Dear Nine West,
Fuck you.
No, seriously, fuck you.
Recognize that ad? You should. It’s yours and I saw it not less than three different places in the course of Web-surfing today.
Sure, that’s probably a clever play on words, but you and I both know that high-waisted jeans only look good on women who don’t have hips anyhow. And since Michelle Pfeiffer’s corpse – or whomever it is in that ad there – doesn’t appear to have hips to begin with, it’s a bit like putting anti-wrinkle cream on a five-year-old, isn’t it?
While it’s bad enough you’re trying to sell an illusion, I’m more bothered by what that ad represents. I get that there might be some women who might be thrilled by the prospect of jeans that minimize the appearance of their hips. And I should probably respect their choices and blah blah blah, but I can’t help but think ads like this are the reason that some women think they NEED to minimize their hips in the first place.
I know you’re trying to sell “the new Nine West” in all your ads, but it’s pretty obvious that you’re peddling the same old bullshit.
Sincerely,
Our Man In Chicago
High-wasted jeans look terrible on any woman. Catherine Zeta-Jones making out with Jessica Alba couldn’t make these jeans look good. They’re comical. They make every woman look like an extra from Boogie Nights. A woman would have a better chance of walking into a room wearing a clown costume and getting people to take her seriously.I had no idea I felt so strongly about this. Thanks Scott.
“Catherine Zeta-Jones making out with Jessica Alba couldn’t make these jeans look good.”Perhaps not, but that’s not to say they shouldn’t try to prove you wrong.“I had no idea I felt so strongly about this.”Me neither. But by the third time I saw this ad, it set me off.
While you’re groovy in every way my friend, how surprising is this to you? I mean, seriously?!?! Without getting into every ad since Twiggy and without getting into Jean Kilbourne’s observations, this seriously suprises you? Seriously? If you want to get into the hip thing then look at Esquire magazine circa 2003 when they airbrushed her derrière. Yes, even frikin’ men’s mags are guilty of shaving a few inches off of Jennifer Lopez’s curves. BMaybe I’m just desensitized to it by now, but I’m just confused as to why this ad in particular has you so incensed since it’s just yet another self-esteem crushing ploy by the fashion industry? Or have we already forgotten about the skinny black pant? :-pRant over. Sorry man, my gender studies minor acts up some times :-p
Rach: It’s not that I’m surprised, so much as I am incensed at the falsehood they’re trying to perpetrate. There’s a difference between trying to sell a false ideal (which is what Twiggy, the skinny black pant and the disappearing derrière are based on) and selling a false idea. It’s one thing to say “You should be wearing this” and another to say “You can be like this if you wear this.” Sure, they’re both bad, but to my mind it’s like saying that wearing a camisole will keep you warm in the summer. It’s one thing that they’re expecting women to starve themselves, another to expect women are idiots.
The fashion industry has long been guilty of it. From shampoo to jeans to any other product geared towards women. “Buy this and be thin/hip/confident/a dolphin…” I blame Spanx for this particular reincarnation of slimming down hips and thighs simply by slipping on something.
On the other hand, there is a real true and serious danger of being just as guilty of the same behavior by poo-poohing the practice of, for instance, wearing Spanx.Most women I know who wear things such as Spanx- <>of which I am not one, but only because I don’t have any clothing that would necessitate shelling out the cash for one<> – because they like how it makes their bodies look in particular items of clothing. And that’s their right, and it doesn’t mean that by doing so they’re being subjugated by Madison Avenue or <>Us Weekly<> or The Man or whatever.And while I agree with my dear boyfriend that ads such as this one perpetuate the idea that hips are something to be ashamed of and covered up, I think we have to be careful that our indignation is not the enemy of the good. Women have way too many people telling him how they should think and what they should do, and if your intention is not to add to that cacophony of voices, it’s important to be mindful of the fact that there are probably smart and intelligent and thoughtful women buying these products simply because they like them. Not because they’re mindless drones who have bought into the idea that they’re not good enough.(rant over) 🙂
These pants suggest that you have two choices: 1) fat hips and 2) mom jeans.