I always joked about it.
But it was a joke.
Kim Kardashian and Kayne West made the cover of Vogue.
I know they have their place in society.
I know they have their niche.
Some of us look up to her.
 |
| Obligatory private jet photo. |
Some of us look down at her.
Or as in the case of Kayne, he just looks right past her.
Mind you I think they are still trying to figure out their own positions.
But only thing revving is their engines.
But the cover of Vogue really isn't one of them.
It isn't really her fault.
Who would turn down the cover of Vogue?
Even I would bother to lose thirty pounds by tomorrow
if I got the call.
Oh no, it is wholly Anna Wintour's fault.
 |
| Gurrrl - you don't get to sneer at me anymore. |
You would think that Anna is well established by now.
Why on earth is she selling out at this late stage of her career?
Does she not think about her legacy?
They say you are only as good as your last trade...
I don't know if it is a hidden April Fool's Day joke...
Needless to say, for regular Vogue review readers -
this is it for April.
Well, I am shocked ! But, Anna knows what sells. I'm certain this was the only reason unless Kayne donated big bucks to the Democrats. I'm still shocked and have zero interest in seeing the pics.
ReplyDeletejust saying...
You're telling me! I had to keep googling and verifying it was true...Well the photos weren't even that amazing or original. But yes of course we all saw the signs when we saw Kayne always buttering up next to Anna in all the fashion weeks...
DeleteI think the "jump the shark" analogy applies here. I've always liked AW because she wouldn't do something this stupid. Is the September issue now going to feature other "ladies of porn"?
ReplyDeleteVery well put GSL this is so jumping the shark! Well now that you mention it I think I shall go down the betting shop and put a fiver on that September issue...
Delete"ladies of porn".... love it!
DeleteNaomi, plse explain what "Jump the shark" means? Have never heard of this expression before. Have read that in the past AW wouldn't allow KK to be invited to the Met Ball as she didn't think she was a suitable guest. Now she features her on the cover! Must have been a publisher's decision and perhaps AW is taking secret satisfaction from the fact that it's the April edition. Would imagine Grace is secretly shrieking too. Like the "ladies of porn" analogy. Some of these shots and poses do look as though they belong not just in "Instyle" but in some kind of soft porn magazine. This is the woman who accepted $500,000 to be an old man's partner at a Viennese ball! And didn't read anywhere that she gave the money to charity. So what does that make her? Vogue US has disgraced itself. Cheers, Pammie xx
DeleteGSL might explain it better but essentially it is the tipping point in which things start to decline in quality and popularity usually triggered by an attempt to trigger more excitement which backfires.
DeleteYes I did hear about the Met Ball and in fact Anna cropped her out of the pics and left Kayne in!!! She wouldn't even allow here to be in the inside pages before and yet now the cover? Grace must be going crazy right now. That meeting would have been tense! Also considering she has already done a blue movie I think this essentially was the lady of porn issue! xx
It comes from an episode of Happy Days where the Fonz leapt over a shark tank and the show was viewed as going downhill at that point. and so it goes...
DeletePammie, it's an American term, I once had to write about it for work.
DeleteDear all who helped explain the term.
DeleteMany thanks. Find I rather like the expression. "Over egging the pudding" approaches it - but it doesn't convey the sense of rapid decline precipitated by an extreme action meant to improve. Quite delicious in fact. Trouble is, no-one here will understand it. Have already tried it out on a few people who had no idea what it meant. So will have to restrict use to comment on blogs, where appropriate. Can't wait to use it. So here goes:
For Aussie "Rake" fans, I fear that the writers might be jumping the shark with the latest scenarios our Cleave has got mixed up in.
Also wonder if the decision to put KK on the Vogue cover came from the publishers trying to cash in on the KK phenomenon, rather than from Anna herself. But if so, it shows Anna's power is waning. Pammie x
Yes I also love an eggy pudding so can't compare it to this cover hehe! I don't know what Rake is - been away too long. Must google and catch up. But let's see how Anna survives this Pammie! xx
DeleteI am shocked and yet not. I am not a mean person. I do not wish KK or KW ill. But this feels like such a sell-out on Anna's part, so calculated to selling issues and perhaps getting some exclusive wedding photos after the fact, that my stomach is lurching here. Wonder who styled the shoot - Kanye? Cause I am pretty sure it is all about Kanye and Kimmy has become pretty subservient to his vision of their life (my opinion based solely on hearsay!) after being subservient to her mother's vision, that one can't help but worry about her if it wasn't all so cynical!
