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Fetish, Fashion and The War On Terror
Italian Vogue has printed a “State of Emergency” series of photos by Steven Meisel. In the anti-utopian, yet discomfitingly realistic set of scenes the models (and the clothes they are advertising) are placed in the violent world of Extra Security Measures. There is a woman lying on the ground, with a polished boot pressing down onto her neck. There’s a woman stripping for a search in front of both male and female security officers. And there are captions in the corner: Shoes by such-and-such! Slip by so-and-so! Anyway, you don’t have to believe me: here’s a link to the slide-show of the whole series. It’s all quite clever.
Meanwhile in the UK, a Guardian writer is having a fit:
In the so-called war on terror, it is easy to assume glibly that sexualised violence is so mainstream that it can no longer shock. But Steven Meisel’s fashion photographs … take the pornography of terror to another extreme.
…
This is fashion photography appropriated in the interests of the politics of torture and abuse. By fusing high fashion with the so-called war on terror, the photographs do more than simply give readers cheap thrills by their act of aesthetic transgression. The photographs endorse the very taboos they violate.
Hang on. “In the interests of politics of torture?” They “endorse the taboos”? How has she worked that one out?
You take some grotesque images of Big Brother’s war, and you insert pretty girl into them, and - get this - you use them to show off clothes which nobody can afford. I don’t know about you, but to me it looks like a grand old fuck-off to the lovers of heightened security measures. Look! Our model is wearing designer leg shackles! She is getting beaten up with a gold-plated truncheon, coming soon to the police station near you!
This really doesn’t translate into “…and now let’s arrest a few people and beat up some prisoners”. Exaggeration is a time-honoured species of mockery, and mockery by a high-fashion shoot is, I think, pretty smooth.
The Guardian writer obviously doesn’t get it:
The beauty of the photographs transforms acts of violence and humiliation into erotic possibilities.
Well… yes. Staged violence can be sexy. There’s a novel idea; I don’t know how the world is going to cope with the news.
The funny thing is that the photos aren’t even that sexy, because, of course, these girls are *fashion models*, and their job is to look good in clothes - not to act terrified, or humiliated, or even particularly annoyed. Yet, fantasy violence don’t really work without the fantasy fear. These women are great at being aloof goddesses, but victims of state abuse? Not so much. The blonde girl shows emotions, and that good, while the brunette doesn’t really try, and that’s OK too. The point is to create buzz first, show off clothes next, and maybe to turn you on a bit in the end.
The Guardian writer’s cheerful trashing of the model’s bodies is actually far creepier than any of the pictures. Edgy sexual fantasies are not OK, while catty remarks about a girl’s body type are fine; you don’t *have* to be nice to thin women.
That’s liberal press we all so love.
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11 Responses to “Fetish, Fashion and The War On Terror”
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Ah: Steven Meisel. Last time I heard of him, not being a fashionista myself, was when he photographed Madonna for her book “Sex” in the early 90s. Not that I ever read such a pervy book, of course.
Hazey, love, nobody *read* it.
I like the artistry, the use of fashion and imagery to highlight other themes aside from the usual ‘fashion for sexual attraction’ that’s been the thing over the last decade, is something that has been forgotten. Fashion and photography can be used to emphasize extreme aspects of our world and yeah, the Guardian is just a ‘hoity-toity’ rag posing as a broad newspaper/publication that veers more toward conservatism. ‘If we don’t maintain the status quo, there’ll be chaos and we can have none of that’, which is what some of the columnists in that publication may as well say..as well as labelling everything perverted or for ‘cheap thrills’ when the subject matter portrays elements that are in fact ugly (in terms of new age fascism etc).
Flynny, babe, you’re so rude…
Anastasia, I don’t read the Guardian often enough to agree or disagree with you as to whether this attitude is typical. The Observer did fire their sex columnists for writing about sex too much. And there was also that column that ErosBlog quoted recently, which trashed sex blogs. Maybe it *is* a concious shift towards conservatism. (Or maybe I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. LOL)
I have a broadband connection, but that server seemed to be just too slow. After getting to the frontpage and clicking the large picture, how long do you wait for the slide show to load?
I had to give up.
Hmm, it worked really quickly for me. As an alternative, you can see the scans here and here.
I am not sure how Ms Bourke sees this as an endorsement of the war on terror. I find the photos satirical in nature. As Adele says the brunette looks typically model bored, above even the annoyance of a strip search,ho hum. Not allowing artists to freely choose how to portray their point of view is the greater danger.
Finding photos of women in compromising positions is nothing new or inherently bad. Perhaps finding them in high fashion is, I don’t read them enough to know for sure. These photos more highlight the danger of the path we are traveling than romanticize or support a police state.
Carry on, Mr. Meisel.
Hear, hear, Tess :)
Congratulations Adele - I saw you were the Editors’ Choice on Sugasm :)
Yes, congrats. Fascinating entry!