On Monday, which would have been Met Gala Day, Vogue published an “oral history” of the gala. The gala was postponed indefinitely this year, and while we haven’t heard anything about it possibly going on in the fall, I think the chances are pretty good that there simply won’t be a Met Gala this year. Still, we got to enjoy some vintage drama from the Vogue oral history, including this story from a Vogue staffer named Sally Singer. Singer told a story about Jessica Simpson and John Mayer at the 2007 Met Gala:
On Monday, Vogue published a comprehensive “oral history” of the Met Gala, which includes a series of excerpts written by celebrities, designers, models and more. In the post, former Vogue creative digital director Sally Singer recalled witnessing a surprising exchange between Jessica Simpson and her then-boyfriend John Mayer in 2007.
Singer revealed that at the “Poiret: King of Fashion”-themed ball, Simpson’s breasts “maybe fell out” of her plunging, beaded Roberto Cavalli halter-neck gown while she was on the red carpet. And, according to the fashion editor, the wardrobe malfunction only got worse when Simpson, now 39, and Mayer, now 42, took their seats inside.
“At dinner it was suddenly like, whoa, Jessica Simpson’s breasts are across from me at the dinner table and they are on a platter and I’m looking at them,” Singer said in the Vogue piece. “And John Mayer was putting his hands on them at the dinner table. He kind of reached down and I just remember thinking, ‘Oh, celebrities, feel free to play here. That’s what’s going on’.”
When Jessica released her memoir earlier this year, there was a lot of introspection from various media figures about how they treated Jessica over the years. She was used as a punchline for a lot longer than it was funny, and a lot longer than her “ditzy America’s Sweetheart” act went on. You know what I mean? She played up the ditzy thing on Newlyweds, but for years after that, people still treated her like she could barely function because she was so stupid. Anyway, Jessica posted this on her IG:
She’s right. She is. I’m including the photos of Jessica at the 2007 gala – she wore a Roberto Cavalli gown and there’s no indication that her full breasts were coming out of the gown. It sounds more like Sally Singer was doing some gatekeeping and trying to shame Jessica and all women who don’t have model-proportions.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram and Avalon Red.
I have to say, I am surprised how much I loved reading her new book. I had no intentions of buying it, but I downloaded the free sample and it drew me right in. She has a very authentic, funny voice, and it seems she is less “dumb blonde” than people think she is. I tore through the book in two days.
I listened to her audiobook a couple of months ago and was addicted. It was great and I highly recommend it!
I tore through it too and absolutely fell in love with her. It’s juicy too.
I just finished graduate school & now that I have time to read again for fun I bought it virtually from our local bookstore. Hopefully, I should have it by the end of the week. I’m super excited to read it & glad to hear other Celebitches enjoyed it!!
I was stunned by how much I enjoyed her book. Her candor and openness were refreshing especially a celebrity memoir. Her self reflection about her relationship with men was truly eyeopening and showed the depth I assumed she truly lacked. Also, her addiction to body image, laxatives, uppers, and booze were also eyeopening and told me that many celebs besides her may be doing similar to maintain their bodies.
But also, can we please talk about John Mayer? Holy douche canoe! He is the man you advise even your sworn enemy to run fast and far away from. What a classic gaslighter! I can’t imagine anyone sleeping with him now..
“On a platter”? What a b. She looked phenomenal and her boobs looked perky as hell. I like Jessica’s response, it and the photo together were perfect.
she did look fantastic. and I LOVE her as a brunette. I think it suits her better than the bottle blond extensions she favors.
the girls looked pretty well corralled and well taped in that dress. She looked AMAZING.
Ugh Sally Singer sucks.
How is this an appropriate story for an employee of Vogue to tell of a guest at a fundraiser? Even if it’s true?
Singer and the editor who played this should be fired, but it won’t happen because this get Vogue buzz. Andre Leon Talley is right: Anna Wintour had to have approved this, and it was cruel.
