We Are All The Same

As you no doubt learned last week, dear readers, the DCGF is an avid fan of the fashion magazine. And recently, there have been two groundbreaking events in magazine-world that merit noting, especially as they relate to marketing in the modern world.

Let's begin with the complete media saturation that was Estée Lauder's promotion of it's new fragrance, Sensuous, in the July issue of Harper's Bazaar. See the women at right who represent "Beauty at Every Age?" Coincidentally, the four together comprise the official spokesmodels for Sensuous.

Additionally, Gwyneth scored the cover and 39 additional pages in the mag are devoted to these four women. While some in the industry are applauding what is obviously a huge coup for Estée Lauder, others are accusing them of selling out.

Here's what bothers me, though: the age spread between Hilary Rhoda (21) and Elizabeth Hurley (43) is not that great. And Paltrow (35) and Carolyn Murphy (32) are practically the same age. How is that beauty at every age? Aerin Lauder is actually quoted on Estée Lauder's website as says "The advertising was inspired by the belief that women at every age can be sensuous." Every age between 21 and 43, that is.

Even worse is the complete lack of diversity in the group. Sure, one has a real accent. One has a fake accent. Two blonds, two brunettes. But all are Caucasian. The homogeneity of the group is astoundingly narrow-minded in this day and age. Was there not one Latina, Black, or Asian model willing to smile for Sensuous?

This campaign perhaps more than any other fragrance campaign ever launched is focused intensely on the personality of the spokesmodels to sell the product. Just watch Rhoda waxing poetic about being "in her natural element," or read how Murphy wants to be "comfortable in her own skin." Even if that's true, that skin only look like about a little over half of American women.

Italian Vogue has also published a July issue of stunning homogeneity, but of an entirely different kind: all of the models are black. Steven Meisel shot all of the photographs and everyone from old pros like Iman, Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks to relative newcomers like Sessilee Lopez (below; you can see all of her pages in the mag on her blog) and Jourdan Dunn are sprinkled throughout the mag and on the cover (shown above). This isn't news to most of your in the blogosphere, but I just couldn't resist contrasting it with the Sensuous campaign.

Quoted in the New York Times, editor Franca Sozzani explained, "'Mine is not a magazine that can be accused of not using black girls,' said Ms. Sozzani, noting that Naomi Campbell has had several covers, and that Liya Kebede and Alek Wek have also had covers." Bold words that no American editor would ever be able to utter.

And it's not just about the pictures. As the UK's Telegraph explains, the accompanying articles will focus on black women who have achieved success in the fields of arts and entertainment. Thus far, though, the pictures I've seen are so gorgeous, I'd pay import price on the mag just to see them.

Well, gosh, where does this leave us? Is Estée Lauder sending the industry backward? Is Italian Vogue moving it forward? Probably neither. It's going to take more than a single ad campaign or one issue of a magazine to create a seismic shift in an industry that currently prizes blandness over beauty and conformity over character. But maybe we're taking a small step in the right direction.

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