This cover is very amusing to me. OBVIOUSLY this isn’t a look that Civilians are meant to be wearing, no matter what Balenciaga thinks (RIGHT?!) and since HB is a proper editorial fashion mag — why not lean in? I love a cable knit sweater as much as the next person, but this isn’t InStyle (RIP). Does this HELLA OVERSIZED situation make her look like she’s got the Shrinks and she’s now 2 feet tall and her regular clothes don’t fit? Sure — but it IS spooky season, after all.
Emily is certainly never boring and she’s a smart person, so the profile is a good, if perhaps a bit gushy, read. (There is also a moment in there that totally misinterprets Mad Men for no reason, but I have to say that I laughed out loud at the kicker; the whole thing is worth spending some time with.) It’s primarily to promote EmRata’s podcast, which she describes as Call Her Daddy meets Fresh Air, and which will feature a weekly “monologue” from her. That part is not as interesting as how thoughtful she herself is about her own image:
I ask Ratajkowski if she feels some kind of responsibility for the effect her image may have on young women. “I completely understand that sexualizing myself and putting images out into the world that reinforce the beauty standard is difficult,” she says. “I’m not trying to shake accountability. But I also don’t think I would have sold as many books had I not done that. That’s the way the world works.” She shrugs. “I mean, we all participate in systems that we don’t agree with.”
That feels VERY honest.
