Tara, Candice & Robyn | Steven Meisel | Vogue Italia June 2011 | ‘Belle Vere’ AOC Private Studio

Vogue Italy editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani has blogged about her June 2011 Steven Meisel cover shoot, lensed by Steven Meisel. It’s a raging success here at AOC, and I’ve written my thoughts in Private Studio.

Franca Sozzani has properly grounded this conversation where it belongs — in the trend I call Fashion Monasticism, a desexualized view of women advanced by Karl Lagerfeld and several other almost exclusively male designers.

In the pursuit of an asexual, cooly intellectual, non-pornified but also sensually downsized vision of women, fashion has disempowered women differently — but to the same degree — as the pornographers. Both have created images of women that deny HER innate sensuality.

In both extremes, man has the power and both are equally unfeminist, just as the Vatican and monotheism are unfeminist. Given Mr Lagerfeld’s hiring of good friend Carine Roitfeld to style Chanel’s Fall 2011 campaign, it appears that the digital hammering of writers is being heard.

Based on the early images, Roitfeld will set Chanel straight before the brand’s reputation truly suffers.

I have always respected Franca Sozzani’s willingness to put fashion into the forays of activism, even if she is frequenly misunderstood in politically-correct America. The challenge is, of course, where Sozzani walks her talk in the future.

In the case of ‘Belle Vere’, both Vogue Italia’s words and her editorial vision — delivered by a wonderful team of models and creative talent on the shoot — are a gift to women and men globally, who understand that KL’s theory of ‘not an ounce of fat’ and size 0 women are the only beauty standard (the rest are jealous, potato chip eating mommies) is one of the most damning metaphors for modern, 21st century women uttered by the French intelligensia, which I hold in high regard most days.

My personal belief, based on much research and my own journey to self love and a healthy body over the past decade, is that there are many reasons why American women are overweight and we are responsible for much of the problem. 

I hold the fashion industry responsible for promoting a new vision of beauty so extreme that only five percent of women can hope to achieve it, and that includes Asia. Healthy, sexy size 4-6 women like Turlington, Crawford, Schiffer, Campbell and company in the 80s and 90s were just too much wonderfulness for some men to handle.

When the fashion industry says no breasts, no hips, and a total boy body are the beauty standard for discriminating women who care about themselves, it’s difficult for any living, breathing sensual woman not to not hate herself in the mirror.

Physical assets treasured for centuries in more open-minded, sensual societies than today’s fashion world, are suddenly a disgusting turnoff. And they wonder why we eat! Or why we choose not to live a life of total sensual denial, as Lagerfeld admits he does. No food, no alcohol and only sex with escorts. He calls it self-discipline. 

Here is Franca’s Vogue Italia blog post on the ‘Belle Vere’ editorial: