"Third World Chic" --- Is there really such a thing?

This week Vogue India has really caught a lot of media attention from its August Issue.

On one page an old toothless woman holds a dirty and messy haired baby wearing a $100 designer Fendi bib.  On another a barefoot man stands in front of his mud hut holding onto a $500 Burberry umbrella as his, presumably, wife laughs beside him.

Well, maybe the laughing is a sign that Vogue India editor, Priya Tanna, was speaking the truth when she said to the media that these "models" were paid well for their time.  But, when you make around a dollar a day, what really constitutes as good money?

Or maybe she is laughing hysterically because someone just told her that some moron out there in the world is going to pay $500 for an umbrella.

Before reading all of the commentary on the subject I could almost say to myself that perhaps Vogue India was trying to make a statement.  Maybe they were trying to get artsy and utilize their position in the world as commentary on the polarization of wealth found everywhere in India.

But after reading that Tanna told the press, "You have to remember with fashion, you can't take it that seriously.  We weren't trying to make a political statement or save the world."

Hmmm.  Now I can't help but wonder, 'what type of statement were to trying to make to the world?'

Read more at:

The Independant

The Telegraph

The New York Times