Must admit I am a huge Tom Ford fan and although I admit his graphic ads would not be to anyones taste I could always manage to see the talent / art in them. The boxers, the guys in the shower and the girls in the perfume ads also display some humour.

I didn't see the Vogue issue in the flesh so to speak, I saw the pics on a other blog and I felt really uncomfortable seeing it.

Not for me who could see a nice pair of shoes or bag but firstly as a woman thinking I would never want my 6 year old dressed like that for public, but also as somone living in this society, - now far more aware of peadophilia than we used to be - far more aware of teenage girls looking and acting older than they are, and getting themselves or some misguided guy into trouble.

This is even a step further than that - I didn't want to think what kind of charachters would pick up a copy of the magazine.

Ford is supposedly so into catering for a high end market and wants to be selling to a certain customer set (he even comes across as slightly snobby when discussing the matter)- that customer set aren't going to respond more to an ad with children in than they are with anyone in. I never thought his advertising was attention seeking the way others thought and as it was adult advertising to an adult marketting didn't take offense the way others did - if you want a G shaped patch of hair your welcome to one and yes it's a giggle.

This must have been some sort of attention seeking or he must have reached a flat line where there was nothing more graphic to do to push the envelope out so he thought of this.

ooops apologies and rant over lol

A recent Ralph Lauren ad made my stomach lurch. I think it was on the back of a fall Vogue magazine issue. I have since thrown it away because I found it so disturbing. A very young girl is leaning up against a bed with a riding crop--her pelvis jutting towards the camera. I felt immediately angry, then protective and finally just fearful for the safety of children everywhere.

What struck me so sharply as it screamed creepy pedophile was that this wasn't a photograph that was being used as evidence against a perpetrator.

As a highschool teacher I look out over my students daily and I wonder how we can so easily mainstream this exploitation when we claim we want the best for our children. We are allowing Ralph Lauren and his ilk along with their cadre of "fashion photographers" and irresponsible parents to put our children at risk. The sheer arrogance of couching it as art or some such nonsense is the fuel for normalizing this perversion.

Perhaps the Ralph Laurens of this brave new world have spent way too much time immersed in their narcisstic fueled lifestyles and their brains have become atrophied.

Their quest for eternal youth and riches has led to this sacrificial photography--this Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children in this World from Being a Burden to their Parents or Country, and Making them Beneficial to the Public.

Sad...thank you for the forum...this issue has disturbed me for quite some time.



By Jonathan Swift (1729)

Well I do think "Pedo"couture is a word that sums up Tom Ford's work quite nicely. I'm disturbed as an artist and photographer. Sure it is tempting as a mother to photograph my 6 year old daughter when she has helped herself to my clothing, shoes and jewelry. You would be surprised at the designs she turns out, mixing and matching things I hadn't thought of. Tom Ford on the other hand mostly because he is a "gay" designer is guilty of what many gay designers are guilty of..."trying to shove the woman's body into a "boys body". That waif like appearance sets the pace and was bad enough when I taught modeling with students starving at the pre-teen age of 13, 14 and 15. That wasn't good enough for many of the gay male designers and women who feel compelled to follow suit. . Now they are targeting 6 year olds. How on earth are women supposed to ever get healthy and change their perception or raise their low-self image when the standard of weight and shape proportions is each era being wittled down to please the pedophiles? You want to be gay and snobby fine? I can TRY to look the other way, but leave OUR CHILDREN ALONE, Why don't you use each other and see where that gets you in fashion instead of trying to change women and using children to do so. Are you really that clever to think you can slowly sneak it in; and when we as mothers object, you think you can turn around with your curved creative claws out and act offended for calling you out on your gayness having some side effects and using the ART word to defend your sickness? This is your own deep seated desire to alter the womens bodies and remove their breast so women in their natural form are no longer the norm and so we have a world of everyone looking like bony mannequins or little boys dressed as women. You cannot fool the concerned mothers as to what your true message is. WOMEN YOU NEED TO HAVE THE BODY OF A 6 or 7 year old in order to be "perfect". Shame on you Tom Ford. Shame on you VOGUE magazine. http://boingboing.net/2011/01/05/in-vogue-magazine-6-.html This reminds me very much of the way Shirley Temple was exploited in her movies as a child. These movies were not made to entertain children they were geared towards charming men. Singing to groups of men, wearing short dresses showing etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CylFO6K6_J4 We allow ourselves to accept and accept and then suddenly we turn back and ask ourselves when did this all change. Why did I allow it?

Jenine DiConti
http://www.dicontiforhire.com