http://fakingfashion.livejournal.com/490737.html |
In 1993, Corrine Day was able to capture that look of real
life in British Vogue. The spread, titled “Under-Exposed”, featured Kate Moss
clad in barely there pastel clothing. Moss had shown up to the shoot teary eyed
fresh from a fight with her then boyfriend, which in turn, allowed Day to
capture the feeling of vulnerability in her images. These images became some of
the most reproduced ones of the editorial as well as some of the most iconic
images from the 90’s.
http://fakingfashion.livejournal.com/490737.html |
Not only was Kate Moss stirring up talk with her appearance
in Under-Exposed but also in the most recent Calvin Klein advertisements. Like I
said in my previous post, Klein and Moss had already teamed up in the previous
year and created controversy when Moss (then 17) posed topless and straddled a
much older Mark Wahlberg. In 1993, the advertisements for Klein’s cologne Obsession
were under fire.
The Obsession ads featured Kate looking very frail. So frail
that people were starting to ask “how thin is too thin?” The television
advisement for Obsession highlights Moss’s bones in simple yet revealing
clothing as she is seen repeating “obsession.” The music played in the
background adds some dark vibes to the mix, thus giving off the feeling of
heroin chic. Kate also posed nude for the ads that filled magazines. Critics
complained that these images were portraying and promoting heroin chic.
Check out Kate in the 1993 Calvin Klein Obsession Ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCqZp43vRpA
While Calvin Klein is often the designer that comes to mind
when reflecting back on heroin chic, he is not the only one to showcase the
trend. An editorial for The Face done in
1997 shows a strung out Chloe Sevigney lying on
a messy bedroom floor next to a stack of money.
Like all things, there were people who loved the heroin chic
look and others who hated it. Drug prevention groups, as well as parents, were
so appalled by the latest trend that they organized a boycott. Parents believed
that Calvin Klein had betrayed them in a “misguided and dangerous effort to
glamorize heroin addiction to appeal to adolescents” (Harold, 1999). Klein
understood that people were upset but stated that he, as well as other fashion
labels, were looking at it from a creative angle and that it was misconceived
as being a way to promote drug use.
Do you believe that Calvin Klein betrayed parents and the
youth culture? Or do you agree with him and the others and believe that it was
all in innocence out of the creative perspective?
Sources:
Akbar, A. (2006). Photograph that inspired “heroin
chic” is selected for ultimate fashion show. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/photograph-that-inspired-heroin-chic-is-selected-for-ultimate-fashion-show-423542.html
The Christian Science Monitor. Boycott groups: Klein ads
carry scent of 'heroin chic'. The
Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/1996/1025/102596.us.us.5.html/%28page%29/2
Harold, C. L. (1999). Tracking heroin chic: The
abject body reconfigures the rational argument. Argument and Advocacy 36, 65-79.
Martin, D. (2010). Corinne Day, photographer of Kate Moss, is dead. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/europe/02day.html?_r=0
Martin, D. (2010). Corinne Day, photographer of Kate Moss, is dead. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/europe/02day.html?_r=0
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