Thursday, December 20, 2007

Inspiration: Part 2

First things first, I have to apologize to Barney's for my journalistic error. The store window discussed below was not a Barney's window, but rather, belongs to Calvin Klein (the two stores abut one another). In order to compensate for my gross misreporting, I visited Barney's and promptly purchased three new pairs of shoes.

Now. . . onto Calvin Klein. . . It seems the headless, splayed-legged woman has multiplied, as she appeared (as Beth noted and all of us envisioned) immediately poised to do. Now, there are two headless, splayed-legged women. The first retains her original window and design (see previous post).

Her colleague (Compadre? Daughter?)lies beneath a giant sandal (fashion forward, ladies!) accompanied by another woman (either the first woman or a third). Perhaps Woman #1 has assaulted Woman #2. Perhaps it was the sandal.



Finally, thanks to ae's and zubeldia's comments, I sent the original post to Jean Kilbourne. Ever email Jean Kilbourne? ; ) Here's what I wrote:

Hi, Dr. Kilbourne--I'm a big fan of yours and am a psychologist that does a lot w/women and body image. Recently, I came across a holiday window display (at [Calvin Klein]) that I thought you'd find interesting. You can see the display (and my thoughts and readers' comments) here. Some of my readers mentioned your work when they saw the image. Thanks for helping provide such an important forum for discussion. Best, Drstaceyny

And, her response:

Thanks so much, Stacey. What a dreadful window. It looks as if a club is lying beside her but maybe I am not seeing it clearly. Your blog looks great! Happy holidays. Jean

8 comments:

æ said...

That's so great! Wow!

Thanks for letting us know about your communication with Ms. Kilbourne, DrStacey.

take care,
ae

PTC said...

Wow, that's really cool that she wrote you back.

I can't believe that clone of me ended up in the CK window. [Geez] First of all, I hate being headless and secondly, I hope that huge heel doesn't fall on my head.

Beth said...

Now this display is just creepy. I'm sure it's a ploy to gather attention from passers-by, but at least the one headless model is vertically positioned.

April said...

If I make a mistake about Kenneth Cole in my blog, do I get to go buy three pairs of shoes? :)

a

Tiptoe said...

Wow, I guess CK really wants some attention. That or just to sit and make you ponder about the meaning.

Had to laugh about buying the three pairs of shoes from Barneys.

That's cool that you got in touch with Jean Kilbourne and received a reply. Dr. Susan Bordo also does a lot with looking at pop culture, advertising, etc. I'm sure she'd be interested in any sightings found. About-face.org does a lot with this type of thing as well.

Anonymous said...

I love Jean Kilbourne. One of my English teachers showed us her first video in high school, and I thought she was fabulous. It changed the way I saw ads forever. I love her even more after reading her response to your e-mail.

Emily Jolie said...

Wow.

That's all I can say right now.

And hi, Dr.Stace! Hope you're doing well!

~ej

Anonymous said...

Maybe they're supposed to be fashion victims?