We're More Than The Sum of Our Closets
A few months ago, designer Hedi Slimane posted a series of pictures he'd taken of Frances Bean Cobain. She was decked out in grunge attire, tattoos, and a dense layer of smoke. To me, the images looked like a girl trying to connect to this god-like figure the public has made of her father, Kurt, who died while she was still very young. But that's not what other people saw. Other people were excited that she was "bringing grunge back" and were a-buzz about her potential as a fashion icon.
Really?
Most fashion icons are icons because people noticed their styles while they were busy being good at their other jobs. Audrey Hepburn and Katharine Hepburn were both fantastic actresses who had distinct fashion senses. Coco Chanel was a good designer who pushed her vision onto the masses. Jackie Kennedy's purpose was more than looking nice. But now we make people fashion icons because they model nice or because they paid a stylist to push them and their fledgling careers into the limelight.
I'm not saying Frances Bean Cobain is trying to get attention (in fact there haven't been anymore photos since), nor am I saying that she doesn't have style (although I think the photographer styled these). I am saying that I'm sick of "fashion icon" being a thing to create and aspire to instead of it being a side effect of a woman's own awesomeness.
Most fashion icons are icons because people noticed their styles while they were busy being good at their other jobs. Audrey Hepburn and Katharine Hepburn were both fantastic actresses who had distinct fashion senses. Coco Chanel was a good designer who pushed her vision onto the masses. Jackie Kennedy's purpose was more than looking nice. But now we make people fashion icons because they model nice or because they paid a stylist to push them and their fledgling careers into the limelight.
I'm not saying Frances Bean Cobain is trying to get attention (in fact there haven't been anymore photos since), nor am I saying that she doesn't have style (although I think the photographer styled these). I am saying that I'm sick of "fashion icon" being a thing to create and aspire to instead of it being a side effect of a woman's own awesomeness.
Comments
Perhaps you will laugh at me. But he is always different, and always interesting.
I have this problem with the Kardashians. Kim has a big ass=Fashion icon, Khloe looks a little like Shrek=fashion icon, and Kourtney has the last name "Kardashian", so she's a fashion icon, too. Who cares? They are famous for possessing money they didn't earn, yet they are fashion icons.
And when I do see a celebrity in a beautiful dress, or a model posing in vogue, I have to remember that SHE didn't pick that clothing out. More often or not, she went to a stylist. She didn't design the dress, she didn't choose the accessories...she's just a hanger, and that's a little sad.
I do think that, for the mass of society, the days of worshiping a "fashion icon" for something other than stardom are over.
But yes, good post =D
Look forward, not behind. As a child of the 90s, I have very fond memories of my teen years, etc., but I am already sick of this trend. I don't believe that any decade is better or worse, inherently, than any other. Few things annoy me more than making the past a holy, blameless thing. It's fine to enjoy a things from a certain time, but I hate "because EVERYTHING was better back then," or longing for the "good old days."
Nothing ages you faster.