Bert Berlin ([info]bertberlin) wrote in [info]noirfacade,
2010-08-08 13:53:00

Water & Oil



Title: Water & Oil
Magazine: Vogue Italia August 2010
Model: Kristen McMenamy
Photographer: Steven Meisel
Stylist: Karl Templer
Tags: magazine: vogue italia, model: kristen mcmenamy, photographer: steven meisel

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  • 22 comments

[info]nostopplx

August 8 2010, 20:58:49 UTC 1 year ago

i hope i die looking like this

[info]radiopore

August 8 2010, 21:16:39 UTC 1 year ago

ugh

[info]glucoze

August 8 2010, 21:27:05 UTC 1 year ago

so why exactly do people add so much philosophy to this?

i like it. it's on point. that's it.

[info]misscheriedior

August 9 2010, 19:00:32 UTC 1 year ago

YES.

[info]rheakurokawa

August 8 2010, 21:55:11 UTC 1 year ago

certainly not kosher that with glamourising the oil spill and so on.. it doesn't look like critique because it's so fucking beautiful

powerful and stunning in pose, composition, color, concept... stunning in everything yet still leaving this "ugh, why this subject" feeling

[info]ddvane

August 8 2010, 23:10:42 UTC 1 year ago

Man, I give her props -- I would have hated being all dirty and oily like that.

This is so relevant right now.

[info]blueymcphluey

August 8 2010, 23:44:23 UTC 1 year ago

I love it when Meisel does social commentary shoots like this but I can't help but think he's not photographically what he used to be :(

[info]fiouri

August 9 2010, 01:34:51 UTC 1 year ago

I understand that a lot of people are offended by this, but I feel it's such a strong and beautifully executed piece of fashion and art.
It's so visually strong! The textures, movement, and emotions are just stunning and beautiful.

Well done.

[info]vehemence

August 9 2010, 03:14:44 UTC 1 year ago

If this is social commentary, what in the hell is it saying? OIL SPILLS ARE BAD, HERE ARE SOME RANDOM WOMEN JUST LAYING HERE IN MUCK LIKE DISCARDED MANNEQUINS. DAMN VOGUE U SO BRILLIANT. SO EDGY!!

I mean, I'm all for tackling sensitive subject matter if you actually have something to say, but if you're just trying to capitalize and garner attention, gtfo.

[info]colorzplosion

August 9 2010, 03:59:52 UTC 1 year ago

I mean, I'm all for tackling sensitive subject matter if you actually have something to say, but if you're just trying to capitalize and garner attention, gtfo.

ITA. If they want to donate money to help the cleanup or spread awareness, that's great. But this is doing neither. This is a real, ongoing tragedy and they shouldn't glamorize it.

[info]blakesim

August 9 2010, 05:35:22 UTC 1 year ago

please notify me where they glamorized it. i had to read the little notes in the sidebar to find any brand names, i couldn't identify any by heart from just seeing it. tell me where the glamor is when the model is literally coughing up foam, is covered in oil, and has a dripping glove fixed to her head.

everyone decries that this editorial is just a selling tool for these clothes but these clothes are dirty they are filthy and by no means are they any standard form of pretty. in Tyra Banks's words, they'd be (at best) considered "ugly pretty," because every pose in this, every facial expression, the colors, and the setting are ugly, which then creates something pretty. i would never buy any of these clothes from these ads. I would buy Spring Prada 2010 because of the Vogue Paris cover with Daria, I wouldn't see myself in that fishnet that's harnessed to the model's waist in several pictures.

And in what way is this not spreading awareness? An international publication read by interested teenagers in America and overseas to sophisticated Europeans who perhaps are unaware of a gulf near America that has been ravaged by consumerism (which is one of the points that I feel Meisel was trying to touch upon, that these problems caused are HUMAN, not NATURAL. he didn't glamorize ANYTHING like a tornado or the Haitian earthquake, but instead he pointed out the wrongdoing and the consumption of oil that has led to us killing many animals and severely affecting ecosystems, but i digress) makes it seem like the word might be spread of the plight. and just the fact that i'm typing this, or that you responded to that comment, or that bertberlin POSTED this editorial means that we're seeing it, and we're discussing it and that's spreading awareness, right?


if this seems irrelevant, stupid and useless, it's 1:34 AM and I apologize.

[info]colorzplosion

August 9 2010, 05:49:29 UTC 1 year ago

no, it's not irrelevant. you make some very good points. I just get a little emotional about this stuff because the oil spill in the gulf is very close to home for me. To me, this editorial says "look at this current event, isn't it fashionable and edgy?" It feels like they're exploiting the tragedy for the sake of a pretty editorial. They are the only ones profiting from this. I wish I could explain it better for you, but it just feels so wrong to me.

