Oil Couture?

The Gulf oil spill, over the past few months, has become many things to many people: an environmental catastrophe of epic proportion, a wake-up call for a petroleum-besotted nation, a chance for animal rescue and wildlife rehabilitation groups to shine in the national spotlight. And now, it seems, a backdrop for high-fashion photography.

Photographer Steven Meisel has carved out something of a niche for himself in the high-stakes world of fashion photography. He "discovered" Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell, he shot Madonna for her 1992 book, Sex, and is BFF with Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

For his latest project (this one for Vogue Italia) Meisel uses the Gulf coast as a backdrop. Because, I guess, there's nothing that screams high-fashion quite like oil-soaked beaches.

So what does all of this really mean? Well, there's the school of thought that anything which draws attention to the conditions down there is a good thing. As a commenter on ecorazzi.com puts it, "I’d rather see these ads than one more public-relations damage-control spot by BP talking about how much they’re 'helping' the people in the Gulf region." Point well taken; I think we're all a little sick of BP's PR-spew.

But I'm not so sure this is a good thing. You see, it's not well-paid (if not exactly well-fed) supermodels washing up on those beaches. It's brown pelicans, sea turtles, and dozens of other species. It's a lot harder to clean them off, and they don't exactly have a private jet waiting to whisk them off to Milan. Meisel's choice of backdrops is in poor taste, certainly, but worse, it cheapens the disaster as much as any self-congratulatory press release from BP ever could.

It's also worth noting that in order to make this thing happen, presumably several thousand dollars worth of clothing was brought in, draped on model Kristen McMenamy, and then summarily destroyed — soaked in oil, rolled in sand, etc. I wonder how many sensible sets of clothing that sum could have bought for now-unemployed Gulf Coast residents who have lost their jobs.

Vogue Italia, and Meisel himself, might have you believe that this is something of an editorial statement. Perhaps it is; I can't speak to their motives. But, if it is, then wouldn't it be a far stronger statement to show the actual victims of the BP spill in all of their hideous realism, rather than a stylized, glamorized version? Steven Meisel is an accomplished photographer, by all accounts. Perhaps he should have used his lens to portray, just for once, the awful reality of life and death in the Gulf of Mexico. Compelling, stark and emotional, no extra style needed.

Or, even better, Meisel could have shot his spread in the air-conditioned comfort of a Manhattan studio, then packed up his model and his production assistants, flown to the Gulf and helped clean up a beach. That would have sent a real message.

Photo credit: USFWS/Southeast