a visual collective outlet of inspiration

in their 2013 fiction issue, vice magazine is featuring the above pictures in a spread entitled the ever-so-cunning (can you sense my facetiousness yet?) last words.  the fashion spread features models, you know, doing model-y things in their haute couture, except here’s the catch: they are depicting female writers who have committed suicide!  ah yes, please, let’s procure and solidify even more glorification in this world.  women in fashion are not disposable enough, let’s juxtapose that fleeting nature with the timelessness of literature and the written word.  is anything valuable anymore?  perhaps not.  the spread, styled by annette lamothe-ramos and photographed by annabel mehran, depicts charlotte perkins gilman (with the ubiquitous yellow wallpaper, naturally), sanmao (who hung herself with a pair of stockings, so don’t you want a pair too!), virginia woolf (not nicole kidman), sylvia plath, elise cowen, iris chang (who only took her own life in 2004, but fashion leaves no room for the grieving), and dorothy parker, who maybe unbeknownst to vice DID NOT KILL HERSELF despite many attempts.  at the end of the day, am i being too harsh to expect more from the world?  is this truly surprising when gratification is often at our fingertips?  i don’t know.  what i do know, is that dorothy parker, one of my idols, deserves better. by sv