"I'm awesome because I am not afraid to fall,
nor ashamed to stumble.
Because I never wanted to be beautiful,
and I never pretended to be."

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Children of the Corn Carine's supposed demise.

The hilarious artist that is aleXsandro Palombo, the master mind behind the slightly controversial but freaking hilariously brilliant illustrations for his site Humor Chic, has decided to make another little rendition of Carine Roitfeld. Check it out. 
For those that understand where this is coming from, how freaking great is it!? And for those that don't, I'll give ya the lowdown. So there's various rumors as to why Carine left her editorship with some saying she didn't choose to leave but got fired for x-amount of reasons. This is one of them:
For the December 2010/January 2011 issue of Vogue Paris, a little spread entitled 'Cadeaux' caused some controversy as it featured 5-6 year old girls playing high-end dress up  and wearing massive amounts of makeup that rival the facepaint of a Kardashian sister. Apparently this kiddies were too glamorourized and too sexified for some to handle and news got to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault and he supposedly threatened to withdraw all advertising from the next issue of the publication. LVMH owns some heavy hitters like Fendi, Donna Karan, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Céline, and such... that's a $hit ton of money that Vogue Paris/Condé Nast would loose. A plausible cause for getting axed.
Here's the little spread itself:
Personally, I really don't see anything crude, child-abuse-ish, or inappropriate about this spread. They're just little girls playing dress up and c'mon which little girl (or boy) hasn't invaded their Mommy's closet? Or perhaps it's because of my Latino culture where, from what I've concluded, it's ok for little girls to embrace their inner girlyness at a young age. My little sister had her ears pierced & diamonded up by my mom as soon they got home from the hospital, had little plastic heels waay before she could even walk, completely iced out like a hip hop video, and constantly had little makeup kits of her own all over the house- she was definitely working it. So yeah, this editorial is nothing of great shock to me. In fact, it just looks like Natasha Poly, Daria Werbowy, and Karlie Kloss had a run in with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" and "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids." Actually, I think it's more creepy than controversial.

Plus, in America, we've got these...
Pageant girls! Well, I mean it's not like I see them leaving trails of glitter around my neighborhood (I'd cry in horror & creepiness!) but TLC has a show about them, so people must like them or at least be fine with this  done-up baby Barbie thing, right?

I can see why people may be upset about it: 1. it can be a Thanksgiving meal for pedophiles and 2. there are 3 shots from the bunch that are a bit too "suggestive." But to say it's telling little girls to grow up quickly? Umm, what 5 year old, besides Tavi, is reading Vogue Paris? And if there are, they're probably going to be fashion prodigies anyhow. Plus, I don't know if you guys remember but this was the TOM FORD guest editing edition, so of course there would be something worthy of thought provoking sensationalism. And guess what, it worked!

Do I think Carine was fired over this or just fired in general? Nope. She's made Vogue Paris what it is today, why would Condé Nast want to let her go? Unless... Anna threatened them with "THE LIST" á la Devil Wears Prada. Hmmm, I sense a conspiracy coming in 3... 2... 1...

So is Vogue Paris sending out a bad message? What do ya think about Carine's departure?




Vogue Paris December 2010/January 2011 Issue
Editorial: "Cadeaux"
Photographed by Sharif Hamza
Styled by Melanie Huynh

images via aleXsandro Palumbo & the googles

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12 comments:

vejrubia said...

I don't believe that there's anything wrong about this either. It was a concept for a shoot - an aristocratic, couture, dress-up game. What girl HASN'T done this?

However, looking through this, there was definitely something eerie about the shoot.

It was a little too JonBenet Ramsey reminiscent.

Alejandro Becé said...

I think the children should be happy and sometimes the are happy in this way... But i know, maybe abuse i think by their parents.

Berta said...

Hi there!! well I don´t really see this rigth I think this images can be much more funny like a girl who is trying to imitate her mother closet, but I think this pics didn´t show this... well is from my point of vivew... u have to remember that I am a enfant techer... so We have to protect much more our children. ... I don´t know... but thanks for that post!!!=) heheh
=)!! see U!

xoxo

Unknown said...

I think those kids look awesome, and true! girls dig into their mother's closet for stuff to wear!!!

ice pandora said...

I don't think it's child abusive either. It's just photography, art.
I think some of these girls are giong to be big!
The last picture looks like Emily Didonato lols

xx~

Bisous Natasha said...

Yeah I saw nothing wrong with that Vogue editorail. IN fact I thought it was cute and if anything made me pay more attention to what was being advertised because you dont see that on kids so you think damn what nice ass shoe is this 5 year old wearing. As for pageants hily shit that scares me. LIke little midgit robots with heads of a 35 year old ! +_+

HANNAH said...

Love the illustration. Brilliant!

http://londontownsagogo.blogspot.com/

Karima Illustration said...

I think it is kinda strange! They are dressed in adult clothes!! Heels for kids???!!! Really???!!

miwa said...

Love your blog. I am now following, see you on my)) http://www.sexypeoplezone.blogspot.com/

kellina said...

thanks for a much needed laugh! i utterly concur with your viewpoint regarding this editorial.

iammademoiselle said...

I can't see anything wrong with this editorial! I actually loved it when I first saw it!

Ps: I LOVE your blog!! It's such a pleasure to read!

Stop by sometime dear! Maybe we could follow each other if you like?

http://mademoiselleconomist.blogspot.com/

Jennifer said...

Really? No one sees anything wrong with these images? 10-year-olds holding a decanter, the girl laying in a bed with tiger prints, with dress up to her knees? And the look she gives... The girl putting on lipstick. Somehow the lipstick is so close to her mouth in the mirror reflection... The girl with a toothbrush in her mouth? Reminds of something? Look at their faces. They say: "Look I am a big girl who has been untouched. Come and make be a bad girl".
People, you forget that all this is to make money and sex sells and thats what it is about. You give these photos to a perverted man, he will slobber all over these girls. Let children have their childhood.

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