September 5, 2008--Lighten Up

Supermodel Linda Evangelista back in 1990 famously declared, “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.” Who knows how much she charges now to parade around in Prada, assuming anyone would any longer be interested in hiring her.

So when earlier this week the New York Times reported that Vogue, for its August India issue, instead of using professional models and paying them the going rate, to quote the Times, used “average Indian people.” (Article linked below.)

I assume, and a glimpse at the photos from the 16-page spread confirms this, that in this case “average” means some from among the nearly 456 million Indians who have to try to get by on less than $1.25 a day.

We have a picture of an ancient, toothless woman holding a kid who, in addition to her own worn clothing, is wearing a fancy Fendi bib. On another page we see a family of three perched precariously on a motorbike, getting ready for their morning commute, with the mother riding sidesaddle but sporting a $10,000 Hermès Birkin bag. Pocketbooks that are so popular that there is a backlog of orders and women who must have one are willing to wait months to get their hands on them.

This issue of Vogue is so over the top in its social obliviousness that columnists in India are outraged and have been calling the publisher and editor to task. Kanika Gahlaut, who writes for the newspaper Mail Today, says that the photo feature is “not just tacky” but an “example of vulgarity.” There’s nothing amusing, she continued, about displaying a photo of a poor person in a mud hut wearing clothing designed by Alexander McQueen.

Vogue India editor Priya Tanna defended the issue, saying that “fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege.” There is a burgeoning middle class there and magazine folks and merchants have to come up with new ways to lure them into high-end shops.

“Lighten up,” she is quoted as saying. All Vogue is doing is “realizing the power of fashion,” whatever that means.

And part of that power is big money. Linda Evangelista is not the only one doing well. Last year Forbes Magazine reported that Victoria Secret model Gisele Bundchen made at least $33 million and ex-offender Kate Moss a cool $9 million.

The Times failed to report how much the woman in the mud hut was paid to trot around in her Alexander McQueens. Probably a handful of rupies.

Enough. I’ve got to get back to a tape of last night’s Republican convention. I failed to catch what Cindy McCain was wearing. Certainly not Pat Nixon’s “Republican cloth coat.” She wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those.