Space Odyssey: or Fashion's Galactic Distraction
current news cycle commentary on the first "all female" space flight, to the continuing conservative creep into the fashion industry
Disclaimer: Please read all Links (aka required reading) to fully get in my headspace for this piece. Hehe.
I had a whole piece prepared for this week on how Private Equity doesn’t belong in the Fashion Industry. I also had one about this article about Romantasy & Booktok Fave Sarah J. Maas. (don’t worry you’ll still get those). But The news cycle has prompted me to intervene. If you were anywhere on the internet yesterday, I don’t think you could escape the “All Female Space Mission” with Lauren Sanchez and Katy Perry and Gayle King and others in their little blue Monse jumpsuits. A familiar feeling came with seeing that. I woke up this morning, after a good nights sleep, but in a bad mood (It’s probably taxes related, mine were awful this year). Then I read this piece in the Cut about the Current State of Oscar de La Renta. It really threw me off. By the way - do you guys read tone in books and articles? Like, I can tell with an almost offensive sensitivity. Maybe it is the whole narcissistic conditioning thingy, or whatever. But the tone of that article in The Cut was so Trumpian, it actually shocked me. It’s the deny, deflect, we don’t actually care what you think about us, idea that is so familiar if you’ve tuned into any bit of the news cycle in the last few months.
I also feel like I’m being gaslit by that article. My personal feelings aside - It’s so non apologetic. And also has an undercurrent of … something else that feels a little oily and uncomfortable. I couldn’t describe it well enough at the time of writing, but I’ll come back and edit if I can think of it. There are almost too many other quotes I can’t pick out from this. I texted various fashion girlies (from stylists to brand CEOs to former editorial people) this because, I felt like I was getting gaslit by this article. For so many reasons. First and foremost is because (and PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong) but there is no one actually quoted in this article other than the creative directors and president of the brand. There was something about the Tone that read distantly Trumpian: in that we argue to the point of distorting reality and we don’t apologize even if we know we are in trouble. I do actually feel - despite not being a PR expert - that they could have actually held silent and maybe, eventually recovered from all of this. But there is something about this article that feels so false, so superficial, so much of being loud to hide the truth.
Which, by the way I don’t know what the truth is. I’m a lover and observer of the fashion industry. Having the privilege to have worked at some of the top magazines and PR agencies when I was really young, which of course changed my perspective. But I”m also a bit of an outsider (and I PROMISE YOU) despite what my instagram may or may not depict. I’m not currently working in the industry, despite the fact that I pay attention to the news, and have close enough friends that I can text for verification.
I started writing this at 9am this morning in a bit of a rage induced psychosis, and I’m finished thin around 9pm after 2 martini’s and a very fun friend date, but all I can tell you is this is just a feeling. It’s just my observation. These various articles (Plus Amy Odell - former Cosmopolitan editor’s piece on substack which is much more reported than this piece I pushed out and is linked here) just lead to my general feeling that the spin in the fashion world is just as bad as anywhere else. There’s a really good line from Amy’s piece where she says “Fashion has to go where the money is.” Okay, yes. But also, why? Yes these are businesses (grrr, that this has to come before the private equity piece) and the fashion industry is a billion dollar industry. So of course dollars are on the line. But I think there’s something more valuable in being able to make a stand. To not be part of the flock, especially in the digital age which has so homogenized our culture. But what I find most intriguing (or disingenuous) about a lot of these article is the way they are somehow able to straddle the line between critique and praise. Which I think about a lot. A vogue editor acquaintance friend of mine one wrote an article being critical of a brand. I thought it was brilliant, because the brand put her through a general rough experience, and somehow expected her to write only positive things. She told me in the same thread of me complimenting the article, that she had gotten pushback from corporate. What is the point of media if not to call genuine conversations and real debate into question?
As terrible as it is, I do feel I need to point out that one of the reasons I’m writing this is just out of sheer feeling. I don’t have an angle. I just want to raise the questions. Healthy dynamics include being able to question and critique problems without making it a *crisis*. As an entity, whiat actually is your power if you’re just going along to get along, appeasing your advertisers, if what they are doing is worth of critique? I’m reminded of the scene in the Devil Wears Prada where Stanley Tucci’s character is explaining to Anne Hathway’s character the importance of Miranda Priestly (Yes, Meryl is that iconic, please stop reading if you don’t agree) giving designers the “nod” over a collection or piece. That scene is so wonderful and narratively funny, but it also showcases the importance of taste and power. In this case, Miranda Priestly’s power comes from years of running a business and pushing the industry forward. What does that say, if suddenly our change is about who is buying, as opposed to who is telling up what is worth buying?
All in all, I think the core thesis of this piece, other than me venting my frustration to you, my lovely friends on the internet and IRL who read this to humor me, is that: what drives taste is more or less the same as where power lies. And I think fashion has always been a very important part of this throughout human history. From Sumptuary Laws in the 1500’s (oooh I should do a piece on this - but it’s essentially laws mandating that only the nobility could wear certain things from Purple to red bottomed shoes) to Red Lipstick being a symbol of bold femininity - and antifascist - in the 1940s. And for better or worse, the displays shown in the news cycle are at best, tone deaf, shallow harkening back to the girl boss era of the 2010s and at worst, a distraction. Trying to draw your attention to the left hand so you’re not paying attention to the right. I’d also like to point out that despite all the backlash. All of these people, really don’t care what you - the populace think. And does that make it all the more dystopian? Maybe. I’m just a writer. What do I know about Dystopian Narratives?
Until next time.
XOXO
Casey