Town & Country is my guilty pleasure.
On Mother’s Day, while my husband made it feel like I had house help, I dog-eared a pretty shiny page of $3,000 Oscar de la Renta caftans.
Then I read an article on how hard it’s been for socialities to fool other socialities into believing good genes are the reason that they are so thin.
Yep. Exercise and diet are dirty words in their PR nightmare.
So, the articles are silly. But that’s not why I feel guilty.
It’s because, at its core, T&C’s lifestyle magazine is nothing but a beautiful middle finger to the 99%.
It’s tacky. It’s elitist. It’s outdated.
But they legitimate themselves and their importance with their philanthropy coverage – proclaiming a sense of responsibility for the problems and injustices of society. The latest has been hosting annual summits, but they’ve been patting themselves on the back for years for promoting the fund-raising efforts of trust fund babies and celebrities.
After all, pictures of beautiful people drinking vodka tonics under the pretense of social conscience sell magazines.
And that’s cool. No one can argue against charitable giving or raising awareness.
But it appears that their fitness to carry the philanthropy crown is now called into question.
Monica Lewinsky’s treatment by T&C was chronicled in Vanity Fair: What We All Can Learn from My Disinvitation Debacle.
Lady Monica has really come into her own as the reluctant hero in this continuing saga. It’s astounding that she still has to remind us that she’s the victim.
T&C took an event that was supposed to shed light on victim shaming and darkened it further.
This “disinvitation debacle” wasn’t just a crime against good etiquette, it was another painful kick to the victim when she’s down. What probably stings most? The attacker was supposed to be coaching her team.