[info]magenta_smile

August 9 2010, 08:53:22 UTC 1 year ago

ia

[info]blakesim

August 9 2010, 05:36:43 UTC 1 year ago

i fucking love everything about this and dont care what any detractors say. this is stunning and intense beauty and you all know it.

[info]gabyrippling

August 9 2010, 07:31:53 UTC 1 year ago

This makes me nauseous. I'm sorry. I don't see it as beautiful - the models look like they're suffering or dead, not to mention the implicit comparison to animals. That one shot of the model's face is poignant but the rest? It's just misery porn. Vogue Italia hardly is spreading awareness of the oil spill - you'd have to already be aware of the oil spill to even really understand it's referencing it.

If it were an American publication doing a European catastrophe, it would be considered the height of American entitlement and callousness.

Sorry. Poorly played, Vogue Italia.

[info]carmidoll

August 9 2010, 08:08:21 UTC 1 year ago

I am torn about this. The images are beautiful and powerful. I don't see anything glamorous: these are strong, disturbing and made me think of the horrible situtation in the U.S. In this case I would say fashion isn't the goal, but the vehicle. On the other hand, it's true that this the European perspective on an American disaster, and I would have loved VI to do an ed on the many enviromental problems affecting Italy. It's far too easy to be thoughtful over other people's disasters and not your own. Anyway, I am still unsure.

[info]mior_ravie

August 9 2010, 16:40:09 UTC 1 year ago

Ouch.

That's the one word I thought when I saw this. I live in FL, and it really hit home for me. I was sadly under the impression that now that the leak had been sealed, all efforts were towards cleaning up, and that most of the oil was under control. Seeing the murky water right on a shore reinforces the idea that this fight isn't over.

[info]yesharry

August 9 2010, 20:20:36 UTC 1 year ago

I understand and respect what Meiesel was going for here, but I think the art here is not of a high enough quality to be as consciously inflammatory as it is. There are a few great shots here (the choking photo is already iconic) but there is also just too much of Kristen just laying corpselike on the rocks, swathed in oil. The composition grows sort of tired after awhile. There is drama here, but not enough.

[info]lallly

August 9 2010, 23:51:14 UTC 1 year ago

Visually, I think it is fantastic and definitely one of the better editorials in the few recent (and terrible) issues of Vogue Italia. The styling is also nice, the Haider Ackermann pieces fit well with the grunginess. But I'm also iffy about the story behind it, especially since I'm from the U.S...

[info]strangedays616

August 10 2010, 08:24:33 UTC 1 year ago

Water & oil- the two main resources that have been causing war all over the world. Now, this fashion editorial seems "relevant" considering the spill, but these two issues have been increasingly crucial since the last Great Depression.

If Steven Meisel and the models actually went to the oil spill and shot this, then it might be some sort of expose, but the reality of it is they didn't...and those model and this photographer will not be feeling the brunt of damages caused by the spill.
None of them are really dead, but there are a ton of prison laborers enslaved to clean up the spill; some of whom are losing their minds or going to die sooner than later of some medical problems caused by the dispersants. Then there are the families, business owners, animals, plants, etc. that are damaged and beyond human repair.

I doubt a fashion editorial spread could ever achieve any critique on the situation because that's not what fashion is meant to do...it's supposed to distract you from those things. The fact the people can look at this and see beauty or anything of the like proves that they're doing there job.

Personally, I'm kind of apathetic to this shoot like the way the whole fashion industry is apathetic to anything other than making money and helping the power system function.

Even then it's not the editorial itself that tasteless, it's the fact that we live in a society that disregards the reality of this situation and this is only a reflection of that.

[info]12_sunset

August 10 2010, 09:31:37 UTC 1 year ago

Crystallization of what the fashion world really is in most of the cases : Selfish people who think they are intelligent and insightful. Cheap philosophy for me. Not even good photographs. And the smoke on the top of this ! Please, this is utterly laughable.

[info]putyourendtowar

September 13 2010, 19:59:56 UTC 1 year ago

beauty and the beast

isn't it a pity, ain't it a cryin' shame?

slick is chic...
http://putyourendtowar.livejournal.com/88648.html
http://putyourendtowar.livejournal.com/88883.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/21/china-oil-spill-grows-off_n_653852.html

nobody to date has seen evidence in the media of the BP spill in Gulf of Mexico...

your government is lying to you...
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