The day before Tom Buchanan marries Daisy, he offers her a string of pearls worth $300,000. Pearls were the Establishment’s way of making a rite of passage. If you were a debutante, or getting married, or if it was your first child, you received pearls.
-Catherine Martin, design consultant for The Great Gatsby in Elle Canada June 2013.
How did major Canadian fashion magazines stack up this month in terms of diversity? Read on to find out.
The Magazine: Fashion
The Cover Star: Lana Del Rey
Perceived Appearance of Cover Star: White
Does the magazine appear to feature any models of colour in the editorials?: No
Does the magazine appear to feature any plus-size models in the editorials?: No
The Magazine: Flare
The Cover Star: Greta Gerwig
Perceived Appearance of Cover Star: White
Does the magazine appear to feature any models of colour in the editorials?: No
Does the magazine appear to feature any plus-size models in the editorials?: No
The Magazine: Elle Canada
The Cover Star: Rebecca Hall
Perceived Appearance of Cover Star: White
Does the magazine appear to feature any models of colour in the editorials?: No. However, as discussed yesterday, this month’s issue gets a huge round of applause from us for having two excellent articles on fashion, racism, and cultural appropriation.
Does the magazine appear to feature any plus-size models in the editorials?: No
Feeling like you’re respected among the people who do the same thing you do is incredible and necessary [...] I don’t believe in the school of hard knocks, although I’ve had them. All that stuff about whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is so not true. Do you know what makes you stronger? When people treat you and your art with dignity.
-Lana Del Rey in “Lana Mania” by Elio Iannacci in Fashion Summer 2013.
Image found here.
Ironically, turns out I’m 100-percent introverted. The book [Quiet by Susan Cain] makes a fascinating point that we’re now living in an age that puts emphasis on being flashy and showy. Most people would say I’m an extrovert, but I can’t do it all the time without burning out. I need to have a minute in the corner by myself sometimes.
-Rebecca Hall in “Hall of Fame” by Kathryn Hudson in Elle Canada June 2013
Above: A look from the Emilio Pucci S/S 2013 collection, in a style that Jennifer Lee critiques in Elle Canada June 2013.
Elle Canada recently caught our eye with their June issue. While the editorials were lacklustre and lacking diversity, we were majorly impressed by their two (!!!) articles on racism, cultural appropriation, and fashion. The first is called “Undressing the Dragon Lady” by Jennifer Lee, questioning the Orientalism and appropriation we’ve seen in many 2013 collections from various designers.
But considering it was mostly Caucasian designers presenting those Far East looks on white models (for example, only 10 percent of models on runways at fall/winter 2013/2014 New York Fashion Week were of Asian descent), where is the line between inspiration and appropriation?
-Jennifer Lee
The second article (incidentally right next to the first) by Kelly Anderson called “Idle No More,” did a quick review of recent examples of cultural appropriation of Native American traditions–unfortunately, she had her pick from a plethora of highly offensive examples we’ve seen in the past year alone (including the notorious magazine cover featuring Michelle Williams that AnOther Magazine put out). Anderson goes on to remind us why exactly fashion’s appropriation of Native American motifs is problematic, since so many in the fashion world just don’t seem to get it.
It’s disheartening that so few people are aware that headdresses, bonnets and totem poles are still spiritually relevant to vibrant Native cultures. To glamorize-or make light of- the misuse of dated and cartoonish images is to support a legacy of genocide and racism.
-Kelly Anderson
These progressive, thoughtful, and appropriately critical articles show that Elle Canada isn’t afraid of discussing a taboo topic in fashion; it’s important for those with power in mainstream media to be discussing these issues.
It’s also a step forward for Elle Canada itself. Only last month the magazine published a very Orientalist fashion spread, echoing the exact same mistake made earlier this year by Flare magazine in their March 2013 issue. So here’s hoping that they will keep these two amazing articles in mind when planning future issues–the articles by Lee and Anderson are really, really good pieces, and we hope to see more steps forward in other Canadian fashion magazines to come.
BONUS: Did you know that The Closet Feminist keeps track of major Canadian fashion magazines, and the diversity they feature? Every single month in Covers & Content, we take a thorough look at Elle Canada, Flare, and Fashion to see what they’re doing to uphold or dismantle the status quo.