ReplyDeleteI think sales are at a huge cost. There are enough tabloids out there that Vogue shouldn't join that circus. KK and KW are just doing their thing but it is Anna that I am shocked at.
DeleteAs much as we may hate it, the younger folks do love Kimmie and Kanye....some one does. I haven't done Vogue for decades. Too heavy for my wimpy arms. I read in college, maybe that's who they are marketing this issue for.
ReplyDeleteI know people love her but Vogue was meant to set the trends and not succumb to populist taste...She lost all snob rights now!
DeleteIt's no laughing matter ...bring back models on covers I say
ReplyDeleteI won't complain about actresses on the cover again!
DeleteI can't even tell you how disgusted I am by this cover, I just found out about it. Between that and L'Wren Scott's death, I am having a terrible fashion week. The photos look awful, so distasteful and cringe-worthy, and I may join others in cancelling my subscription. What was Anna thinking?
ReplyDeletePerhaps KWest schmoozes really well and Anna just broke down...But she needs a sabbatical to reevaluate things! Not a good fashion week for sure Jill...
DeleteWhen did KK become stylish and fashionable? When she hired image consultants, stylists and married a guy with big bucks. No accounting for taste, but it has people talking about it and that's what Anna wanted.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Jill, this has been a terrible fashion week.
Actually KWest is known not to have much money and KK is the one with bucks in the relationship. But they obviously have made an impression and are the new power couple. Interesting that not even Brad Pitt and Angelina made the cover together though!
DeleteThere's no denying that Kim K is a fashion 'icon', although recently that's questionable, and there's no denying Kanye has a place in the fashion industry, but I'm afraid all this is at a completely different level to Vogue - their place is not Vogue, but like you say, who'd say no to that opportunity. You have hit the nail on the head on all points. They say you shouldn't get complacent in business and you should always be looking for the next challenge to shake things up - I guess Anna felt this was her next challenge. Keep an eye out for the circulation figures, it will be interesting to know.
ReplyDeleteLove you Kim K!
xx
The thing is I adored and loved Clarissa Dickson Wright. But I don't think the cover of Vogue would have been the right place as you say about Kim. I think that the circulation figures will go up for that issue undoubtedly but what should be Conde Nasts worry is the circulation figures thereafter!
DeleteI don't get the fuss with KK and KW. But seems they're a hot couple right now, Perhaps Vogue trying to stay 'fresh?' Hot couples sell
ReplyDeleteI see why people like them as they are young and good looking and rather naughty...But Anna W has so much access that this just doesn't seem right.
DeletePoor Posh--she has spent so much time trying and then look who aces her out.
ReplyDeletePosh will be chatting with David right now to usurp the May issue!
DeleteWell.. not surprised with this. It's all about money and I think some folks just like this sort of thing. I just wonder at what point it ends? Apparently innocence and self worth .. or class is something that doesn't matter much anymore. Young women think there is something wrong with them if they aren't keeping in line with what they see in movies and magazines. I agree with Jennifer and Jill......
ReplyDeleteI am at a loss and even having read Anna's letter from the editor it just doesn't convince me still. I don't know why I am surprised though I am usually the biggest cynic and yet maybe I had hope that there would be respected parameters...
DeleteI am cancelling my subscription. I have been lazy in not doing so (as they just keep charging your credit card every year unless you ring the US specifically to cancel it)... but this is the last straw. I am just reading through the Rhianna issue at the moment. I hate that she's on the cover. It's not fashion. It's celebrity, and fashion is not about celebrity (well, unless they're a fashion celebrity). But the Kardashians is just the biggest sell out of all time. Anna is alienating her die hard Vogue fashion lovers, and trying to get sales spikes from the non target demographic. Weird.
ReplyDeleteI already paid out for my ipad yearly subscription but think I will just stick with French and British Vogue and review them instead unless there is an amazing fashion spread...Wasn't the RIhanna issue just soo dull???? But come May not many people will be reading unless they put her on again for the Sept issue? ANything is possible now...
