{"id":9098723,"date":"2022-10-05T13:11:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T13:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/josephejiro.co\/?p=9098723"},"modified":"2022-10-06T13:08:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T13:08:52","slug":"stop-covering-kanye-west-uncritically-fashion-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/josephejiro.co\/2022\/10\/05\/stop-covering-kanye-west-uncritically-fashion-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop covering Kanye West uncritically, fashion media:"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this op-ed, Teen Vogue Editor in Chief Versha Sharma calls on fashion media to stop covering Kanye West without criticism.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Kanye West<\/a> sent models down the runway wearing \u201cWhite Lives Matter\u201d T-shirts, before he posed in one himself with right-wing personality Candace Owens, before he started using his massive platform to bully a successful Black woman in fashion who dared to be somewhat critical of him, I tweeted<\/a> a plea for fashion media to stop breathlessly covering everything he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a new conversation \u2014 it\u2019s one we\u2019ve been having at Teen Vogue<\/em> for years \u2014 but it picked up steam again this weekend when he opened the Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week, generating myriad headlines and social media posts about his runway debut. Not one of these mentions seemed to wonder at the irony of creative director Demna saying the show was about \u201cdigging for the truth\u201d<\/a> and being \u201cdown to earth\u201d despite it having been opened by a conspiracy theorist<\/a> who wants very, very<\/em> badly to make it in luxury fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRENDING NOWThe Kardashians’ Teen Vogue Photo Shoot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My frustration had already been building, as I scrolled through a slew of photos in my Instagram feed a few days before this about Kanye\u2019s socks-and-bedazzled-sandals look, which CNN called<\/a> \u201cthe look of the week.\u201d Almost every time Kanye steps out in clothing, period, I see a post about it on at least a few fashion Instagram accounts, including men\u2019s style publications and indie magazines. I wonder at this, as those same publications are promoting thoughtful discussions about toxic masculinity<\/a> and critiques of racism and elitism in fashion \u2014 but they still keep playing into this particular Yeezy circus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now, finally, Kanye seems to have crossed a line that many in fashion media will not allow. After highly respected fashion editor and barrier-breaking stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson<\/a> posted critically about his Paris show featuring the \u201cWhite Lives Matter\u201d shirts, Ye took to his Instagram account Tuesday morning to start attacking Gabriella personally and relentlessly. To be clear: he\u2019s bullying her because she dared to disagree with him, which should not be a surprise to anyone who saw his harassing behavior toward Kim Kardashian<\/a> this past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Kanye\u2019s attacks, Gabriella\u2019s critique was actually quite generous toward him. She said she could see what he was possibly trying to achieve, but that it landed completely wrong, and she disagreed with it. But her nuanced thoughtfulness wasn\u2019t enough to stop one of the most famous people in the world from going after her personally, serving up yet another example of Kanye\u2019s infantile and cruel behavior. In addition to the blatant disrespect this signifies, we know from Donald Trump, from Tucker Carlson, what happens when you sic a cultist following on a woman on social media: everything from trolls to death threats. Gabriella deserves precisely none of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to draw a clear line in the sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no purpose for this kind of conduct, and it only gets enabled by free, fawning media attention. So, again, I come with a plea to fashion editors, journalists, headline writers, social media managers, and editors-in-chief: Please. Stop. Covering. Kanye. Uncritically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every post about one of his \u201c\u2018fits of the day,\u201d every tweet about his latest collaboration (which will eventually fall apart), every meeting you take or show you cover \u2014 it\u2019s all enabling, complicit behavior. We need to make a collective, concerted effort to stop,<\/em> and make it last for more than one season, as one of my staff members said this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I started my current job, we\u2019ve had thoughtful conversations among staff about whether it\u2019s worth covering the latest Yeezy collaboration (it\u2019s not), or if\/how<\/a>\u00a0we cover him, period. I have wondered at the breathlessness of fashion media coverage of him and been told that it\u2019s all about clicks, it\u2019s all about money \u2014 and it\u2019s all about people who may not want to look closely at the type of behavior they\u2019re enabling or amplifying.<\/p>\n\n\n