For some reason, in Italy lately Italian journalists and copywriters have decided that the term “Fashion Victim” is somehow positive.
First a definition:
“Fashion victim is a term claimed to have been coined by Oscar de la Renta that is used to identify a person who is unable to identify commonly recognized boundaries of style” source: wikipedia
“It’s a person who crosses the boundaries of fashion and style, like taking a fad too far, or wearing too many trends at once and therefore taking the look from the glamourous to the ridiculous” – “Instead of looking chic they will look “over the top” because they have no real taste or style” source: urban dictionary
Not a good thing. People make fun of fashion victims. They pity them. They feel superior to them and they don’t want to be them. It’s not something to aspire to or a label to be proud of.
Which makes the following two examples very perplexing. Italian journalists and copywriters, listen up – you’ve been delivered a definition smackdown!
And the examples I saw:
“It’s hard work being a fashion victim.” (I bet it is)
And: “At only 11 years old, the young actress from Mad Men is already a fashion victim.” Poor thing, only 11 years old and already a failure.
[source: Vogue.it]
You sure they’re using it positively? They do cover the face of the first one, implying she’s doing something wrong (besides her really strangely proportioned arms), and um, no offense to la piccola but that dress *is* pretty hideous ;)
Ya, the article re: the little girl goes on to talk about how much she loves fashion, and “gia’ esigente esperta” of fashion.
As for the first ad, the rest of the ad talks about the new shopping mall opening in Centrale and how you’ll need more time to shop or some such – I remember it being very positive and pro-shopping. I imagine they covered her face because they didn’t have the photo rights, to be honest.
ehehehe, very funny. The ad is clearly using “fashion victim” positively. I love these kind of cross cultural missteps.
They are using the term fashion victim in the right way.
For the new shops’ opening, they underline that a shopping’s compulsive can make her/his heart content with the massive amount of shops in Centrale.
And talking about a kid who already “esigente ed esperta” about her clothes isn’t exactly a praise, it actually means that she is a fashion victim.
I’m sorry, I still don’ think so – the entire article speaks positively about her – “dichiarazione nientemeno” “l’adorabile attrice” “continua a stupire” – and mentions once “L’unica debolezza” – her only weakness for Halloween. It’s obvious they think she’s very cool, and therefore she is not a fashion victim. Fashion victims by definition are not cool.
Re: the shop openings, the whole point is you want to appeal to people that are passionate and understand fashion, not fashion victims (people who do not understand or overdo fashion) – it’s not positive.
Fashion victim is not someone afflicted by fashion, it’s someone doesn’t have taste and doesn’t really know how to use fashion.
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