Manhattan to Hollywood and beyond, she has helped set a standard that has favored white, Eurocentric notions of beauty.” (NYT Edmund Lee)

Wintour and her affiliates in the face of Black Lives Matter and the Storming of Capitol Hill, seem committed to the ways of old. Coco Chanel was a Nazi sympathizer and who did Wintour continue to support? John Galliano after ardent declarations of loving Hitler. In addition to microaggressions and blatant bigotry she, like Donatella and Andre, seems to have jumped the shark creatively. No longer visionaries, they set the bar too high for even them to reach. Once we marveled, now it’s disappointing. Is it that you can’t read the room, or you’re just apathetic? In the pursuit of clickbait their talent’s disappeared.

Maybe it’s time to hit the retirement button before a new flock comes, because if you think you’re untouchable and cannot be swallowed whole, as the Greek Gods did their Titan predecessors (literary license, I know it was the reverse) you are surely mistaken (below is a gallery of receipts, Hailey looked “major” in her Versace ad because she looked like Gisele, except she eats you up side by side).