Last evening
a friend from Facebook posed a rather
thought provoking (to me at least) question
about the future situation involving one Anna Wintour and our immigrant de
facto first lady being featured in a coming issue of VOGUE magazine. When Billy
asked me “how do you think Vreeland would have handled this situation; what would
she have done?” …the wheels of my brains started spinning out of control.
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With that in
mind, one has to ask themselves a simple question, given the pervasive nature
of our not very well liked, more like loathed and detested, present president
and the question is … WHY? How does a woman, in such a seat of power, who so
publicly supported our last president and vigorously supported a past candidate
(who regretfully lost) suddenly decide to include one Melania Trump as a
featured subject in the once omnipotent and once fashionable VOGUE magazine. Is
this to curry personal favor (like an
ambassadorship) with the current administration? Do you find this to be a betrayal
or hypocrisy of her and her ”brand’s” past endorsements? “Staying relevant” which
is a phrase Wintour seems to hide behind might have stood in front of it this
time and taken a stand!
So back to
the beginning … I ask you ... How do you think Diana Vreeland would handle
this situation? Or … WWVD
which is shorthand for What Would
Vreeland Do? … No, this is not an
earth shattering question for the ages but rather a somewhat diversionary yet
relevant question concerning politics in fashion or the politics of fashion.
My personal
take is that my guess would have been that Vreeland
would have sidestepped it and surely would not have so vigorously and publicly supported Obama meaning her political opinions had no place
in VOGUE. It is true that Vreeland was very friendly with Jackie but remember
it was Jackie who called and courted her and not the reverse. Vreeland was
crazy like a fox.
When I asked a dear friend
(who was a colleague of Vreeland) about this she replied with: Hmmm... First she
would pour herself a finger of scotch… Down it… then book a ticket to a faraway spa
in Europe.... stay way away from the fray ...for a while.. Let Babs Simpson or
Nicky de Gunsberg deal with it... It wouldn't have been a real issue. (Fashion
magazines were not political in those days
... they were more about society names...) But I do think she would have
found Melania quite vulgar. If Liberman insisted, she might have had Newton do
a racy photo or two... A kitsch take off in the golden tower... or Lord Snowden
- a portrait taken in the hills of Slovenia for a “personalities"
portrait. Definitely not fashion. DV was the fashion editor. She did not wield
the power that AW Does. Patcevitch and Liberman ran the Magazine... There were
no political or "star" Fashion pages... That started with Anna. .. It
was society and fashion... WE did the odd “personality " story. Jackie was
society and fashion … but never appeared on fashion pages neither modeling
clothes nor Princess Grace either.
And so here we are. .. this is an “READER
participation” post… this is NOT about the hubris of our current
commander in chief and his demented behavior but whether or not one Diana Vreeland
would have placed our absentee de facto first lady on the pages of VOGUE as if to
say “isn’t she fabulous?” Or is it in
the words of Mrs. Vreeland … “A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a
splash of bad taste—it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could
use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.”
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