The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:45 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 16:13 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

• The Observer
  Comment & Analysis 04.08.19 45

PEOPLE

@twitterhandle @twitterhandleLucy Siegle

T

he writer Jia Tolentino

is exceptionally good at

decoding these febrile

times. She has been

described as the new Joan Didion

and in a period when the centre

doesn’t feel to be holding at all

well, her new collection of essays,

Trick Mirror: Refl ections on

Self-Delusion , offers a welcome

intervention.

However, don’t expect go-get-

’em affi rmations and tips on

optimising your time à la Sheryl

Sandberg’s Lean In. Tolentino’s

central conceit is that women

“are genuinely trapped at the

intersection of capitalism and

patriarchy” and the “hard

labour of self-optimisation” is

part of that.

So, while you might imagine

you’re doing great work on your

abs and socking it to The Man by

visiting boutique exercise studios

and becoming physically strong,

she reveals you to be a patsy in

expensive sportswear. Nobody

said this was going to be easy.

If, like me, you have

succumbed to a barre-based

exercise system at a boutique

gym, it’s time to face your

“pragmatic self-delusion”. The

original barre system, based

on the strength and fl exibility

training that dancers endure,

was devised by the late Lotte

Berk. But barre-based exercise

has recently experienced a surge

in popularity, partly due to its

perceived effectiveness; classes

are described by Tolentino as “a

manic and ritualised activity”.

Classes are certainly not for

the fainthearted. Then there’s

the accessories – mesh-panelled

leggings and kale smoothies – all

of which bump up the cost while

simultaneously exposing you as

an agent of late-stage capitalism.

As a precaution, I’m taking the

rest of the summer off.

B

est of luck to Renée E

Tirado , who joins luxury

fashion house Gucci as

the brand’s fi rst head of

diversity, equity and inclusion.

She enters fashion from baseball ,

which I’m sure has its own

complexities, but at least there

aren’t design teams immortalising

their prejudice by turning it into a

luxury good and offering it up on a

plinth in a major retail space.

The recent output of some of the

world’s biggest brands includes

Gucci’s own $890 (£689) balaclava

jumper, which was accused of

transposing blackface to knitwear

(naturally, it was released during

Black History Month in the US) and

Prada’s $550 handbag key chain,

described as “Sambo-esque” by

critics. Most recently, Gucci sen t a

$790 turban down the runway on a

white model.

Objectively, it’s hard to

comprehend how these items

went into production, never mind

into shops. This isn’t just one lone

designer and a secret sketchpad.

Entire committees review designs

to make sure they are on trend

enough, samples get made and

checked, press teams decide how

to message new launches. But no

one noticed?

Tirado’s appointment is

welcome, but there’s defi nitely

work to be done.

U

nexpectedly last week,

a 42-year-old BBC Two

vox pop featuring an

East End woman in a

red raincoat broke the internet.

We don’t know her name, but this

unassuming star has been watched

by millions , decades after stopping

to talk to a reporter on a London

street. She trounced all the social

media competition, including

Kylie Minogue performing Do The

Locomotion on a vintage railway

near Scarborough.

The clip was fi lmed for a 1977

BBC Two series of 28 programmes

marking the Queen’s silver jubilee.

It was intended for a show called

Thanks for the Memory, then billed

as the BBC’s biggest vox pop to

date, that would ask citizens, “from

crofters to judges”, for their views on

TV of the previous 25 years. Tweeted

by the BBC Archive last week for a

contemporary audience, there was

one standout star.

In her headscarf and raincoat,

she resembles the social stereotypes

that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie

lampooned in the vox pop sections

of their sketch show. But those

characters held reactionary views,

couldn’t stop looking down the lens

and offered non sequiturs such as:

“They’ve got hotter pavements, I

know that.” However, this woman

was a natural communicator,

displaying a witty, easy eloquence.

What she deliver ed was more of a

social and historical soliloquy that

include d asides about “highbrow”

plays and bad acting. If you haven’t

seen it, just watch. A star is born,

albeit 42 years after the event. Today,

she’d be signed up for Goggle box.

It’s remarkable because no one

did this well in a vox pop before.

Used as a device to democratise

news, their use is on the rise,

especially in broadcast news. But

the BBC in particular has receiv ed

complaints that it has used them to

propagate false balance over Brexit

and they can be something of an

unsuccessful TV trope.

A University of Antwerp study

ask ed what reporters make of the

vox pop and conclude d that most

of us dislike them. As a vox veteran ,

I can confi rm that trudging along

a high street in February, waving

a fl uffy mic and begging people to

stop and give you a soundbite as the

light fades is challenging.

Every reporter has stories. My

favourite is when I jumped out from

behind a pillar box to ask an elderly

couple: “ What’s your favourite scary

movie? ” “My dear,” one replied

witheringly, “we are Islington

intellectuals, we don’t watch scary

movies.” But this one, well it works

and is probably the only example

endorsed by the vox populi.

Jia Tolentino

Raising the

barre on

working out

Renée Tirado

No more faux

pas in fashion?

Vox pop superstar

Decades on, lady in red

is a social media darling

Natural communicator: the woman in the vox pop. Twitter @BBCArchive

The stories behind the

names in the news

РЕЛИЗ

ПОДГОТОВИЛА

ГРУППА

"What's News"

VK.COM/WSNWS

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS