Comments on: Privilege and Poverty in Vogue India

By: MissMalini » Blog Archive » Dirty Pictures: 10 Controversial Fashion Ads

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:16:38 +0000

[...] featuring humble working class women, men and children adorning fashion’s biggest names. An editorial that sparked a debate all over the world, as the ‘models’ seemed to be exploited. They came [...]

By: Mädchenmannschaft » Blog Archive » Wer ist hier eigentlich wir?

Mädchenmannschaft » Blog Archive » Wer ist hier eigentlich wir? — Tue, 31 May 2011 07:27:39 +0000

[...] Menschen als Hintergrunddeko, als Ethno-Accessoires, als Dinge. Im widerlichsten Fall dient Armut noch als die Leinwand, auf der der Luxusbekleidung mal so richtig gehuldigt wird. Das ist nicht originell, das ist [...]

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:59:07 +0000

What’a amusing about the vogue india spread is that the things I guessed were the expensive fashion were not. I’d much rather wear a beautiful yellow sari than carry a grey umbrella.

By: Geraldine

Geraldine — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:27:57 +0000

Why are people surprised by these ads. The wealth buy frivolous items and pass by the poor every day. Nothing new only now the poor participates in the offence.

By: nathaniel

nathaniel — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:47:18 +0000

Personally, I think the Vogue and Ambition shoots were BRILLIANT. I totally understand the $200 argument, and MAY BE Vogue used the poor as mere props, it was just another excellent, “out of the box” fashon idea for them. However, intentionally or not, they did bring joy to those people. I own a camera and I have personally witnessed the happiness and thrill it brings a person, whose picture i take when the person has never been able to afford a camera in his life. When they see their faces in that tiny screen of the digicam…I made their day. Its not like the poor are going to be put out of their misery in the near future (may be if WE try hard enough, their great grand children will lead better lives) but its these smaall pleasures in life that make their burdens easier to carry. Am sure when they see their faces in those magazines carrying stuff which i doubt I will ever be able to afford, their day will become so much brighter.

I know Vogue could have donated all the money they spent on that shoot to the poor and made the poor a little less poorer and a little more happier, but this way Vogue still runs their magazine and they managed to make those people MUCH MUCH HAPPIER. Just look at the pictures, i see sheer glee in all the faces not an iota of misery. In life it is not always about the money (i know for the poor it is, and rightly so), it also is about happy experiences, and their “happy experiences” are few and far apart.

I would love to wear or hold something I can’t afford and click a quiet picture of it in the trial room, and its not just me, we all know the joy. So lets just be glad that the people who never have dreamt of having their pictures taken are now on the pages of one of the world’s most famous magazines, holding things only a percentage of the world dreams of holding!

I hope Vouge does more shoots like these, but only with the right intensions.. and it would be brilliant if Vogue paid them fairly and also let them keep the stuff. Even if they never used it, it would atleast serve as a memory.

By: Sunny Dark

Sunny Dark — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:07:42 +0000

My grandmother is missing teeth and carries a beautiful LV.

Why assume the man holding the umbrella is poor? Why not assume that it’s a gift he bought for the woman in the photo? I understand why these images offend but I find it more offensive that one would just assume people from another country are being objectified to be honest.

By: thedotdotdot

thedotdotdot — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:50:50 +0000

I had a thought about piping in to stick up for the second campaign, the Ambition series. Those pictures didn’t seem as glaringly “slumming it” as some of the other ads featured on this page, and I liked how they printed the profile of the people in the shot, and you get the impression that maybe they got to keep the suit, right? I thought about second guessing the contributor’s statement that Suit Supply had a predominantly white audience, especially if their suits are truly affordable.

Then I clicked over to the Suit Supply website and saw that the their models came in two shades…white and whiter. Like, novelty white. As in, several of their models appear to literally have a form of albinism.

By: Olympia

Olympia — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:29:48 +0000

The last one is particularly horrible:
comparing the cultured (‘stylish’, ‘elegant’, ‘self aware’) Europe with unprivileged (unstylish) Africa?

Yay! Show the savages some elegance, won’t you?

The woman’s face carries such a snotty expression it makes me want to punch her powdered nose.

By: Sociological Images Update (Oct. 2009) » Sociological Images

Sociological Images Update (Oct. 2009) » Sociological Images — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:06:26 +0000

[...] from a photo shoot in a Romanian magazine to our post showing people in poor parts of the world posed as props next to expensive fashions or White [...]

By: Pat Kennedy

Pat Kennedy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:33:25 +0000

I THINK THIS PRODUCTION IS NOT THAT REAL, IS MORE PLASTIC, AND THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE THE TYPICAL AMERICAN STYLE HAPPEN, THIS IS NOT NATURAL, THEY DONT TAKE THE NATURAL AND CHIC PART OF THE COUNTRY THEY ARE DOING THE SHOOTS, AND THE FACES ARE NOT THAT NATURAL, TOO. EVERYTHING REGARDING THE PEOPLE, IS DONE WITH PRESSURE. DONT LIKE IT.

By: Sociological Images » WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO BEHIND YOUR BACK (MARCH 2009)

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:47:20 +0000

[...] colonialism, we added it to a previous fashion spread that did the same. Relatedly, to our post about using third world people in fashion ads, we added a set of images advertising Suit Supply, sent in by Geerte [...]

By: 3ruce’s Blog / Timothy’s ambition is to open a fish restuarant and serve up his daily catch.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:54:41 +0000

[...] Sociological Images » PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA. Post a comment — Trackback URI RSS 2.0 feed for these comments This entry (permalink) was [...]

By: Bruce Lewin

Bruce Lewin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:49:14 +0000

Why do I get the impression there is a lot of annoying plastic packaging lying around these shoots?

By: Blessing Rains, Afrika, etc, etc « zunguzungu

Blessing Rains, Afrika, etc, etc « zunguzungu — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:32:11 +0000

[...] interesting about the fact that they’d prefer to play dress-up colonialist chic than do actual colonialist chic. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Fresh Junk: American Apparel [...]

By: Monkey Plunger » Blog Archive » PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA

Monkey Plunger » Blog Archive » PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:02:05 +0000

[...] PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA: [...]