"The singer... swapp[ed] her trademark sweats for a style more domme than deb: pink Gucci corset and skirt over Agent Provocateur skivvies, accessorized with latex gloves and leggings. The choice was her own, Edward Enninful, the magazine’s editor in chief, wrote in the June issue. 'What if, she wondered, she wanted to show more of her body for the first time in a fashion story?' Mr. Enninful recalled. 'What if she wanted to play with corsetry and revel in the aesthetic of the mid-20th century pin-ups she’s always loved? It was time, she said, for something new.' To that end Ms. Eilish embraced the shopworn trimmings of female allure, offering the camera, without apparent irony, a nod to the sirens of golden age Hollywood and some of more recent vintage: Taylor Swift, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion among them."
Writes Ruth La Ferla in "On That Bombshell Billie Eilish Cover for British Vogue/The pop star known for defying gender stereotypes got a glamour makeover with a corset. Not everyone is happy about it" (NYT).
First, "garner" — she garners her fans. Doesn't just get them and doesn't quite win them. She garners them, so picture her storing them in silos, like grain.
If you've already garnered a "world of fans," what do you do next? Maybe offload some of them. Offend. Disappoint. She was the girl who covered up her body with big, heavy tracksuits — which she said she wore so people wouldn't focus on her body — so the opportunity was there, inside the suit, to put the body on show.
Enninful's quote challenges our credulity. It was all her idea. And it was "play"! Oh, was it? The NYT critic, La Perla, says she went for "the shopworn trimmings of female allure... without apparent irony." If it was play, why does it look so unplayful? Maybe the photographer's attempts to make it seem playful looked staged and creepy, and the glum face — hostage face — seemed at least arguably sophisticated.
Let's break the Enninful quote in half. The second half is believable:
"It was time, she said, for something new." The first half is a question, not an assertion: "What if she wanted to play with corsetry and revel in the aesthetic of the mid-20th century pin-ups she’s always loved?" That sounds like what the fashion editor would say to her. What if you played with corsetry? She's 19, and she's invited to play, play with this junk we've been playing with for years and years. And when she accedes, they can say it was her idea. She's playing, she's reveling. But there's no reveling in the photographs. There's the opposite of reveling. There's just standing there, putting your various limbs into positions, and looking sad.La Perla writes:
Still, some may well question her agency.... Consider Tavi Gevinson, the fashion blogger turned writer and actress once known for her bulky layers and granny glasses. Writing in The Cut recently, Ms. Gevinson described doing a photo shoot at 18. Prompted to pose on her bed, she dressed in a skimpy romper, “pouting,” she recalled, “with heavily lined eyes and straightened blonde hair.” Sure, she was eager to sass up her image. And, she wrote, “if anyone who was there told me the whole setup was my idea, I would believe them.”
Yes, exactly. That's how it's done.
Something else that bothered me: "the sirens of golden age Hollywood and some of more recent vintage: Taylor Swift, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion among them." How about the siren of less recent vintage — Madonna? Madonna is so obviously the one who took the old looks — including corsets (which weren't the look of the golden age Hollywood) — and made them feel like her own expression and a statement by a strong woman of her own time.
But Madonna makes an appearance at the end of the article:
... Eilish is content these days to abandon her formerly maverick stance in favor of a fetish-tinctured bombshell look that seemed hackneyed when Madonna was a girl. If her reinvention poses a risk, it is that of becoming just another cliché.
Insufficient respect for Madonna! The cliché is in redoing Madonna, and the real failure is in not projecting the strength and fun and genuine feminism that Madonna brilliantly performed.
Here's what the Vogue cover — for discussion purposes:
FROM THE EMAIL: Elizabeth writes:
When I looked at the Vogue photos and then at the usual photos of Eilish, my impression was of a quite young woman who had been trying to hide the fact she has big boobs. Maybe they made her uncomfortable because they drew too much focus or sexualized her at too young an age. The Vogue layout puts them front and center. It might be a personal experiment, it might be a healthy adult challenge and acceptance, it might have been manipulation. Who knows? I hope it was fully her choice, and she continues to dress as she wants, not taking it too seriously.
I hope so too.
AND: A reader who wants anonymity says:
I am 72 years old, and I have had a grown-up, Billie Eilish type of body since I was 12. My curves were hard to hide, and for many years, I was judged by my appearance and treated accordingly. People who didn't know that I graduated in the top 2.5% of a high school class of 650 students...that I was one of only two girls in my senior calculus class...that I was the first girl to crack the top 10 in chemistry class...assumed I didn't have a functioning brain. It was a constant battle to prove my worth.
As a young adult, I started to fantasize about what it would be like to move to a place where no one knew me, where I could wear gunny sacks and no make-up and keep my hair unkempt. People would stop gawking! And they would recognize me for my talent and intelligence and kindness. Once I felt valued for who I was and not what I looked like, I would shed my disguise and dress like everyone else. People would be shocked! But would they still like me? Maybe not. Maybe they would think I had tricked them into believing I was something that I wasn't (while trying to prove to them what I was).
Why must different parts of us be mutually exclusive? Why should we live a fractured life? I can understand why Billie kept her physical assets under wrap, and I can understand why she finally exposed them. She was tired of being dishonest. No one coerced her into being untrue to herself. She seems entirely comfortable in her corset and wears it with style. She is what she is, and good for her.
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