This is a curated list of stories (videos, podcast episodes, etc) I have read recently, shared here purely for your enjoyment!
READ - Iman makes the case for fashion’s humanity by Robin Givhan for the Washington Post, Published on the 26th of September, 2022.
An old video of Iman talking about the lack of diverse models on Phoebe Philo’s (then) Celine runway recently resurfaced on TikTok. As is the nature of that platform, people started rehashing really old talking points in the discourses that ensued. While in any other context the rehashing would have irritated me beyond belief (let bygones be bygones!) but in this one, it didn’t bother me at all because the discourse around diversity is still very much relevant. It also pushed me to find interviews that touched upon Iman’s life and her advocacy for diversity in modelling, which is when, I found this really illuminating piece by Robin Givhan for the Washington Post. Here are some excerpts:
On her image being her currency:
As a working model, she defended her image from unflattering photography, the assault of age, and a fashion industry dominated by a Eurocentric point-of-view that often didn’t know how to fully celebrate her skin, her hair, her Africanness. “When that young girl is going to pick up that magazine, she’s going to see me. And I cannot be seen like however they want to see me, however they want to highlight me. I’ve got to get a hold of this, of my brown skin, of who I am. My dignity. My grace. That has to be shown so that young girls can see it.”
“That’s where representation matters,” she says.
Now, she’s defending her image, and that of other Black models, from forgetfulness, from the fog of history.
On how she was discovered:
Her appearance is what made photographer Peter Beard, who was White, stop her on the street in Nairobi where she was a student and ask if he could take her picture. Her appearance is also what riled some African Americans after Beard declared Iman the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and the fashion industry went gaga.
“I got it from both sides. I got it from both White and Black,” Iman recalls. White people exoticized her. Beard claimed he’d discovered her out in the African bush. “I always say, ‘I’m not a mango.’
LISTEN - ‘Jenna Lyons On Wearing Latex and The Real Housewives of New York’ by The Run-Through with Vogue. Published on the 12th of October, 2023. (LINK - click here to listen on Apple Podcasts!)
I have been a fan of Jenna Lyons’ style for as long as I can remember. She has been on my Pinterest boards, on my saved folders in Instagram. You name it and I have her looks saved or archived somewhere online, which is why, I found it very strange when it was announced that she was a part of the newly rebooted season of the real housewives of New York City. Don’t get me wrong, I love the whole franchise but apart from my disbelief in the possibility of Jenna being real housewives-level messy, I also didn’t envision her getting along well with the women on these shows who for the most part, don’t really know how to dress.
Actually, is that true? Wait lemme rephrase it, the women on these shows do know how to dress, I guess, but it is not even remotely equivalent to the taste level that Jenna exhibits. Their idea of dressing is what I imagine would happen, if you prompted an AI to dress someone glamorously. If that makes sense and I think it does. All of this to say that you must listen to this episode as she talks about her reasonings behind joining the show, in much detail. (LINK - click here to listen on Apple Podcasts!)
WATCH - Inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s 90s Fashion Archive by Goop. Published on 3rd of February, 2023.
I am not a huge fan of Goop (pseudoscience is not my thing) but I do enjoy some of the non-food related, Gwyneth Paltrow-centric content that they post. I would argue that this genre of content is much more palatable than their main, food-related content but on introspection, it just might be that way because I am not their target audience.
Circling back to this video, she shows some of the pieces she wore in the 90s. I won’t spoil it for you but an infamous maroon suit does make appearance at 2:42 mark. Enjoy!
Bonus content recommendation:
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