This newsletter has been in the making for a while, but the last results of the European elections and Vogue World Paris shook everything, at least for me.
My opinion is lets face it when discussing french fashion in context to the products or design there is a excitement , beauty and mysteriously superior everything that circles around its topics. I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts and pov on this article very much. From my personal perspective On can only say jean paul gaultier as a person and designer of beautiful fashion and friendly french attitudes has always been leaps ahead . Black women have always been my favorite faces to paint as a artist there skin , lips and eyes are always exciting to apply color and design period thats just my opinion but its proof in my work at the end of the day regardless of the clients choices.
Love this piece...I wouldn't have even given Vogue World a second thought if not for Aya Nakamura, and it's very clever of them to bring her into the fold because she matters more in the greater cultural scheme of things -- I actually don't even know her songs but I have heard of her because the stir she creates in France is global news. Your piece really gives the context for understanding why the way Vogue has capitalised on her cultural relevance is troubling, even if they perhaps they didn't intend it cynically (after all, she is absolutely deserving of the stage she was given).
That’s exactly it! Let’s say they capitalised on her because, let’s face it, whether people talk about her positively or negatively, it has given Vogue World what it wanted: attention.
I think it was a clever move to take her because she is relevant in the French pop culture panorama and also it shows Vogue understood that pulling such an event in Paris they needed to have a French figure to head it. It’s a perfect case of localisation even though as you mentioned the event might have appeared incredibly tone deaf given the context, the unpredictable variable.
I am wondering thougj if they did it in Italy, if they’d had chosen an Italian pop star. I mean given Vogue World took place in all the major Western fashion capitals, it shouldn’t be a stretch to think the next edition will be in Italy. That’s why I am wondering of they’d have an Italian star to sing at the opening ceremony knowing that they have no one who’s having Aya’s success abroad.
As always this is absolutely brilliant. It made me think, and echoed parts I had thought too about how Aya was “represented” by Vogue- in that she was written about completely differently to a white woman, let alone a white man ooh la La La La 😱 I believe your Substack to be one of the most informative and powerful writings out there today. Bravo, magnifique 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Aya is indeed written about completely differently than a white woman. I find interesting all the criticism about her singing mainly saying she doesn’t know how to do it. But historically, many of the female singers that we see as the typical French woman were never extraordinary singers to start with. If you look at all the women Gainsbourg made sing they could all barely hold a note, but because they have the ‘right’ demeanor and skin tone, they weren’t criticised. Same thing goes for her being criticised saying she can’t sing Edith Piaf (for the Olympics she was allegedly invited to sing one of her songs), a French woman with Italian and North African roots, who was in all effects a working-class Parisian, and was extremely vulgar and a drug-addict (two things that many have forgotten). She is arguably closer to Aya Nakamura minus the vulgarity (this is also something that needs definition because I don’t see where Aya is vulgar) and drug part given their background, yet again people have a short memory.
This was a fascinating read! I didn’t know the context of the France jersey Aya wore in vogue. I love that you cover blackness in France/Italy. I’m Jamaican and raised in the US so my understanding of blackness is almost always geared towards narratives from other anglophone countries
Thank you for commenting. I am so glad that you are discovering other types of Blackness through the newsletter, that's my ultimate goal! So reading your comment makes me realise I am going in the right direction.
I often feel there is a subtle divide between English-speaking Black communities and the other ones because many people speak English as opposed to French, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese.
Regarding the France jersey, I am sure I am not the only one who thought, 'seriously? Again?' It's such a tired and lazy approach to styling her whilst sending the that she will always need to prove her Frenchness.
My opinion is lets face it when discussing french fashion in context to the products or design there is a excitement , beauty and mysteriously superior everything that circles around its topics. I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts and pov on this article very much. From my personal perspective On can only say jean paul gaultier as a person and designer of beautiful fashion and friendly french attitudes has always been leaps ahead . Black women have always been my favorite faces to paint as a artist there skin , lips and eyes are always exciting to apply color and design period thats just my opinion but its proof in my work at the end of the day regardless of the clients choices.
Fascinating, thank you!
This may be my favorite post of your’s yet. Brava!
Hey Kate,
You’re flattering me! Thank you so much!
Politics, Aya Nakamura, a little fashion history... just so much to love and really punchy and concise, too. <3
Love this piece...I wouldn't have even given Vogue World a second thought if not for Aya Nakamura, and it's very clever of them to bring her into the fold because she matters more in the greater cultural scheme of things -- I actually don't even know her songs but I have heard of her because the stir she creates in France is global news. Your piece really gives the context for understanding why the way Vogue has capitalised on her cultural relevance is troubling, even if they perhaps they didn't intend it cynically (after all, she is absolutely deserving of the stage she was given).
That’s exactly it! Let’s say they capitalised on her because, let’s face it, whether people talk about her positively or negatively, it has given Vogue World what it wanted: attention.
I think it was a clever move to take her because she is relevant in the French pop culture panorama and also it shows Vogue understood that pulling such an event in Paris they needed to have a French figure to head it. It’s a perfect case of localisation even though as you mentioned the event might have appeared incredibly tone deaf given the context, the unpredictable variable.
I am wondering thougj if they did it in Italy, if they’d had chosen an Italian pop star. I mean given Vogue World took place in all the major Western fashion capitals, it shouldn’t be a stretch to think the next edition will be in Italy. That’s why I am wondering of they’d have an Italian star to sing at the opening ceremony knowing that they have no one who’s having Aya’s success abroad.
As always this is absolutely brilliant. It made me think, and echoed parts I had thought too about how Aya was “represented” by Vogue- in that she was written about completely differently to a white woman, let alone a white man ooh la La La La 😱 I believe your Substack to be one of the most informative and powerful writings out there today. Bravo, magnifique 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Hello Losing My Chic,
Aya is indeed written about completely differently than a white woman. I find interesting all the criticism about her singing mainly saying she doesn’t know how to do it. But historically, many of the female singers that we see as the typical French woman were never extraordinary singers to start with. If you look at all the women Gainsbourg made sing they could all barely hold a note, but because they have the ‘right’ demeanor and skin tone, they weren’t criticised. Same thing goes for her being criticised saying she can’t sing Edith Piaf (for the Olympics she was allegedly invited to sing one of her songs), a French woman with Italian and North African roots, who was in all effects a working-class Parisian, and was extremely vulgar and a drug-addict (two things that many have forgotten). She is arguably closer to Aya Nakamura minus the vulgarity (this is also something that needs definition because I don’t see where Aya is vulgar) and drug part given their background, yet again people have a short memory.
Thank you always for your support and kind words!
Absolutely! It’s terrifying to see how prejudice and out and out racism is still used and “legitimised” as a reaction. Horrifying!!!
This was a fascinating read! I didn’t know the context of the France jersey Aya wore in vogue. I love that you cover blackness in France/Italy. I’m Jamaican and raised in the US so my understanding of blackness is almost always geared towards narratives from other anglophone countries
Hello EM,
Thank you for commenting. I am so glad that you are discovering other types of Blackness through the newsletter, that's my ultimate goal! So reading your comment makes me realise I am going in the right direction.
I often feel there is a subtle divide between English-speaking Black communities and the other ones because many people speak English as opposed to French, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese.
Regarding the France jersey, I am sure I am not the only one who thought, 'seriously? Again?' It's such a tired and lazy approach to styling her whilst sending the that she will always need to prove her Frenchness.