I should have known better. More than usually after reading it, I felt the mix of excitement and despair that always stems from reading fashion magazines: "I could be like that/I'm not like that". Sometimes the clothes seem baroque, ugly, unwearable, but sometimes deep in my shallow little black heart all I want to do is rush out and buy "autumn's new egg shape".
But this time I was also absolutely infuriated by much of the content. The cover story "COUNTRY HOUSE FASHION GETS A REVAMP" should have alerted me; the nod to the toff Tory leader David Cameron in the editor's letter; the Checklist piece which began "British Fashion has no greater champion than the Queen"; but worst of all, even by VOGUE's London-insular, nepotistic standards, was an article about "YOUNG LONDON" photographed by Mario Testino. Darling Mario says at the beginning
- such an unvarnished, unashamed admission of what this piece was really about! And sure enough, across dozens of pages the spoiled, petulant offspring of the rich and well-connected, among them the sons and daughters of VOGUE contributors ("London's coolest teenagers") sprawled their way and, despite the billing ("our 'Young London' story ... shows that teen style can be every bit as quirky and innovative as it ever was", Alexandra Shulman gushes in her intro), they were not even wearing their own clothes. A sample:"What I absolutely loved about this shoot was photographing all the kids of my
friends"
and most risible of all (but absolutely typical of the fawning tone of the entire piece):"VIOLET NAYLOR-LEYLAND in Luella, LUCY LYTTLETON in Molly Grad ... Photographed at the Cuckoo Club."
"Fifteen year old TAMARA BELL claims she grew tired of the London club scene
when she turned 12. These days, though, she promotes a music night at Madame
Jojo's in Soho."
Sadly, none of the above is ironic. Rarely has the phrase "First up against the wall come the revolution" seemed more appealing."Art lover CLARA PAGET, the 17 year old daughter of the Earl of Uxbridge, loves
the culture surrounding the drum'n'bass scene and has been known to devote entire evenings to flyering upcoming nights." [my emphasis]
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18 comments:
Aaaaaaargh! My blood boiled just reading your blog entry; thank god I don't have to see the pictures of Violet, Tamara and Clara (how long would they last at the Ross High in Tranent with those names?). It reminds me of Edinburgh Uni, and the pleasing and highly entertaining anti-yah graffiti all over the desks in the library. Never mind come the revolution, come the day when we can close the border to such privileged, self-involved brats.
Thanks for stopping by, Violet. I doubt Mario will be offering to photograph me or my sister any time soon, since we're neither micro-celebrities nor aristocrats; but it's an apposite question: who can say that any of us would have the strength of character to resist an offer like that?
What I really objected to about the piece is that clearly the people photographed were neither representative of "Young London" (no black or Asian kids?) nor (and don't take this personally) "cool". If you believe in the principle of meritocracy, as I do, then you have to condemn the whole premise.
Thanks for the offer of a signed copy of the offending issue. I'll pass: there are more important things to burn on the bonfire.
Violet, I too apologise for any offence caused (though I realise that your apology was directed at my sister). Perhaps I'm still smarting from the complacency of my fellow students at university - the ones studying history of art and Italian, whose idea of a hard time was when daddy's trust fund money didn't come through on the right day and who thought nothing of phoning Sophie to ask whether Olly still had that essay on Hogarth so they could copy it and pass it off as their own work. I got into uni without any help from my school or parents, and worked throughout to supplement the dwindling student grant. Yet my sister and I, growing up in a rural Scottish village, were considered to be posh and English. Oh, the irony. Although this sounds like a sob story I certainly don't intend to invite pity. My sister's original post is far more elegantly put - perhaps that's why she's an MD in Hong Kong and I'm a mere civil servant - but we're saying much the same thing. I hope that, if anything comes out of this exchange, it's that both parties have more of an appreciation of how, despite vastly differing backgrounds, feelings can still be hurt to the same extent by unfounded criticism.
Claire (Lottie P's sister)
might i suggest a subscription to tatler.
haha...
claire says growing up in a rural Scottish village, meant her and her sister were 'considered to be posh and English' yes not nice when people assume what your like when they have no idea of your personal background..which is why im confused as to why you have done so in such a rude pathetic manner
'privileged,self involved brats'
its amusing how ignorant you are for a girl who clearly thinks shes very intellegent..how you contradict yourself..how the hell would you know by seeing a photo and a couple sentances what any of these kids are like or of thier financial/family background for that matter? please go back to your little scottish hill and cry out to anyone who might listen about how wonderfully common and normal you are.
Dear Anonymous
Thanks for your belated contribution to the debate. Had you read the comments properly before posting your intemperate response, you would have seen that Claire apologised to Violet for the assumptions she made.
"your" = you're
"im" = I'm
"its" = it's
"shes" = she's
"intellegent" = intelligent
"sentances" = sentences
"thier" = their
Poor Anonymous. Whatever else they teach you at your private school, clearly it isn't the rules of English grammar.
Away you go back to your tutor and learn how to spell. Oh, and some manners.
Interesting how trends change. When this was first written, everyone wanted to know about Violet; now the biggest single search term used by readers who come to my blog is clara paget... Anyone care to leave a message about why you searched for Clara on Google?
clara is now a model and stars in the new st trinians film
Thanks for the comment, Anonymous. 5'7" is small for a model, isn't it? I'm sure Clara's connections had nothing to do with her success.
What order would the following names be placed in term of how "public school" they sound.
Tamara, Violet, Clara, Lottie P
Interesting question, Anonymous. I think you got it right first time. Although actually, since this is the internet, my name's not Lottie.
I'll delete any stupid, and/or rude, anonymous comments. Take note, Anonymous. Yours was both.
I went to school with Tamara Bell... I remember reading this article in the quad, seeing her face and what she said. She was a pretty messed up child in all honesty. Barely ever in school and suposedly in milan... still tickles me pink.
p.s... it wasn't a public school, nice state school. Her mother I believe was a head at another school... so not so upper class?
Just goes to show, Anonymous, that it's never safe to make assumptions. Although if I really were a class warrior (which for the avoidance of doubt, I'm not), I'd point out that being the daughter of the headteacher of a "nice" school qualifies Tamara as, at worst, firmly middle class.
There was an interesting article in December's Word Magazine about how everyone in the top forty's now a toff. It's all about connections and access, isn't it? And that what this VOGUE article perpetuates. (Time has not dimmed my righteous indignation, even though many of the individuals featured may have been nice people and/or not toffs).
wow this reeks of bitterness, if you were so appauled why read the article
Dear Anonymous
Do you not read anything properly? Clearly not.
1. There's actually a bit of a debate here where people apologise for the assumptions they made.
2. I absolutely stand by the original comments.
3. I couldn't know I'd be appalled before I read the article, and hence not read it, could I? Your remark is nonsensical.
4. I reserve the right to delete anonymous, and/or rude, and/or stupid, comments. Yours is all three.
5. However, I'm leaving it up for long enough to point out that the correct spelling is "appalled".
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