DeleteI used to love American Vogue because the writing had so much more depth than ours - haven't looked at it in a year or more.
DeleteMe too but my love for mags seems to be waning considering I already cancelled my subscription to Vanity Fair.
DeletePorter is good!!!! x
DeleteMy patience with mags is on the wane too, but I am intrigued by Porter. I almost subscribed but had a touch of stingyness at the last minute...
DeleteI am not remotely interested in looking at pics of 'celebrities'. I'm disappointed that a fashion mag has stooped so low.
Must check out Porter - like you Ruth I just couldn't actually go through with it but might do eventually out of curiosity bc choices are running thin arent they?
DeleteI was wondering if anyone would say it and FF nailed it - clearly Anna is sweating buckets at the arrival of Porter. It is everything that Vogue US used to be and then some: super smart, informed and just gorgeous fashion. No wonder she went for the cheap shot since Porter is clearly the new "high brow"...
DeleteHeather yep I just realized that competition that I forgot about it so you bring another huge reason! Must def check it out now! Along with Nat Geo with your Remi in it!!!
DeleteCapturing the zeitgeist?
ReplyDeleteBut great to see a woman weighting over 50kg on the cover of vogue.
But Vogue isn't meant to be zeitgeist - it used to create the zeitgeist! I don't want any publication that wags the tail. Yes she is more than 50 kg as well but she also doesn't convey a healthy body image target - equally unachievable and equally makes women feel helpless IMHO.
DeleteI always learn so much from your blog Naomi ~ sometimes it is about London, other times it is about decorating and fashion, but today it is the idiom "jumping the shark".
ReplyDeleteHi Carol! You must thank GSL for that as he brought it up :)
DeleteI have to agree, this is definitely jumping the shark. Vogue has sunk to the level of InStyle magazine!! Very disappointed in Anna Wintour's choice... but I guess it's the magazine sales that count in the end.
ReplyDeleteYes it is so instyle now...But at least we have French and British Vogue and Harpers Bazaar instead!
DeleteI prefer In Style!
DeleteI agree with everyone. This is just a tacky and those photos are in poor taste. Are they really desperate for talented people to be in Vogue? Going Kardashian is just sad. Vogue has sunk to a new low. It's getting on par with US magazine now.
ReplyDeleteCould you imagine at teh supermarket aisle? I would have gone right past the Vogue if I hadn't known! But I suppose that is where they will get the sales this month...
DeleteQuite stunned really, I wonder how much of a backlash there will be about this? I agree with what Kim just wrote, celebs, celebs, clubs, we can flick through the Hello for that.
ReplyDeleteYes I would like to see if anyone in actual power will say anything about it or people will tiptoe around it and it will be the white elephant in the magazine world?
DeleteShe's gone mad!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI actually thought it was a joke when I seen a snippet on Twitter! X
Mental! I thought it was a joke too and kept on googling until it dawned on me it was real...x
DeleteIf it's not a joke, it's clearly a sell-out. I am so sick of them. How insulting to all the people who have graced the cover of Vogue.
ReplyDeleteHuge sell out. I would have thought that Anna Wintour would stand her ground. Not only does this make her lose any credibility but I wonder about her taste levels now.
DeleteSaw AW on tv last night denying that she yielded to pressure (from whom?) and insisting that she had made an independent fashion decision in putting the darling couple on the cover.
ReplyDeleteEwwww.
Yes - she made a little slip there! I think it is time for her to retire...
DeleteAgree with you Naomi, she needs to go. I wish they find another Emanuelle Alt for US Vogue. I'm cancelling, the celebrity features are getting boring. Not worth the price of subscription.
ReplyDeleteWell unless US Vogue does something exceptional I don't think I will be reviewing it anymore and will stick to US or British Vogue in future Marie!
DeleteIve never been much interested in Vogue, and I have no interest whatsoever in Anna Wintor but I did assume Vogue had a certain amount of cache. Putting this trainwreck on the cover really damages their credibility. Perhaps they are desperate.
ReplyDeleteps the term 'jumping the shark' originated with the tv sitcom Happy Days. Although it was quite popular for a while, the storyline eventually became silly and the pinnacle of ridiculousness was a scene involving a character waterskiing in Hawaii and jumping over an angry shark.
