I have no problem admitting that I am a bit of a fashion snob. To use my own term, I am a "fashion whore." It is for this reason that I can appreciate what Kanye West was attempting to accomplish when he designed his overpriced Louis Vuitton sneakers and still emphatically shake my head no when considering the fail that those sneakers represented as a whole. This is just my opinion. Using this same logic, my left brain can appreciate what Vogue Harper's Bazaar was attempting to do when they enlisted photographer Terry Richardson and model Agyness Deyn to reinterpret fashions that Michael Jackson originated and perfected during the course of his lifelong musical career. However, my right frontal cortex screams in disgust and stomps around the room when viewing these blandly styled fashions in front of a plain, stark white backdrop.
I mean, is this the best you could do, Harper's? If anything I see this fashion spread as a grand opportunity to showcase models from varying ethnicities to further drive the point home that Michael was a lover of the human race. Or showcase a darker-skinned model to drive the point home that Michael was so starkly conflicted by his vitiligo that people often mistook him as being a victim of his own self-hatred. I know, I know. Harper's is not especially adept at showcasing people of color unless they have done something extraordinary, even with a large and in charge Editor-At-Large. But something about this spread just rubs me the wrong way. What say you, readers? Was this "Thriller Fashion" spread done well or horribly lacking? [H/T:PT]
