I fully admit to enjoying some snarky Mean Girl-isms when they are aimed at a deserving target. If you don’t, collect your halo on the way out.
And anyone named Trump is about as richly deserving a target as there is.
This week Vogue editor Anna Wintour was interview by The Economist on their podcast about the intersection of politics and fashion. Writer Anne McElvoy tried to draw Wintour out about Melania Trump’s worldwide influence—if any.
“[Melania] I think, very consciously, wanted to see herself as an ambassador for British fashion, in this case, or a transatlantic ambassador,” McElvoy said, regarding Melania’s U.K. visit in June. “I mean, do you value that?”
“Well, I think First Lady Michelle Obama really was so incredible in every decision she made about fashion,” Wintour replied. “She supported young American designers. She supported designers, indeed, from all over the world. She was the best ambassador this country could possibly have in many ways, obviously, way beyond fashion.”
“But she’s not the first lady now,” McElvoy said. (probably thinking wtf?) “So what about the one you’ve got now?”
“To me, [Obama] is the example that I admire,” Wintour said.
Hoo boy. In case you didn’t notice, Wintour was asked specifically about Melania, yet she didn’t even mention her name. She immediately plunged into praising Michelle. Talk about a pivot. Talk about shade.
This is only the latest salvo between Wintour and the Trumps. In April Wintour spoke at length with Christiane Amanpour and lavishly praised Mrs. Obama, calling her “fearless” “a joy” “inspiring.”
Wintour is an unabashed admirer of Hillary Clinton and has recently featured articles on Kamala Harris and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“As I said before, I think it’s very important to have a point of view,” Wintour said. “We profile women in the magazine that we both believe in and admire the stand that they’re taking on issues...we support them in the fact that we feel that they are leaders.”
Personally, it’s not that I’m such fan of Wintour. Yes, I’ve seen, and loved, The Devil Wear Prada. I know the downside of what she’s about: Promoting an unreasonably skinny female body and the wasteful consumerism of the in-one-season, out-the-next fashion industry. But there’s no denying that Wintour is a social arbiter. There it is, like it or not.
And she has chosen Michelle Obama for a Vogue cover three times. Go ahead, ask how many times Melania Trump has been on the cover as First Lady: None. Not once. She did appear on the cover in 2005 in her wedding dress, after she married you-know-who. But since she her thieving, despicable husband took the presidency in 2016, not once.
Wintour knows who people want to see—and not see.
After the April interview, Melania’s spokesperson sniffed that the First Lady didn’t really care, do U?
“Her role as first lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than some superficial photo shoot and cover,” Stephanie Grisham said. “This just further demonstrates how biased the fashion magazine industry is, and shows how insecure and small-minded Anna Wintour really is.”
I do actually think it’s possible that Melania doesn’t care if she’s in Vogue. She appears to be counting the days until she’s freed from her marriage and her half-hearted stab at being First Lady.
But one person who does care is her husband. He cared enough to push for the wedding dress Vogue cover. He had Melania’s nonexistent academic resume fictionalized because he cares deeply that people think his wife is gorgeous, stylish and brilliant, the best. Tremendous. He thinks he’s a hot playboy instead of the doughy clown-suited dope he really is.
I love that it Anna Wintour has featured the splendid Michelle Obama on her magazine and not the boring cipher that is Melania. I love that Wintour still praises Michelle when the question posed was actually about Melania—years after Michelle finished her job as First Lasy.
Thanks, Anna. But go eat a cheeseburger, please, you need it.