Bebe - I once wrote 2000 words on that nonsense!
DeleteReeks of desperation.
DeleteWow I thought maybe it was a bit of a myth I thought it was the image of the shark at the end of a food chain and you jumped it thinking you were winning but then got eaten by it!!
2000?! That is real literary talent, to be able to write so much about so little.
DeleteSigh. Another icon bites the dust. Great post.
ReplyDeleteYes I think this is the turn...
DeletePerhaps Anna senses a change in industry perceptions towards them and is trying to preempt the public also warming to Kim and Kanye, hoping to benefit from the change and be seen as staying ahead of the curve? This time perhaps the risk was too great and she has lost her touch – but it wasn't that long ago that the thought of Posh Spice gracing the cover of Vogue would've created similar outrage. Look how that turned out!
ReplyDeleteI think certain publications need to lead and not the other way around. One can be a big fan of hers but still realize that is isn't the right place. Yes you are right, Anna has taken a risk and even if she gets big circulation figures this month - the problem is the long lasting effects. I know what you mean about VB but having said that she has never graced US Vogue - only the European ones and to be fair to her she has been rebranding for more than a decade.
DeleteWholly mystified, over here.
ReplyDeleteX file.
DeleteNaomi, please don't judge, but I don't mind her. Prefer her sisters, don't care for Kanye. Hope you'll forgive me and we can get past this! x
ReplyDeleteNot at all ;) She is popular and I get it! They seem like their Sunday dinners would be eventful and if Anna asked me to be on the cover I would not say no at all. The outrage is more on Anna's decision and her u turn on her stance on KK from how she gets cropped and banned even on the inside of Vogue last year and how susceptible she is on lobbying! xx
DeleteI'm really unphased. It's not ideal but I've seen worse. I agree that there is something going on though re u-turn x
ReplyDeleteI want to know what made the u turn! xx
DeleteSadly I think it will be the best-seller of all time. The photos are not that interesting... wonder if the couple had loads of control over them. Also wonder what Grace C. thought. she dislikes the advent of celeb covers. Photoshoot on a private jet seems so Eighties. You know they say all our efforts at recycling are rendering inconsequential the minute one private jet takes off.
ReplyDeletePrivate jet shots are just so dull. The pics themselves are truly boring and actually doesn't look like there is any fashion merit - Grace must be going absolutely bonkers right now! I shall think about them every time I rinse out a jam jar...
DeleteAnna's questionable decision undoubtedly has many perplexed. I always viewed Vogue as the premier fashion magazine. Vogue has now stepped into the ranks of other magazines that feature celebrity lives such as People, Us Magazine, etc. Is Anna entertaining Miley Cyrus next? This is a pinnacle turn for Vogue's reputation and fashion tradition. Unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteI viewed it as the leader as well and couldn't help but feel "attached" to it. But oh no Anon! You may be right...Cyrus might get a cover...oy vey.
DeleteDisruption is all very well, but this tawdry twosome really are the bottom of the barrel.
ReplyDeleteTime for some new blood at US Vogue!
Grace must be plotting her coup d'état!! Or you could fill in? :)
DeleteI'd sort them out!
DeleteN. - Congratulations on getting the lead on this story. Yours was the first review I saw "in print" or on the tele.
ReplyDeleteAs I listened to reports that the internet was exploding with criticism about Anna's cover - All I could imagine is they were referring to you! :-) Well done.
Oh Linda you are giving me waaaay too much credit - the post came out of a facebook status that got too long!!! ;)
Deleteit was the hashtag that really made us weep......
ReplyDelete#picturewasmorethanenough!
DeleteI'm done! Vogue is the one magazine I subscribe to as a treat... I'm so disappointed, I would have thought this was a massive joke? The photos are incredibly bad taste and look like every other photo I've seen of these two. The jet? The snarling and the body positions? Looks like a photo shoot put together by someone with absolute zero talent. Poor Grace.
ReplyDeleteI know - there weren't many redeeming features about the shoot either - really banal. Not even the dresses are standouts...But also I thought it would have been harder to persuade Anna!?
DeleteI think April Fools is the best take I've seen on it yet! Thank heavens for British Vogue.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was an early April Fool's as well...
Delete