Sycophancy that!
These are genuine images with genuine headlines — from Vogue on February 25, 2011 and from the BBC back in September, 1999. The articles’ respective texts are informative, too…
Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies. Her style is not the couture-and-bling dazzle of Middle Eastern power but a deliberate lack of adornment. She’s a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement. Paris Match calls her “the element of light in a country full of shadow zones.”
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has invented a sleek James Bond-style car, which Libya says is the safest vehicle on earth. … The interior is replete with air bags, an inbuilt electronic defence system, and a collapsible bumper which protects passengers in head-on collisions.
For an astounding tour of “the fashion industry’s faux pas on global issues,” see The Zoolander Effect in today’s Foreign Policy.
March 1st, 2011 at 2:33 pm
The Vogue article (and its bad taste) were discussed at the Foreign Policy website and the comments to it were, er, well….
.
Basically, if you are remotely fashionable you get a pass for anything. The commenters were all: How dare you criticize her! She’s fierce! She’s fashionable! She runs charities!
.
She’s fabulous!
.
It was weird. I think some people are so terribly ignorant of the systems they observe that any criticism seems like Mean-Girls.
.
I used to read Vogue with regularity. Okay, I’d look at the photos of the clothes and ignore the articles.
.
Speaking of which, the fall fashion shows have some fabulous clothes this season. NYT was all over one of the shows – the colors are teal, peacock, cherry, and a sort of deep vivid brown.
.
Very important information for zenpundit fans.
.
– Madhu
March 1st, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Hi Madhu:
.
I’ll be in teal and peacock, then.
.
Dior apparently just fired John Galliano for his anti-Semitic, pro-Hitler remarks.
March 1st, 2011 at 6:54 pm
If it came down to snappy dressing, the Nazis would have won WWII.
March 1st, 2011 at 7:55 pm
They sure knew how to throw a parade.