Images courtesy of PaperMode

Shoes? Yes, please. Also that dress. And that apple. In fact, I’ll take the whole thing to go. Wrap it up.

While perusing the weekly download of links from Ms. Nubby, I wandered over to a post at Paper Mode, a fashion editorialist blog.  Here is the blurb about the beautiful spread that follows, as written on their site:

Amazing 64-page editorial in the August issue of Vogue Paris shot by Inez & Vinoodh and curated by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, Emmanuelle Alt and Joe McKenna. 64 looks, 64 brands, from Calvin Klein to Yohji Yamamoto to YSL to Balmain, each look creates an iconic image that embodies each brand, definitely a who’s who guide in the industry and if that weren’t enough it features some of the greatest faces around, including favorites like Raquel Zimmermann, Isabeli Fontana, Natasha Poly, Anja Rubik, Sessilee Lopez, Lily Donaldson, Lara Stone and Daria Werbowy, who’s also on the cover.

I won’t repost the entire thing here, primarily because that’s not my intention in writing today.  I’d just like to focus on some of the highlights of the spread.  First, the awesome:

Lovelovelove all four of these shots.  Each one has a classic style and perfectly sums up the brand (yes, Vivienne and Karl are brands, too).  The CK ad, in particular evokes weird teeny-bopper feelings for me.  Must be all those illicit Cosmos I read when I was still 16.  And man, that Karl Lagerfield shot!  Sexy sexiness.

But then, there’s this:

What.  The.  Fuck.

Blackface?  Blackface?!

That last time I checked, it was 2009, a year far out of the racist grasp of the vaudevillian era when it was common practice to do such things for entertainment.  I’m not a prude or PC-advocate by any stretch of the imagination, but THIS?!  Who thought this was okay?  What out-of-touch suburbanite sat down at the sketch pad one day and said, “You know, I think I’ll take a white girl, dress her up in western-style clothing, giver her a beehive-afro, and paint her face black.”

(deep breath) Okay.  Whew.  Honestly, though.  Really?  The entire rest of the spread was just amazing – tasteful, stylish, beautiful.  Then there’s that one.  Does anyone else have a problem with this?  Or is it just me?  Granted I don’t know anything about this particular brand/stylist but…come on.   Okay, time to sign off before I explode.  I’d love to hear your feedback about this, if you feel like sharing.  Conversational shit, people!

Disclaimer! I am not, nor have I ever been, a fashion critic.  I’m largely unfamiliar with the “styles” of many of the biggest labels.  The ones I do know are those that permeated my existance before I ever gave a rat’s ass about what I wore.  So please, bear with me.  Comments are appreciated, flaming is not.

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