Changing Times

This article in the NYT about Anna Wintour caught my eye. Just in case you missed The Devil Wears Prada, she is the editor of Vogue Magazine, the character that Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly was based on. Vogue being the quintessential fashion magazine, at least in our country. A documentary film, discussed in the article, was made about her and her staff during the September 2007 issue when Vogue was over 840 pages, 727 were ads, and it weighed four pounds. She has a full-blown reputation for being a gigantic bitch. Sorry, no other word describes her reputation. She has worked hard to achieve that moniker, and wears it as a badge of honor. She eats only meat, and drinks only a little wine. I think that says it all.

The article struck me more about the differences in Anna's world since that September 2007 issue. Vogue's current issue has 36% fewer ads this September, which says much about the "Guilded Age of excessive spending". There is even talk that Anna may be going the way of the dinosaur. Certainly our economy is not going to bounce back any time soon. Which begs the question - should it ever bounce back enough to put women like Anna, well known for her eccentricities which do not include being kind to many, back on pedestals?

Maybe it's time to revisit the celebrity driven mania in this country. We have based our reverence not on people who are making a difference in our world, but on celebrities, clothes, cars, and slick businessmen, who turn out to be greedy and dishonest. All the reverent shuffling comes to mind when Berney Madoff fought off all those people begging to join his "investment" company.

I hope we are returning to a simpler era when conspicuous consumption was frowned upon, certainly not something you went into debt to afford. When heroes did good deeds and banks were looked at with some scrutiny. When helping your neighbors was just what you did, and celebrities were considered actors, not Gods to be chased and hounded constantly for boring pictures of everyday life. When people like Anna didn't have celebrity status, and Vogue didn't weigh four pounds.