Is Galliano judged on his actions or on who he was?

I was very surprised when the whole world seemed to be in shock after Galliano’s racist slurs, because everyday I see so many racist acts that don’t seem to upset anyone. Most of these racist acts are more harmful to people than what Galliano said.

I guess most people will defend themselves by saying that Galliano had a celebrity status and that with it comes responsibility. But people don’t become celebrities because they are so responsible. They become celebrities because they made themselves celebrities or because they are made one.

And Galliano was made one. He would hardly ever give interviews. The parties he would attend were obligatory ones. And he certainly wouldn’t walk in front of the paparazzo. Yes, the outfits he would wear during his runway shows did certainly make him one of the most known faces of the fashion world. But the person behind his face would remain a complete mystery to most of us and he never really tried to change that.

You can be mad at Galliano for not being the role-model people assumed he was, but he didn’t call himself a role-model. He was called a role-model. So even though his actions were definitely wrong, he shouldn't be judged in any other way than a constructions worker very good at his job, because he never claimed to be anything else than a fashion designer very good at his job.

But if a construction worker would shout filthy Jew at a passenger-by, you wouldn't find a lot of witnesses that would spontaneously come testify in court. If you would call the police for something like that, I seriously doubt if they would take you serious. So why would the constructions worker’s deed go unpunished, while Galliano’s acts are severely punished.

If there were any justice in this world it wouldn’t be the notoriety that would determine whether someone will get punished for his/her racist actions, it would be how much the racist action affects the life of the victim. Calling someone Jewish during a fight is less harmful to someone than not hiring someone for being Jewish.

And when I ask my Moroccan friend I met while studying in France, it is quite hard to be hired as a salesperson in France if you’re coloured, even when you have more than the right qualifications. And this racist act goes unpunished and unnoticed, even though it impacts more people and more severely.


I think this whole trial will do nothing against anti-semitism. It will only increase anti-semitism among Arabs even more, because they feel like when Arabs are treated unfairly nothing happens and when a Jew gets insulted the whole world responds. 

What disappoints me about 'feminists'

When you start a new blog, you start thinking about in what frame it fits in. In the beginning I felt like it fits in the feminist frame and than I realised that the reason I feel disappointed in ‘feminism’, is that blogs like mine call themselves feminist blogs.

Back in the days when I wore pink skirts because I was proud of being a girl, I thought that being a feminist would mean that you cared about women’s rights. As I grew older, I started to get the feeling that feminists were women that had an opinion on how women should act.

One ‘feminist’ would talk about how women should act more like men and then another ‘feminist’ would talk on how women should act less like men. Another one would talk about how women should be sexier, because it would be empowering and than another one would talk about how women should avoid being sex objects.

I feel like they are all wrong. It are all just women telling women how to behave and it’s just as wrong as men telling women what to do. Women that feel like they are so morally superior that they can judge other women’s actions should realise that what they are doing is not a form of feminism. It’s a form of gossip.

‘Feminists’ that go on and on about whether or not women should be pretty and sexy or not are in my opinion the worst. Do they realise they think of women the same way as sexist men? Sexist men also only care about how beautiful or sexy a woman is.

Lastly I feel like these days, people that defend women’s rights are called human right activists instead of feminists. And I guess that means progress. It means women’s rights are seen as people’s rights.

Fashion designers I do love

It’s not that I hate all things fashion. So here’s a list of designers that make me wish I had money.

1. Bruno Pieters: He seems to have disappeared from the planet, but when I look at old runway shows of him I realise I still like the same outfits I liked 5 years ago. So even though I don’t like everything he made, I do feel like the things I liked 5 years ago and that I still like today may be a good investment. I do have to admit I was a little disappointed in his last collections, but then again my expectations may have been unrealistically high and his last collections were more ‘modern geometry’ style which is not my style and less of his ‘modern Victorian’ style. My roots are Catholic and his ‘modern Victorian’ style perfectly satisfies both my inner Virgin Mary and my inner Mary Magdalena.

2. Elie Saab: He makes these beautiful evening gowns that are both sensual and elegant. I hope one day I can afford one of his dresses and will have an occasion to wear them.

3. And others: Monique Lhuillier, Nina Ricci, Louise Assomo, Vionnet (especially Vionnet by Sophia Kokosolaki), Roberto Cavalli (because so far to me he made the H&M collection that is the best translation of his brands’ esthetics. To me making a good H&M collection means you also love your fans that can’t afford your clothes. I do don’t know how the clothes look like in real life, since I didn’t go to H&M that day. I was too scared I would never come out of there alive.)