2007 - The Year That Yelled “Notice Me”
FASHION historians may someday reflect on 2007 and overlook the significance of its finer moments: the ascension of a new generation of design talent, the influential Poiret show at the Costume Institute , the retirement of Valentino, to give but a few examples. Those scholars may conclude instead that this was the year in which designers finally succumbed to the baser desires of an overheated celebrity culture, in which the only thing that matters is fame and the only means to succeed is by screaming, “Look at me!”
At least, that’s what they might think after reviewing some of the year’s worst fashion moments, in which actions seem so obviously calculated to provoke.
How else to explain designer reaction to global outrage over skinny models, which was to respond the next season by hiring, almost exclusively, white models, thereby changing the subject?
How else to explain a Dolce & Gabbana fantasy-rape ad showing a woman pinned down by a shirtless man, which drew some protests but mostly questions of the what-were-they-thinking variety?
How else to explain Vera Wang’s cameo on “Ugly Betty,” in which she delivered the line “I’m giving you a booty bop” to Victoria Beckham, thereby making Marc Jacobs’s appearance on “The Hills” seem worthy of a Golden Globe?
How else to explain nudie pictures of designers in several magazines? None were worse than those of Tom Ford, who insisted his pictorial for the November Out be reshot because it didn’t look right for him to be in a shower with two guys and his clothes on.
How else to explain a collection of expensive bridal gowns based on the style of Walt Disney heroines? How else to explain a license for plus-size jeans by Calvin Klein? How else to explain lines to buy a $15 canvas bag that read “I am not a plastic bag”?
How else to explain why Stardoll, a Web site that allows users to dress celebrity avatars in designer clothes, introduced a character based on Anna Wintour? It was cruel enough to imagine Ms. Wintour in her underwear (as the site does), but it was downright inhumane to offer her a Missoni-style knit hat and moon boots.