crossposted on the blog: i wrote to Glamour's PR department yesterday via e-mail. I'm happy to hear that Glamour has taken notice of the feedback and removed the photo. However, it appears many of us are on the same wavelength. From my letter to Glamour:
"It's one thing to poke fun at a grown woman, with a long-term stable marriage, successful business, and many supportive friends (on and off line). It's still sleazy and makes your publication look like it has nothing to say, but the target of your nastiness will rebound. But what about the other ladies Glamour magazine chooses to ridicule? What if one of them has just experienced a bereavement or been laid off? There is enough nastiness in this world without people going out of their way to generate more. Additionally, any fashion or style advice (the ostensible purpose of your publication) is noticeably lacking in these type of 'articles'."
I say let our eyeballs and our dollars do the talking! But let's not forget the power of taking the time to let these publications know what we think of them, both when they publish 'gar-bahhj' like this and also when they publish interesting, positive, thoughtful and inspiring pieces. steph
The thing is, Glamour has been doing this type of 'piece' for decades. Back when i was in highschool (1970's, long before the internet) this mag would have "Do's and Don'ts" featuring shots of women on the street with a black bar over their eyes (to hide their shame, i suppose). The editors would dissect the victims' outfits for fashion faux pas. i seriously doubt they will stop doing these pieces as they probably think that its a 'classic'.
Hopefully this brouhaha will give them something to chew on. And i doubt that they would have received this type of feedback if they hadn't inadvertently photographed a prominent style person (the fact that these 'style mavens' were unaware that they were targeting a a major style blogger makes them look like out of touch numbskulls, on top of it).
So while i cringe at the thought of Angie being put in this position, it's difficult to imagine another person being able to catch Glamour's attention and use this situation to push the online style culture in a positive direction.
It's the power of Team Polish!!!! steph