The Agyness Deyn phenomenon is one which will either blow up in her face (over exposure is not a good thing in our post-Britney times) or give us an honest to Vogue, modern day supermodel (gasp and awe at the idea that Janice Dickenson is not the first and last of her kind). Fashionista.com pointed our sights to an a opinion columnist at the Guardian, Hadley Freeman, who gives his opinion on Agyness fever. We really must admit, the brit isn’t to far from the truth. The full article below…
Can you please explain why the big fuss over that model Agyness Deyn?
She’s perfectly pretty but the excitement does seem disproportionate.
Martin Stam (Not related to the model, we think), by email
Think back to those times back in a period known as “yore”. Back then there was apparently only one channel on TV and two cinemas in the country, so any time any vaguely cultural event happened it was some sort of collectively acknowledged occasion that everyone would experience, disparately but simultaneously. Each household would watch this important event and then, on Monday, everyone would discuss how hilarious it was on Saturday night when bachelor number three did that Rick Astley impression while grabbing his crotch and Cilla made that shape with her mouth (for those not in the know he is referring to the Dating Game, a popular show that was bastardized by Next, Flavor of Love, The Bachelor, I Love New York, Blind Date, and just about every other reality series focussed around hooking up two people who have little to nothing in common). Ah yes, the glory days of culture. Who can be surprised if, in these cold days of cultural fragmentation courtesy of Sky Plus, streaming and DVD boxsets, we all long to return to such a comforting, sepia-tinted nest of cosiness?
Which brings us to Agyness Deyn. Someone somewhere along the line decided that we need a new culture-by-way-of-fashion icon as a sort of generational figurehead. That Moss chick, well, she’s just been around a bit long now, hasn’t she? And Lily Cole, well, rather unjustly, she somehow became the visual symbol for any discussion about anorexia, so citing her as an icon of fabulous fashionability became a little bit tricky. And then, with the kind of timing that would have Dorothy Parker (an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. Oh, Wikipedia do tell me more.) gasp with envy, up pops Agyness, with her misspelt fake name (Laura Hollins, since you asked), her northern accent (so that what is often referred to as “the London style press” - aka, those big magazines that have a commendable appreciation for the utterly meaningless and will include at least one black and white photo of a model standing by a dirty canal and wearing ugly shoes and a headdress from last year’s Notting Hill Carnival - can patronisingly refer to her as “real”), her frankly weird taste in clothes and her fondness for hanging out with people who live in east London. To be honest, there are times when I doubt if she’s an actual human being but rather a CGI construct from the office of Dazed & Confused.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure she’s a lovely girl and, yes, a very pretty one. But with that peroxide crop and her love of DM boots and strange stretchy miniskirts, surely I’m not the only one baffled by all the adulation of this so-called “style maverick” when Roxette carved this niche with rather more aplomb almost 20 years ago? Crikey, the magazine iD has dedicated its entire May issue to the woman. A little bit of overkill, yuhthink?
But really, let’s not be too hard on anyone. Because this is actually just an expression of desire for some kind of collective experience, whether that be everyone staying in to watch the start of the new season of Doctor Who or a fascination with some model. Funny, though, how this very same urge might explain why everyone was so keen to express their love of the emperor’s new clothes when, of course, they didn’t exist at all. But hey, not for nothing is the metaphor of that fable based on fashion.
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So I’ve already talked about the 
