By Katherine Prochnow
Let me start off by saying that I am 100% crying in the club while typing this. It could be all this metallic eyeshadow I’m wearing (it’s Halloweek betches, you should expect nothing less), but it’s most likely due to the devastating news that Man Repeller is shutting down.
Now if your finger is on the pulse of funny fashion blogs as mine so heavily is, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Man Repeller (recently renamed Repeller) is a blog that started off on Leandra Medine’s plush covered laptop in her teenager bedroom.
It was all about outfits that were arranged to please the wearer and no one else. It was a blog to remind you that you should do things and think things for yourself alone.
This totally selfish attitude quickly took off and swept Man Repeller into a big company with a huge following and an office in NYC with multiple writers and even merch. They were such an inspiration to me.
I remember sitting in the bathroom in high school like the little weirdo I was reading articles to help make myself feel better. I listened to Medine’s podcasts over and over again and I had my internship portfolio ready to go and was planning on submitting it this spring.
Then of course, as all things go; Man Repeller became too big for its britches. At the beginning of this year workers and readers started to criticize Medine for sexist/racist vibes. She stepped back and let new management take over and renamed the blog Repeller which claimed to now have a more diverse, inclusive environment.
This, unfortunately, didn’t last long and last week Medine publicly announced the blog was shut down. The reason was the same reason for many companies with the current climate our world is in: they ran out of funding.
Man Repeller isn’t the only fashion publication that’s bitten the bullet this year. W Magazine, the O.G. fashion, Bible is cutting back and furloughing employees. Esquire is having problems finding people to do photoshoots, and so much more chaos.
The main problem as The NY Times mentions in their “What’s the Point of a Fashion Magazine Now?” article, fashion magazines thrive on their advertisements of expensive products, but nowadays no one wants to spend that type of money on watches and bags (from an environmentalist’s and economist’s standpoint this is amazing news but it’s sad for the fashion companies).
The pandemic isn’t only stealing lives but also everyone’s livelihood. It’s ripping the beauty of fashion away (cue a Titanic song). I know, I know, this is all so shallow and dramatic. Like it’s fashion, calm down. But the world’s economy rests heavily on fashion/textile consumerism.
To summarize: the shut down of Man Repeller replaced my childhood with deep worry for the future. I hope that I along with all my peers can write about the beauty of fashion and self-expression in the future and somehow change this world into a much better place.
And if you don’t believe me here is an article explaining the Man Repeller shut down: https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/man-repeller-is-shutting-down.html
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