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TechnographOh, she's just being Miley
By Jonathan Jacobson
Posted: 5/1/08 Section: Opinion Columns
I'm not the most fashionable person you've ever met. My favorite colors are blue and brown. I don't like to wash pants (I like my corduroys to feel like pajamas). Oh, and also a significant percentage of my T-shirts are leftover junior high gym wear.
In short, I don't purport to know much of anything about fashion. But every once in a while, some ladies I know - and, yes, this includes my mother - bust out the girly magazines and I can't look away. I am especially entranced by fashion photography, which, in some cases, is just a hair shy of pornography.
It's no surprise, then, that I managed to catch wind of the fiasco surrounding the semi-nude Vanity Fair photos of 15-year-old child star Miley Cyrus.
Cyrus, who plays the title role in Disney's Hannah Montana, is nothing short of a phenomenon. Her concerts have brought in tens of millions of dollars. Last winter, to score concert tickets through an essay contest for her daughter, one woman pretended that her husband died in Iraq.
"We did whatever we could do to win," the woman told a local television station.
Clearly, Miley means business. Literally.
With the world's spotlight comes some sweet opportunities, and posing for Vanity Fair with famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz behind the camera is certainly one of them. It was an offer too difficult to pass up.
The photos in the May issue, which comes out today, include one of Cyrus covered only by a silver bed sheet. Couple that with her rapturous dark hair and pursed red lips, and she'll probably make some teenager very happy.
But that's just it. Some teenager is not really the target demographic of Vanity Fair. According to their press kit, 93 percent of Vanity Fair readers are over 21. Miley's reaching out to a whole new audience, even if a bit prematurely.
While she's still a pre-teen heartthrob, Cyrus has an image to protect, which makes this a silly decision on her part. As soon as she slipped off her shirt during that photo shoot, she should have been ready for calls from the Christian Coalition and the like. After all, someone has to watch out for the seven-year-olds who litter their bedrooms with Hannah Montana merchandise.
In short, I don't purport to know much of anything about fashion. But every once in a while, some ladies I know - and, yes, this includes my mother - bust out the girly magazines and I can't look away. I am especially entranced by fashion photography, which, in some cases, is just a hair shy of pornography.
It's no surprise, then, that I managed to catch wind of the fiasco surrounding the semi-nude Vanity Fair photos of 15-year-old child star Miley Cyrus.
Cyrus, who plays the title role in Disney's Hannah Montana, is nothing short of a phenomenon. Her concerts have brought in tens of millions of dollars. Last winter, to score concert tickets through an essay contest for her daughter, one woman pretended that her husband died in Iraq.
"We did whatever we could do to win," the woman told a local television station.
Clearly, Miley means business. Literally.
With the world's spotlight comes some sweet opportunities, and posing for Vanity Fair with famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz behind the camera is certainly one of them. It was an offer too difficult to pass up.
The photos in the May issue, which comes out today, include one of Cyrus covered only by a silver bed sheet. Couple that with her rapturous dark hair and pursed red lips, and she'll probably make some teenager very happy.
But that's just it. Some teenager is not really the target demographic of Vanity Fair. According to their press kit, 93 percent of Vanity Fair readers are over 21. Miley's reaching out to a whole new audience, even if a bit prematurely.
While she's still a pre-teen heartthrob, Cyrus has an image to protect, which makes this a silly decision on her part. As soon as she slipped off her shirt during that photo shoot, she should have been ready for calls from the Christian Coalition and the like. After all, someone has to watch out for the seven-year-olds who litter their bedrooms with Hannah Montana merchandise.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Quagmire
posted 5/01/08 @ 4:36 PM CST
2 years, 6 months, and 22 days until she's 18.
Giggity Goo!
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