Vanity Fair UK - 12.2019

Correspondence

The Lupita Nyong’o cover took my breath away [“Upon a Star,”

by Kimberly Drew, October]. When I picked up the magazine at my post

office, I immediately showed the clerk. His jaw dropped. He showed it to

his crew, who all said it was the most lovely photo of her: perfect colors,

styling, and expression. A few of us decided to meet up and talk about

the article and we actually did. Everyone had their new V. F. with them! We

shared much conversation over coffee and ice cream (hot strong beside

cold sweetness. Perfection. It’s Boston. That’s how we roll.) We have plans

for another hang soon thanks to Lupita Nyong’o via Vanity Fair.

Why did this transgender woman, who served in the military and voted

for Trump, and who has been a generous, longtime financial supporter

of the Republican party, now come to the conclusion that she might stop

sending the GOP money [“A Change of Heart,” by James Reginato,

September]? In July 2017, Trump tweeted his intention to ban transgender

people from serving in the military, reversing an Obama-era directive.

Colonel Pritzker ’s reason for possibly shutting her pocketbook

is because this was a personal affront to her. She states: “Why

should I contribute to my own destruction?” This reflects an alarming

mind-set of people in general, and conservatives in particular: Until

they are targeted specifically for discrimination, they don’t seem to care

if others are. Surely, Colonel Pritzker was aware that Trump had a long

history of discriminatory behavior (from attacking the Central Park Five

to excluding minority tenants from rental buildings and stoking the

birther movement against Obama, etc.). Why are some people either blind

or apathetic about discrimination until it targets them or someone they

love? Such people either lack sufficient empathy or imagination to think

beyond their own self-interest.

Social

“Keke Palmer

Takes a Lie

Detector Test”

“Sorry to this

man” = quote of

the year

@StatusQuoVGW14

Guys, I’m

just gonna say it:

Keke Palmer’s

“sorry to this man”

is the best thing

that’s happened to

me in 2019.

@katt_f

Can we get

Keke Palmer on

Keep It to

do a semi-regular

segment on all

the latest

impeachment news?

@jonfavs

“Why are some people apathetic about

discrimination until it targets them?”

—Elaine Nicol, Santa Barbara, California

“Dolores” (Kathleen Mary Rose),

as the White Peacock

De Meyer, V. F.’s principal photographer

of the 1910s and early ’20s, shot the

Ziegfeld Follies star—the first celebrity

clothing model—wearing 10-foot-wide

plumage. (December 1919 issue)

Photograph

by Baron Adolf

de Meyer, 1919.

100

YEARS

AGO

Lynn Small

Boston

Lupita

Nyong’o

ILLUSTRATION BY GWENDAL LE BEC

Elaine Nicol

Santa Barbara,

California

Jennifer

Pritzker

38 VANITY FAIR DECEMBER 2019

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ETHAN JAMES GREEN

(PRITZKER), JACKIE NICKERSON (NYONG’O)