vog2Vogue has sparked a lot of debate of late, mostly around whether or not Kim Kardashian and Kanye West should have graced the cover of the American edition. It seemed like everyone felt the need to comment on whether or not Wintour had finally lost her marbles, and social media became a platform (as it does) for people to defend poor KimYe or blast them for being “Everything that’s wrong with America” (medical care, political gridlock, fire arms anyone?). If you live in a social media black hole, I encourage you to catch-up on the issue by searching “#vogueisdead” or “#boycottvogue” – it’s an entertaining side order for your morning coffee and croissant.

If honest, I couldn’t care less. I love Vogue as much as the next blogger, but I’m not about to unsubscribe just because Kim Kardashian and a # are on its cover. Hey, I can get riled like the best of them, but try as I might I can’t get angry about this.vogue_italia_may_2014_domestic_violence-656x429However, the Vogue debate that’s really caught my interest is geographically closer to home – let’s pop over to Vogue Italia. Under the direction of Editor Franca Sozzani, (a title she’s held since 1988) and in an editorial shot by Steven Meisel, the April issue is addressing domestic violence under the headline “Horror Stories”.

Of course Sozzani is no stranger to controversy, she is famous for tackling societal issues on her pages – Oil spills off the Gulf of Mexico, an all black model cast to address fashion’s racial debate, references to our obsession with plastic surgery and pages dedicated to the glamorization of rehab are some highlights from her tenure. However, many argue that this particular piece has gone a step too far. In the wake of Vice Magazine’s suicide spreads, people are questioning whether it is appropriate for magazines whose raison-d’être is fashion, to be tackling such sensitive issues.

The spreads of said editorial feature are undoubtedly well-shot, perfectly styled and hauntingly beautiful. I can’t argue that these models don’t romanticize the subject matter and glamorize violence though – I assume most women struck by domestic abuse are not gracefully draped over staircases in Prada, but this in itself raises a question about the way we imagine abuse. Let’s think like marketers, what does abuse look like? I’ll be honest, I relate abuse to distant cultures, to poverty, to the underprivileged, to those drunk, drugged, disorderly or destitute – I imagine films and books I’ve read, a far cry from my reality. I never imagine my friends nor my family – that certainly make me very lucky, and equally makes me exceptionally naive.vogueitalia1In Mimma Viglezio’s article for Business of Fashion she cites that 33% of women in the European Union fall victim to domestic violence on an annual basis, and in France alone, every three days a woman is severely wounded or killed at the hand of a family member. Sozzani explains that her motivation for the controversial content was that 1700 women were victims of abuse last year in her native Italy, and 130 of those women were killed as a consequence. “Women worldwide aged 15 to 44 are more likely to die as a result of domestic violence than as a consequence of war, cancer, malaria and traffic accidents combined. American women are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence as breast cancer.”* It’s mind boggling isn’t it?

Domestic violence is not beautiful and its not glamorous, but it’s good to be reminded, in whatever format it takes, that it is real and it can affect anyone. There’s a great article by Katharine K. Zarrella for Style.com, which has been doing the rounds. Here she questions whether violence should be used to sell clothes, after all “abuse is not glamorous, and the brutalization of women should never be portrayed as beautiful, especially in a fashion magazine.”  You wouldn’t use children in Africa to sell pairs of skinny jeans, so why is it ok to use the beaten and battered to sell Balenciaga?

Violence is not sexy and I agree that by creating a “Horror Story” out of the subject, the piece feels cinematic, highly stylized and therefore fictional. Perhaps because I am privileged enough to have not been affected by domestic abuse I don’t feel quite as horrified as some other commentators do, although I agree that it does feel a bit like a poorly judged bad taste party. However it’s got us talking about something important, and you can’t argue that, that’s good, right?NzhhZDJlMDhkYiMvWEk1VkNDQXpITDJHNWdrY283eEhhdHZLczBBPS8zNXg0Mzo2MzR4NDIxLzg0MHg1MzAvczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL2Y3ZTMxZWI3ZDViOWVkNGNkZGM4ODM0ZDAzMWI1YzVlNzIwY2Y1ZmUzODJlZmJiMzk1MDZlZWU0NTRlZGI4OGUuanBnThere’s a shock tactic viral campaign by The Pilion Trust charity, which you’ve probably seen, whereby a charity worker wears a sandwich board that reads “FUCK THE POOR”. Inevitably passers by are angered by the message and stop to tell him so. At the end of the video the same man wears a board that reads “HELP THE POOR” – nobody stops, it seems that nobody cares. The message is a good one and feels relevant to the Vogue debate. We all care, but sometimes we need something crass and a bit tasteless to remind us how much. Even if that’s not Vogue’s intention, they’ve catalyzed conversation and through that are inadvertently raising awareness about an important topic.

*Mimma Viglezio’s for Business of Fashion.

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