The political climate in this country is fraught. Suddenly, everything is political in a way that it never was before — especially in fashion: Designers are vocalizing their beliefs through their collections, dressing the First Lady has become more divisive than ever, and Vogue even formally endorsed a candidate for the first time. Now, according to one Breitbart editor, the fashion magazine is trolling President Donald J. Trump with its September issue.
John Carney, Breitbart’s finance and economics editor, took to Twitter to claim that one of the glossy's Jennifer Lawrence covers is taking sides in Trump’s fight against immigration. Here's the gist: On Wednesday, White House aide Stephen Miller and CNN’s Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta got into a spat over Miller’s proposal that focuses on a “merit-based” system for legal immigration over simply uniting families. During the debate, Acosta brought Lady Liberty into it, quoting the Emma Lazarus poem on the base of the statue, which Miller basically scoffed at. It turned into a whole thing.
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We're going to have to create a full #MAGA shadow cultural industry because the Opposition Media can't even do fashion without attacking us pic.twitter.com/NRPf2JUfsy
— John Carney (@carney) August 10, 2017
On Thursday, Carney saw the Annie Leibovitz-lensed cover featuring J.Lawr posing in front of the Statue of Liberty in a red Ralph Lauren Collection dress, and, to put it simply, just couldn't deal. He tweeted: “We're going to have to create a full #MAGA shadow cultural industry because the Opposition Media can't even do fashion without attacking us.” According to The Cut, in a tweet he’s since deleted, he wrote: “It’s contextual. Putting that on the cover right after Miller v. Acosta fight is taking sides. Not sure why people want to [say it] isn’t otherwise.”
Obviously, Twitter was quick to point out that that's not exactly how magazines work, with Vogue's communication director Zara Rahim noting the cover was photographed in June.
we shot this in June buddy.
— Zara Rahim (@zara915) August 10, 2017
And the reactions didn’t stop there.
If the photo of an iconic symbol of freedom feels like an affront to your sensibilities, maybe the problem isn't the photo. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
— shauna (@goldengateblond) August 10, 2017
Not that it's a big issue, but who's planning to buy Vogue's new issue just to drive Breitbart crazy? Raise your hand.
— Allen Hopson (@AllenHopson2) August 10, 2017
John Carney's day so far:
— Ian Boudreau (@iboudreau) August 10, 2017
-Sees Statue of Liberty on cover of Vogue
-Begins filling diaper
It's worth pointing out that it wasn't only Brietbart fans who made a connection. Former Wall Street Journal Style columnist Christina Binkley saw it as a nod to the president too, noting that she thought the "@Vogue cover was a cheeky jab at #MAGA, not just about immigration."
I thot the @Vogue cover was a cheeky jab at #MAGA , not just about immigration. Was I wrong? https://t.co/dZEB7zYXJG
— Christina Binkley (@BinkleyOnStyle) August 11, 2017
So, is Acosta onto something about the magazine using Lady Liberty and Lawrence to troll Trump? After the election, Lawrence penned a pro-Hillary Clinton open letter for Broadly, writing, “If you are an immigrant, if you are a person of color, if you are LGBTQ+, if you are a woman — don’t be afraid, be loud!” Either way, don’t be too surprised if he tries to use this momentum to lob Breitbart into the world of creating fashion content. After all, he did tweet: "Seriously, I think we could do really well with @BreitbartNews Fashion. Lots of women who would like their fashion without leftism."
We can only imagine the cover stories.