You must be asking yourself, "Why you?". Amidst all the Charlie Sheens and Mel Gibsons of the world, why are we most disappointed in you? You can't measure racism on a scale of 1-10. It either is. Or it isn't. But that being said, were your anti-Semitic comments really any worse than Gibson or Sheen? Well, no. So what's the deal? Why are these Hitler-praising comments more upseting coming from your mouth?
Let's take a look at the possibilities.
Could it be the hypocrisy of a gay man expressing admiration for a monster who targeted homosexuals for incarceration in concentration camps?
No.
Is it perhaps your failure to recognize that under a Hitler regime, your work would be considered degenerate art, thereby branding you an enemy of the state and forcing you into exile?
Also, no.
Is it the ingratitude towards Joan Burstein, a Jewish woman, who is credited with discovering you and putting your name on fashion's radar?
No.
Could it be the disrespect for people like Andre Leon Talley, a gay black man who ensured that your name STAYED on the radar, and who would have been persecuted if Hitler had his way?
Nope.
These reasons are certainly disturbing and full of contradictory concepts. But I believe our true disappointment comes from the notion that your entire career was built on an industry that honors beauty through experimentation. The fashion world celebrates the peculiar, the unique. It is an environment where everything that is strange and new is encouraged to flourish.
The ugliness of your comments are a jarring contrast to the splendor that you showed us on the runway, and don't reflect any of the broad-minded acceptance of the fashion industry that nurtured you. We, simply put, expected more from you.
Mr. Galliano, you have proven time and again that you are fashionable. But please... Show some style.
2 comments:
This could not have been worded more perfectly. I completely agree. He is SUCH a disappointment!
Well put.
Post a Comment