Back in February WWD announced the return of famed columnist Hungarian Countess Louise J. Esterhazy (the the nom de plume of John Fairchild whose father created Women’s Wear Daily) and her cheeky meets tongue-in-cheek reflections on the fashion industry and everything in between.
WWD explained, “She began writing her missives for the paper in the Seventies (at a VERY young age, obviously) and went on to pen them for WWD’s then-sister publication, W. Now she’s back, with dispatches from her schloss high in the Alps; the salons of Paris, New York and beyond, and wherever the dear countess’ travels may take her.”
Most haves and aughts warmly welcomed the return of the Countess who has dashed off such gems as: “To me, [Nicole Kidman] looks like an overdressed kangaroo” and “If I made clothes, I’d be embarrassed if the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Madonna, Sharon Stone or Prince wore them.” Burn. Sometimes the Countess is harsher than others.
But yesterday (May 28th) as many of us rolled into work, engorged on three-day weekend festivities (beer and hot dogs), the Countess penned a column about being “overstuffed.”
(Though we imagine she snacked on tea and crumpets this past Monday.)
She explained, “A recent story in The New York Times said biotechnologists are trying to manipulate trees so they glow at night. Why?
It’s the perfect example of overstuffed. We’re so stuffed with clothes, with food, with technology, with stuff that we’re like a pumped-up helium balloon about to burst (of course, some have said I’ve always looked like that). We’re missing the simple joys of life.”
And isn’t it the case? Hers are the perfect jottings for a little afternoon think.
In fact, it made us think about the inaugural episode of “Elettra’s Goodness,” a web series inspired by Vogue starring model Elettra Wiedemann. The first episode featured a now domesticated Blake Lively. This comes on the heels of model Jourdan Dunn’s “Well Dunn with Jourdan Dunn,” which most certainly nips on the heels of something else.
We know people like watching the beautiful bake desserts in brie and talk about how they never use recipes, and we are all for having a hand in as many cookie jars as possible, after all we love cookies, but perhaps we’ve reached the era of one cook in too many kitchens with an extra side of hubris as garnish.
What happened to doing one thing really well? Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Is this video that interesting, or well produced, or worth over ten minutes of your time? This applies outside the scope of celebrity as well. McDonald’s asked if we wanted to Super Size It, and we applied the concept to everything.
Could one call it coincidence that there has been a decline “in the use of words like modesty, fortitude, and virtue.”
Aren’t we all just a bit overstuffed? It might be time to get out of the kitchen.
–Arianna Schioldager
