When Kim Kardashian wore an iconic Marylin Monroe dress on the red carpet at the Met Gala this year, responses were mixed. There were some reactionaries outraged that she would dare to consider herself in the same light as Monroe. They claimed that she should not have been wearing what is essentially a piece of history.
But other responses were less extreme. In fact, there was a sense that most people did not really care. Everyone in PR knows that outrage is better than indifference. Why did something that made some people red with rage elicit little more than a shrug from others?
After the event, there was some controversy over whether Kim K had damaged the dress. Incidentally, this is why you should always have insurance coverage for your precious jewels and designer clothes. Items that you wear to events are always at risk of damage, loss, or theft (although most policies would not cover the kind of damage the dress supposedly endured). Ultimately, the furore died down, with Kardashian and her team denying that any damage had been done.
Why is it that all of the media dealt with outrage? Have we stopped caring about celebrity glamor?
The Pandemic’s Effects
In the wake of the pandemic, it is not all that surprising that people are not enamored by celebrity glamor as they once were. There are a couple of reasons for this. For one thing, massive events took place online during 2020, which dulled their importance somewhat. It is hard to look at these events in the same light now that we’ve seen people attend them from behind webcams.
But another reason is that we no longer go out as much as we once did. When we do, we are more partial to comfort than class. The simple reality is that the idea of suffering for fashion no longer has the same hold on us. We got used to working in our pajamas, and getting all dressed up began to feel like more of a hassle than a privilege.
It is possible that this is why people are not as obsessed with celebrity fashion as they once were. The importance of fashion has been diluted by years spent in comfortable clothing.
Priorities
There is another possible reason people aren’t as enchanted by celebrity glamor anymore. The pandemic showed us some of the stark differences between celebs and the rest of us. Gal Gadot’s famous faux pas – getting some of the richest people in the world to sing John Lennon’s Imagine in solidarity with us from the comfort of their mansions – was just one example of celebrities being out of touch.
Before the pandemic, people would get excited by the excesses of celebrities. With all the tone deaf messaging from celebs during the pandemic, however, we began to see them as little more than entitled narcissists. There was a lot of backlash towards celebs who still thought they should be at the center of attention when people were suffering.
We have always known that celebs have different priorities, but it is no longer as easy to see that as enchanting. Now, we’re more aware of just how much bigger our own issues are than theirs.
In 2022, seeing celebs turn up to events in expensive designer clothing and jewelry serves only to remind us that they’re living in their own little fantasy world. It brings us back to the days of Imagine and messages that ‘we’re all in this together.’
Not So Glamorous
Are we really over glamor? Probably not. For now, people are tired of celebrities and their excesses, but that will change and we will go back to our old attitudes. This pattern has been seen over and over again when it comes to royalty – just consider all of the times the British public has fallen out of love with the royal family during difficult periods.
The good news is that we have gotten some perspective that gives us a clearer view of what wwe want from life. Many people who once wanted to be celebrities have realized that they can find more meaning in other pursuits.
