There is arguably no group of people on earth more tone-deaf about their
own privilege and wealth than the denizens of the high fashion world. They often
can’t comprehend the disconnect of highly-paid models in impossibly expensive
designer wear posing in slums, or runway shows featuring homeless chic, or poverty-stricken people in exotic
locales serving as props or ambience in photo shoots. The cluelessness is painful to
witness.
Enter 32-year-old German
princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis, Vogue’s
style editor-at-large. TNT, as she is called, exposed herself as seriously out-of-touch
with the commoners last weekend by posting an Instagram pic of a homeless woman
surrounded by her bagged possessions, sitting under a dirty blanket on the
street before a metal-shuttered storefront – and reading Vogue.
Von Thurn und Taxis, who was in the City of Lights for fashion week, blithely
commented on the pic, “Paris is
full of surprises. . . and @voguemagazine readers even in
unexpected corners!” Needless to say, this failed
to amuse some Instagram followers. “I think this comment was made in poor
taste. Shame on you,” wrote one. “This photo is cruel,” added another.
Hard to imagine that TNT couldn’t see for herself how insensitive it was,
especially once her followers began calling her out on it; nevertheless, her
initial response to the criticism was to double down on her ugly snobbishness
on Instagram: “OMG calm down. Even the homeless are allowed to have good
taste.” Wow.
Fashionista.com, which has been critical of the princess’ “veritable
treasure trove of absurdly elitist quotes” on social media, shared the (now-deleted)
photo and observed, “The things she writes, both in Vogue and on social media, often straddle the line between
entertaining/aspirational and disturbingly out of touch. On Saturday she
crossed that line.” Indeed.
Finally the burgeoning bad press spurred the fox-hunting socialite to do
some damage control. The following day she seemed to seek forgiveness on
Instagram: “I wanted to extend my sincerest apologies for the offense my post
has caused. Yours truly, Elisabeth.”
Now, I don’t subscribe to our politically correct cultural expectation
that the rich and famous who have been caught shaming themselves automatically owe
groveling mea
culpae to strangers on
the internet. Though their behavior may have been offensive, it wasn’t directed
at us and we wouldn’t even know about it if it weren’t for our obsession with the
inconsequential daily comings and goings of celebrities that we’ve never met.
But depending on the nature of their “offense,” public figures can serve
as positive role models in terms of rectifying their public blunders and displaying
qualities like humility, gratitude, and service to others. I have no problem
with the fact that Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis enjoys a life of luxury, but
sometimes people who are born into that, as she was, take their good fortune
for granted and are in serious need of some perspective.
I don’t know what is in TNT’s heart. Perhaps her reputation as “disturbingly
out of touch” is undeserved. Perhaps it is
deserved, but the pushback she has received about her insensitivity prompted
her to do some soul-searching. I am skeptical though; her brief and formal apology
strikes me as more of a perfunctory attempt at a PR fix than a sincere request
for forgiveness.
It is less important that the princess apologizes for “offending” her Instagram
followers than that she acknowledges that her remark was demeaning to the poor,
that it was thoughtless at best and mean-spirited at worst, and that it reflected
badly on her, her employers at Vogue,
and on the industry itself. If she really wanted to display some newfound
compassion and set a dramatic example, she could try to locate the homeless
woman in the photo and get her some assistance, or in some other way use her
position and influence to draw attention to the issues of poverty and
homelessness – addressing the problem of abusive sweatshops, for example.
That might be too much to expect, but she would be earning forgiveness
and perhaps giving her cohorts in the fashion biz some much-needed perspective
in the process.
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 3/16/15)
