The celebrity next door
Being in fashion I've had my fair share of hobnobbing with various levels of celebrity-dom. Cocktails with Drew Barrymore? Check. Dinner soirees with Sarah Jessica Parker? Check. Walking down the red carpet thisclose to Renee Zellweger? Check. Ok, so maybe I'm in the same room as these women and often not actually dining a deux but nonetheless, they are in total close proximity and there have been times where I've engaged in lengthy conversations with these actors. One thing I can tell you for sure: I'm not impressed.
The idea of celebrities being "just like one of us" began a while ago...when People magazine was the only one putting them on their covers on a semi-regular basis (of course alongside those "boring" human interest "real people" covers). Of course now US Weekly has a whole section called "They're just like US!" which shows different celebrities caught in very human acts such as shopping for groceries, getting a parking ticket, eating a sandwich at an outdoor cafe. But of course they REALLY aren't like us because we're not getting photographed by stalkerazzi and the photos being sold for 5 figure sums to be placed in a magazine.
To address one reader of ViewFromTheFourthRow who wants celebrity covers to go away. Sorry, Charlie, Trix is for Kids. Okay so I'm mixing up commercial slogans; what I'm trying to say is that celebrities are here to stay. Yes, Anna may shoot Kate Moss or Linda Evangelista or even Gemma Ward for a cover here and there but she ain't stupid. RESEARCH, TONS AND TONS of research goes into finding out what cover subjects sold at the newsstand...and guess what? Yes, my dear and loyal readers: celebrity sells. Guess who's the leader at the newsstand? Yup, that vacuous, untalented, one-note actress previously married to Maddox's father. Why do you think all these magazines feature her all the time? Because she's sooooo freakin' talented? Wake up! Just like sex sells, celebrities who look like they could be "your friend," yes, the ubiquitous "girl next door" are the go-to girls when your newsstand sales are in a slump. Contrary to what you may think, Angelina herself is not a tried and true cover. Most of America find her way too dark and therefore she's not the choice to get your numbers up. But Reese, Sandra, Drew. Easy money.
Gone are the days of Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow and Nadja Auermann month in, month out. You'll be lucky if you even get two model covers in a year from any of the major fashion mags anymore. I mean even Self and Lucky are jumping on the celebrity bandwagon. At this rate Ford Modeling agency will have to shutter its doors.
I'm kidding. Puh-leeze!
posted by NYC Fashionista @ 10:47 PM
4 Comments:
ahhh come on. have you ever seen "the good girl"? you can't bash jennifer aniston's acting skills until you have. she was better in that movie than angelina in "girl interrupted", and that's saying a lot because i loved anglina in that movie. but it's the truth.
The reality of celebrity hit me square between the eyes when I worked for an entertainment news program back in the early 90's. Madonna was our subject. Needless to say, the illusion of "celebrity" crashed around me as I dealt with her bitchy demands regarding lighting, room temp and set design.
The reality is: Celebrity is a job. Those who are considered celebrities are there to market themselves/products. Nothing even remotely glamourous when you see it from that view point.
BTW, I respect Madonna. She is a master marketer.
Celebrity culture is so depressing... but I think the real shift has been that mags like Vogue and Bazaar, which always used to be 'niche' realized they could sell a ton more if they shifted away from their core (ie educated, refined) readership and went way broader - appealed to the mass market with Drew and Julie covers.
Boring, boring, boring.
Hey, we lack royalty so we substitute with celebrity!
We must obviously want it (this is after all the new continent).
I think it's amusing, like a circus act of some sort, and I, like you and everyone else are caught in the game of picking up the magazines at the check out counter, glancing over, posting and commenting about them...it looks like we are contributing to it all at this very moment on this very page n'est-ce pas?
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