Strike a Pose

There is no denying it, we live in a celebrity obsessed world. They look out at you from the T.V when you turn it on, down on you from the shelves of your local newsagents and their names pop out at you every time you go online. And they know how you feel about them because they are totally cashing in on it. If your a fan of Victoria Beckham, you can wear shades from her sunglasses line, jeans from her denim range, a dress from her new line of those, you can read her biography as well as her book about style, and spray yourself in one of her perfumes as well. And those are just the things that have her name on them, never mind all the things she's endorsed and all the fashion labels she's known to wear. She's even had a guest appearance on Ugly Betty. In short, she may well be a person but she's also a brand and mostly a fashion brand. I have to admit that I have a sort of admiration for Mrs Beckham, she has previously stated that she was never the greatest singer but that she loves fashion and now has the opportunity to turn her hand to that. I'm not a fan as such and don't own any of the above things that's she's put on the market, I just admire her for being honest about who she is and what she does. She seems to genuinely love fashion and although her style might not be to every one's taste, she's doing her own thing and I'll always respect that. Plus I'll always admire a woman who takes the rubbish out in 5 inch stilettos and if she ever actually takes out the rubbish I'm sure she does it in heels.
However I think fashion's love affair with celebrity has gone a bit far and in the last week there were a few examples that proved this to me. One: Cheryl Cole will be on the cover of Vogue in the new year, Two Madonna will be featured in the new Louis Vuitton campaign, and Three Pamela Anderson will be in the new Vivienne Westwood advertising campaign. All of these facts left me baffled. The first two are pure, unadulterated and disappointing attempts to make more money. These two woman have been featured in the press a huge amount in 2008, both for their marital problems. Madonna's divorce is one of the biggest celeb stories of the year and it's disappointing to me that two well-respected names in fashion would sink this low to sell a few more mags and bags. The third thing, well that's just completely random and I will reserve judgement until I see the ad's because usually Queen Westwood gets it right. All in all I just think that it's all a bit excessive and that far too many talented 'normal' folk in the fashion industry are losing work to these famous people who already have enough money.