A reader just sent me this email:
To: Lauren@fashionsita.com From: Gail Subject: Outrage over fatties I personally find the site of anorexic women, like the blogger, aesthetically unpleasing. I will never buy your magazine again and will contact your advertisers to let them know that I will not buy their products.
I think that Gail may have meant to send this message to Marie Claire, but regardless, she seems pretty pissed. Are you still riled up over the controversy?
Maura Kelly, a sex and relationship blogger for Marie Claire, is finding herself in a whole lot of hot water today. She wrote a post for the mag's site titled "Should "Fatties" Get a Room? (Even on TV?)" which was ostensibly about the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly, a show about a couple who meet in an Overeaters Anonymous group, but was really just a fat-ist screed coming from someone who has struggled with eating issues herself. Marie Claire has upped their fashion coverage recently with hires like Nina Garcia and Taylor Tomasi Hill. And considering the fashion industry's recent efforts to diversify the body shapes on the runways (like Beth Ditto at Gaultier), on the pages of editorials and ad campaigns (Crystal Renn for Chanel and Gaultier), and this season's embrace of curves (Louis Vuitton Fall 2010), this post from Kelly flies in the face of all of that. Moreover, it's just an unabashedly mean spirited piece and we're kind of shocked that it's attached to such a reputable ladymag, one, no less, with a feature series called "Big Girl in a Skinny World" by 5'2" 220 pound stylist Ashley Falcon. Here's the thing: Kelly has struggled with anorexia. She's written about it. So it seems wildly insensitive that someone who has struggled with eating issues would lash out at others struggling, too. Since the post went live, Jezebel has noted that she's addressed her anorexia in the comments: "Though I don't think of myself as anorexic any more, being freaked out by obesity to the insensitive, even cruel, point that I was is certainly a vestige of the anorexic mindset; maybe so was being righteous about how easy it is to lose weight. (Because once I lost an extreme amount of weight, of course—about half my body weight—etc.)." But does that make it OK?
Last week, Marie Claire's December cover featuring Kim Kardashian surfaced just ten days after the reality TV star filed for divorce. The headline, which read, "Kim Kardashian Reveals What Went On In Her Crazy Marriage" raised a few suspicions about whether or not Marie Claire had known about the divorce in advance, and whether or not this strengthened claims that Kim's marriage was a sham. Now, images from the photo shoot and half of the interview have been released (you can read the rest when the issue hits newsstands November 22)--But they don't immediately clear anything up. It's obvious that the interview took place when Kim was still married--the actress says things like "I feel like where [Kris and I are] right now is the best time in my life," and, “We have a lot of trust, and I don’t think either of us would do anything to break that. It makes life so easy. He’s such a good guy." But the story was definitely written (or rewritten) after Kim filed for divorce, and the writer acknowledges that the marriage lasted only 72 days.
Publishing trade rag Media Industry Newsletter reports that several glossies saw a major uptick in first quarter advertisements, including Marie Clair
Ever since we found out Taylor Tomasi Hill was leaving Marie Claire for Moda Operandi, we've been wondering who would fill her (designer) shoes over at MC. And now we know: Kyle Anderson, formerly ELLE's Senior Accessories Editor, will be taking over as Accessories Director at Marie Claire, starting next week. "I think after six years of working in the accessories department at ELLE, now is the right time to move on to a position where I can contribute more to the look of a magazine," Anderson told us in an email. "And for me, working for Nina Garcia again and Marie Claire is the ideal fit." Nina gave Kyle his start at ELLE six years ago and since then the two have remained close--back in August Kyle told Smart Chic Style: "I owe everything and all of my last six years of experiences at ELLE to [Nina] for taking a chance on me."
