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.)   

Racism and the limited coverage of international fashion

What I find more wrong than the lack of colored models in the fashion industry, is how the fashion industry completely ignores the existence of fashion talent in Asia, Latin-America and Africa. 


White people get inspired, coloured people imitate


When a Western designer copies a typical Asian, African or Latin-American way of dressing, it is called “(s)he was inspired by …”. When an Asian, African or Latin-American designer copies a typical Western way of dressing, they say (s)he's imitating the West.

Fashionweek is white

There are four fashionweeks that get a lot of coverage. Three of them all take place in European cities and only one of them in another continent, but still in a mainly white country. That Europeans are mostly focused on European fashion, I regret, but I understand. But that people from all over the world are only interested in white people’s fashion seems outdated to me. 


I think it’s time we realise that Europe is not the only real (other) civilisation in the world and that we can learn a lot from all corners of the world.

For example when I would read the tales of 1001 nights, it would strike me that the heroines of these tales were nearly always described as beautiful AND smart. A book from the Arab world written in the medieval ages tells women to be pretty and smart. American movies based on fairytales of Europe tell women that in order to be successful you need to be beautiful, sleep well and be able to talk with birds. I’m really good at the second part and I’m still working really hard on the last one.

They have adapted these movies to go better with the time spirit: for example in the movie of the little mermaid she marries the prince at the end, in the fairytale she dies. So in the movie aspiring to become part of another social class has a great result, in the fairytale not that great. If they don’t stay loyal to the original tale, why can’t they make the smartest woman in the movie the heroine instead of the evil witch?

I believe every culture has another way of respecting and disrespecting women (or people).  If only we could learn from each other on how to respect one and another, instead of comparing ourselves in a way that is the most flattering to us. Europeans and Americans about Arabs: “How sexist, women aren’t allowed to show their bodies.” Arabs about Europeans and Americans: “How sexist, women are only judged on their bodies."

Be a man. Are clothes that flatter a woman's body bad?

I really don’t understand why clothes that are not flattering for a woman’s body are often called ‘intelligent’ design, while clothes that emphasize a woman’s femininity are called vulgar or are called clothes for women that don’t understand that those clothes come from an era where they had no rights.

I find it a reflection of where feminism failed, when they said that women had the same rights as men and that women had the right to do the things men do, some feminists told women that in order to acquire these same rights that they should act more like men. There is a real fine line between telling women to act like men and between telling women that there is something wrong with being a woman.

As much as I feel like women have the right to act like men, if they feel that way, I feel like when a woman feels like acting like a woman, by dressing like one for example, it doesn’t mean that she’s doing that to please men. It doesn’t mean that she’s naïve or cheap. It means she likes dressing like a woman.

When you call clothes that make a woman look more like a man ‘intelligent’ and clothes that emphasize a woman’s body ‘vulgar’ or ‘naïve,’ you’re basically saying that men look more intelligent than women. 

Eating disorders and how they are encouraged by society.

There is something wrong with the attitude of society on weight and food.

1. When skinny or slim people brag about how many hamburgers they can eat, people call them fun and careless
2. People look down on overweight people because they supposedly can’t keep their eating impulse under control.
3. However when skinny or slim people brag about eating healthy, they will be called control freaks. 
4. When overweight people start eating healthier, people usually respond very positive. The problem is that some will also respond positive, if someone overweight (nearly) stops eating, and they will keep on responding positive until (s)he has reached the point where (s)he is underweight. And than it already is too late.

So it doesn’t bother if you live healthy or not, it bothers if you look ‘healthy’ or not.


The right attitude is to always eat healthy, not because you need to ‘look healthy’, but because it just is better for you and your body. 

A fashion fairytale

Once upon a time there was a woman skinny and curveless in a world where everybody loved only curves and their enormous egos.

But this woman believed in herself and a better world. 

So she would imagine, create, dream, live, until she had created the fashion universe. 

A universe where she wasn’t skinny, but where she was slender. 

But this new world she had created, evolved and after a while everybody loved only slender and their enormous egos.