If you haven't seen it yet, the July issue of U.S. Elle features a spread on winter coats. There's nothing unusual about this spread except for the fact that the "prop" used throughout the shoot is a tall, dark, handsome and rather muscular fellow. Oh, and did I mention he was naked? I was surprised to read that this particular spread had generated criticism suggesting that the magazine's aesthetic under the creative direction of Joe Zee is starting to look a little "too gay". I presume these comments were inspired by the use of a hot naked man to sell women winter coats. Well, as a woman, I beg to differ. I think the powers that be at Elle may finally have caught on to the fact that like our gay brethren, we too like hot men with nice abs, thank you. Come to think of it, women also like good sex and think about sex much more frequently than initially thought. In fact, it would seem that gay men and straight women have similar brains suggesting that gay men and straight women might actually think alike on any number of issues including fashion and sex. How about that?!
Of course, women are also craving better style leadership, quality editorial content and more originality in fashion. While sprinkling images of hot naked men throughout the magazine will obviously not by itself address the decline of influence not to mention circulation of Elle and publications like it, to suggest the magazine has become "too gay" as a result seems somewhat misguided in light of the supporting evidence. The troubles plaguing mainstream fashion publications are endemic and cannot be fixed simply by resorting to handsome naked men but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water just yet. O.K.?
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
All images courtesy of U.S. Elle/Elle.com.
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