We imagine female members of the armed services would be among the many upon whom the charm of such a campaign is lost.
Yes, thank you for articulating why I hate this campaign. For the campaign to be successful, you have to assume that everybody in the military is a straight man and all women were just waiting at home (in sexy clothes) for the men to return. Believe it or not, there are WWII veterans who also happen to be women.
Why even get live humans to waste their time posing for these pictures anymore? Can't they just Google up some stock photos and cobble together a composite image?
Why pretend that what we're looking at is representative of a human? She's already a very attractive person! Give it a rest!
I kind of don't get why anyone bothers paying models anymore. Why not just use CGI? And for that matter, why should print models bother staying thin if they just whittle them down to required size after the fact? #marisamiller
Can we not get to the point where whether or not a woman is beautiful is IRRELEVANT? I don't want this stupid apology that this woman is calling for, that women of all shapes and sizes are beautiful. Who gives a shit what Ralph Lauren thinks?
Maybe instead NOW should tackle the cult of beauty as the be-all and end-all of what any of us women have to strive for. Maybe that would be worth doing. This? Is publicity. #ralphlauren
This issue is so beyond this issue. This just puts into sharp focus what is happening in this industry across the board, in perhaps a slightly less over-the-top way. And we can get all up in arms about this one incident or we as consumers, artists, and designers can realize this is ubiquitous and harmful and stop being shocked and start being proactive about making changes.
My (very anti-fashion) mother and I had a long discussion about my extremely ambivalent feelings on the industry that I have yet to reconcile. On one hand, you have designers like Alexander McQueen creating what I think is some of the world’s greatest contemporary art (in both his clothing designs and his runway shows), but on the other hand, his models are as skinny as anyone else’s. It’s easy to be dismissive of an individual designer if they’re outlandish and you don’t even love their designs anyway (ie: Christian Louboutin saying Barbie’s ankles are too fat), but when you have incredible designers who are tacitly (McQueen) or vocally (Lagerfeld) going on about women over 110 pounds being "fat" it’s difficult to decide what to do as a consumer/artist appreciating art.
This all reminds me of a sketch from "The State" wherein Ben Garant is a fashion designer who accuses a myriad of skinny models of being cows. Finally, Kerri Kenney brings him a "model" who is finally skinny enough: she’s invisible. Eventually, even she becomes too chunky for Garant’s liking. Fucking brilliant sketch. #ralphlauren
Why do we need to hear from Ralph Lauren and his tired company how beautiful women are? If we are still waiting for the fashion industry to open their doors and hearts to women over size 4, then we will be waiting a long time. The way to hurt Ralph and his company is to avoid buying all of his clothing. And since he has at least three labels that are targeted to women over the age of 25 and bigger than a size 4, like Lauren, it should be easy to boycott him and not fund his atrocious attitude and photoshop disasters. But if NOW is busy bothering Ralph Lauren and David Letterman about apologies, they need better things to do on a daily basis. #ralphlauren
@ArtfulSlinger: What I also love is NOW emphasizing, however tacitly, that women are supposed to be beautiful, and that again, again, still again, that's the most important thing about our gender on which all humans should focus.
