NY Times Gets Political With Balenciaga Scandal
Can we agree that when it comes to children, there should be no "left" or "right"?
As was mentioned in yesterday’s article, it took some time for outrage about Balenciaga’s two controversial campaign ads to reach a fever pitch. In a world where a celebrity outfit becomes a major news headline, noticing that a haute couture brand had overstepped the boundaries of decency seemed less titillating a story to cover.
The fact that the story was headlined by the New York Post should not make a difference. Any news source that revealed to the public Balenciaga’s decision to sexually compromise children in one fashion ad campaign and feature documents about a child pornography case in another, should be commended. The New York Times sees it differently.
In an article titled “When High Fashion and Q’Anon Collide,” the Times has decided to turn the Balenciaga scandal into a right-wing conspiracy theory. The paper isn’t denying any of what Balenciaga did; instead, it is denouncing “conspiracy theorists” for making too much of a story that should just be seen as an oops moment.
“The controversy has become one of the most explicit collisions of internet culture, politics, fashion and conspiracy theories to date,” write the authors of the article, Elizabeth Paton, Vanessa Friedman and Jessica Tate.
After all, they note, Balenciaga’s fashion director, Demna, loves to add controversy into his fashion campaigns.
From the Times article:
“Ever since Demna became artistic director of Balenciaga in 2015, the storied brand has become a lightning rod for controversy, often intentionally so. See: remaking IKEA’s 99-cent shopping bag as a luxury good, putting heels on Crocs, selling destroyed sneakers for $1,850, dressing Kim Kardashian in a head-to-toe black body stocking for the Met Gala, and sending models who looked like refugees down the runway carrying trash bags made of expensive leather.
“The outrage provoked by such moments often seemed to be the whole point. Each only bolstered the reputation of Demna’s Balenciaga as a brand that forces consumers to grapple with the very meaning of ‘taste.’”
In other words, putting heels on Crocs and putting a bondage bear in the hands of a toddler are not so different. Both are done to force people to consider what style means to them. Turning a cheap IKEA shopping bag into a fashion statement and including images of a Supreme Court decision on a child porn case in a fashion ad essentially suit the same purpose: to make you look at clothing and accessories in a unique way.
The real problem here, the authors claim, is that right-wing conspiracy theorists made such a big deal about the two campaigns. The photos “featured six children clutching destroyed teddy bear handbags, which had first been seen in the brand’s spring 2023 runway show in Paris. The fluffy bears had black eyes, fishnet tops and leather harnesses; wine glasses and other gift items were displayed around them. According to Mr. Galimberti, the objects as well as the children and the location chosen for the shoot had all been selected by Balenciaga, with numerous staff members present during the two days of photography.”
As you can see by the carefully selected wording in the article, the teddy bears were “fluffy” and “destroyed,” which would make one think that they were well-loved by a child. The “black eyes, fishnet tops and leather harnesses” are mere fashion accessories. What kid wouldn’t want a teddy bear with a leather harness and a black eye? The authors note that protesters decried the children were depicted with what “looked like bondage paraphernalia.” In other words, one person’s definition of BDSM is another person’s definition of a cute and fuzzy stuffed animal that makes you think differently about fashion.
The folks who saw this campaign endangering children are, according to the article, anyone who reads the New York Post or watches Tucker Carlson. And if you do both of those, you likely also believe in Q’anon, Pizzagate and a number of other conspiracy theories. More from the article:
“As online criticism of the campaigns spread, the story was picked up across right-leaning media outlets, including The New York Post and the prime time Fox News show ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’ The show has helped to publicize and mainstream QAnon, the internet conspiracy theory that ‘a group of Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media.”
Understand what is being said here: If you think it was wrong for Balenciaga to mix sexualized toys with children, and if you think that blurs the line between edgy photography and child porn, you are a right-wing conspiracy theorist. Never mind that many famous people burned or trashed their Balenciaga clothes following this failed ad campaign. Forget that there have been protests outside of Balenciaga stores over the last few days. This would not be an issue at all if the “right” hadn’t seized on an opportunity to exaggerate the situation. That is what this Times article is saying.
Fashion has always been edgy. Brooke Shields was 14 years old when she was famously featured in a Calvin Klein campaign and declared “nothing comes between me and my Calvins.” There was an uproar then, too, but not the kind that comes from social media and a 24-hour news cycle. Fashion houses have long pushed the envelope, going one or two steps beyond what is considered okay. It often elevates their brand more than the clothes they are peddling.
But to equate concern for children with conspiracy theory-based hysteria is a bad look for the Times, or any news outlet. This isn’t a time to further divide an already polarized society. People, no matter their political bent, have the right to defend and protect children. If the Balenciaga campaign sparked concern for the most vulnerable of the population, and if that concern gained more attention than the $3,000 purses the fashion house sells, so be it. Not everything is about politics. In fact, most things should be about human decency.