Who's a Sexy Nun, Then? Why the World Loves a Wimple

Not a lot of explaining necessary here . . .



Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, and most recently, in the December Paris Vogue, Lara Stone demonstrate how to work a wimple.

Call me crazy, but I think Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga is going for much the same effect from an entirely different direction, with his sleeveless hoodies for Spring 2010. Yes they're black leather rather than starched linen, and owe as much to the hood rat as they do to the lamb of God, but don't they make the wearer look alluringly untouchable--encased--in exactly the same sort of way?

Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story, Sophia Loren in White Sister, Lara Stone photographed by Cédric Buchet for December 2009 Vogue Paris.

It's an Insular World After All

If you've got an eye on fashionland (and even if you have your head in a hole in the ground), you're likely to have heard of the controversy sparked by the photoshoot commissioned by Vogue Paris by Steven Klein for the October issue, in which model Lara Stone posed in makeup that ranged from titanium white to umber.

Vogue's editor, Carine Roitfeld, has been blasted for insensitivity. The photos in which Stone's skin was darkened have been likened to blackface, the notorious black-and-white makeup worn by white entertainers to caricature and ridicule blacks.



The Emperor's Old Clothes blog, among others, has commented thoughtfully on the issue. I won't, but did think it would be interesting to post some imagery along similar lines. Are they racist? Are they art? Or are they merely fashion being fashion, which takes endless pains to be edgy, but then acts shocked, shocked! when it actually succeeds in causing offense.