Hello, NOW? How about requesting a declaration that if she hadn't been fired, she was smart enough to quit? #ralphlauren
I'm beginning to wonder if we shouldn't just stop expecting fashion/the industry to change. Their system only makes money if they can make us buy things. The only way to make us want to buy things is to convince us we're not happy without whatever it is, or that we're not good enough without whatever it is. The way to do that is to make us feel bad about ourselves. Why would they change something when we keep spending money?? It's time to stop shopping, folks. #ralphlauren
@funnyface: yep. So long as what they're doing is moving product they wont change. why should they? They aren't guided by morals but by the bottom line. NOW should be urging a boycott. #ralphlauren
@funnyface: I like your point. I mean, in the end, they have to persuade us into buying new clothes by making our current clothes seem unsatisfactory. And if that means telling us that we're not good enough as is, I'm sure they're more than happy to. #ralphlauren
To be honest, I don't want to hear it. Ralph Lauren has been pretty blatant in their lack of contrition throughout this ordeal. My issue was not necessarily that I found the photo offensive (though I did), but rather, that their behavior after the fact was abhorrent. They fired a model because she was not thin enough by their standards, and pretty much had the attitude "Would you get over it already, women?" Any apology now would only seem disingenuous and forced. They can go fuck themselves and take their frumpy, wannabe-Great Gatsby-WASP attire with them. #ralphlauren
@Tchotchke: Exactly. RL has done everything but shout from the rooftops that they don't give a shit about peoples' concerns. Despite the fact that they want money from women up to size 22, they seem to prefer a, frankly, unrealistic caricature of "woman" to advertise their wares to all women.
If they don't think their clothes will look good on someone who looks like any of us, we don't need to spend money with them. #ralphlauren
@Ipomoea: The advertisement indicates that they don't care to design for human women, period. No flesh and blood woman looks like that photoshopped image and yet, when people point this out to them or get offended, RL essentially tells them to screw off. #ralphlauren
11/11/09
11/11/09
Yes, thank you for articulating why I hate this campaign. For the campaign to be successful, you have to assume that everybody in the military is a straight man and all women were just waiting at home (in sexy clothes) for the men to return. Believe it or not, there are WWII veterans who also happen to be women.
[www.history.army.mil] #marisamiller
11/11/09
Why pretend that what we're looking at is representative of a human? She's already a very attractive person! Give it a rest!
/responsible Photoshop user #marisamiller
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
Ug. #marisamiller
11/11/09
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11/11/09
The point, I'm sure. #marisamiller
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
So they can eventually get runway work, of course! At least until they develop photoshop for reality (besides plastic surgery, that is). #marisamiller
10/16/09
Maybe instead NOW should tackle the cult of beauty as the be-all and end-all of what any of us women have to strive for. Maybe that would be worth doing. This? Is publicity. #ralphlauren
10/16/09
My (very anti-fashion) mother and I had a long discussion about my extremely ambivalent feelings on the industry that I have yet to reconcile. On one hand, you have designers like Alexander McQueen creating what I think is some of the world’s greatest contemporary art (in both his clothing designs and his runway shows), but on the other hand, his models are as skinny as anyone else’s. It’s easy to be dismissive of an individual designer if they’re outlandish and you don’t even love their designs anyway (ie: Christian Louboutin saying Barbie’s ankles are too fat), but when you have incredible designers who are tacitly (McQueen) or vocally (Lagerfeld) going on about women over 110 pounds being "fat" it’s difficult to decide what to do as a consumer/artist appreciating art.
This all reminds me of a sketch from "The State" wherein Ben Garant is a fashion designer who accuses a myriad of skinny models of being cows. Finally, Kerri Kenney brings him a "model" who is finally skinny enough: she’s invisible. Eventually, even she becomes too chunky for Garant’s liking. Fucking brilliant sketch. #ralphlauren
10/16/09
I say BOYCOTT!
I don't need some flack at RL to disingenuously tell me I'm beautiful. I know I am. Photoshop that, bish. #ralphlauren
10/16/09
10/16/09
Hello, NOW? How about requesting a declaration that if she hadn't been fired, she was smart enough to quit? #ralphlauren
10/16/09
10/16/09
Hideous jeans with belt/tail hanging down: $120
Over-ruffled madras-plaid shirt: $80
Photoshopping beyond human recognition: $1000
Paying $1,200 to look cheap and like a pickup truck just ran over your legs: Priceless.
There are bodies things that diets can't fix. For everything else, there's Photoshop. #ralphlauren
10/16/09
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10/16/09
If they don't think their clothes will look good on someone who looks like any of us, we don't need to spend money with them. #ralphlauren
10/16/09