If guests risk being described this way for attending, why would they want to help Vogue and the Met by lending their celebrity? I know that celebrities take a risk by being public figures, but this is supposed to be a space amongst peers and admirers to promote art, not a mean girl opportunity for people like Singer.
Go Jessica. Agree with everything you said Kaiser, and I agree with her response and love the photo included!
I read her book recently and was impressed with her self-awareness. She really did internalize the body messages that were sent her way, for years and years. But I think she’s way smarter than people give her credit for. And her time with John Mayer was a really toxic relationship. Pretty crappy for this woman to bring her down for having a body.
Any woman with any assets whatsoever have to put up with a full range of comments throughout her entire life. Even at the end of life, when the family is looking at all the old photos, the comments flood. It’s quite deranged.
No lies told.
I like Jessica Simpson, and I absolutely agree that she’s been treated like an idiot. I also agree that women are objectified and we’re held to insane standards.
That said, I know celebrities play by different roles but I have a difficult time sympathizing with anyone who’s objectified in a moment when they choose to put their assets on display. If you don’t want someone gawking at your 38DD (or whatever size) then do more to cover them. That or use more tape to keep them from spilling over on to a dinner plate.
Why though? Why should She cover up her breasts more? Why shouldn’t people learn that visibility of any part of another person’s body isn’t an OPEN invitation to gawk, harass or judge?
This!
It’s 2020 and people are still blaming the victim for being harassed and shamed.
Just today my 11 year old and 7 year old sons were questioning why girls couldn’t take off their tops like boys. When I told them that you could be arrested for showing off your breasts in public, they were shocked. My autistic son then proceeded to have a total meltdown about how illogical this was.
It is illogical and it’s terrible that women are just as keen to shame other women’s bodies as men.
Nahema, thank you for sharing that story!
Yep.
But…they probably weren’t actually “spilling on a dinner plate.” That’s the problem.
She isn’t complaining that Sally looked at her cleavage though. She’s complaining about comments Sally is making about it more than a decade later. And the truth is, women end up getting objectified in one way or another whether they cover up or not. Sometimes it happens in more in-your-face ways. Other times it’s in more subtle, seemingly benevolent but dangerous ways- like turning a woman’s modesty about her body into a reason why she should be treated better than other women or is a cut above the rest.
More than a decade later.
Massive eyeroll for me.
Please check your disgusting “But what was she wearing?” response at the door.
+1
Agree. The dress is cut to show cleavage but it was held very well in place, There is no gapping at all and it’s probably held down with boob tape. She was right there with the designer. They fitted that dress to her body and looked at it from all angles. That Vogue person was trying to shame her because she probably thought she wasn’t the right type for the Met gala. I hate this type of sexism. The dress is sexy but not vulgar.
I agree and I know I’m in the minority. I just really hate seeing someone’s side boob. I really don’t need to see that any day of the week, plus I get so nervous about women having possible wardrobe malfunctions.. Jessica easily could have worn the dress with the plunging neckline and kept her boobs more securely in–I’m not surprised she most likely had a nip slip in that dress. I’m 34B so I can get away more with the plunging neckline if I wanted to but I would feel practically naked if I wore that. And any woman wearing a dress like that is going to attract attention, let’s not be naive. When you are showing that amount of cleavage, men and women are going to notice and stare, there’s nothing you can do about that. It has nothing to do with body shaming her, but people are going to remember that dress. There’s a reason why J. Lo’s infamous Versace dress is remembered all these years later–it’s not the color!
Ella what an ass-backwards response. Didn’t you read it before posting, and if so, why weren’t you absolutely MORTIFIED by what you typed?! Breasts make you uncomfortable. You should probably sit with that and maybe you can see how you have internalized our society’s insistence on controlling and policing women’s bodies. Get over your ‘icky’ feeling, that’s your damage. Me and my DD’s will be happily bra free in a tank top, hope I run into you while I’m jogging!
If you don’t like seeing somone’s side boob, there’s an easy solution: don’t look!
OK, a couple of things…
1) if you don’t like seeing side-boob, DON’T LOOK. if you “get nervous” about women having wardrobe malfunctions, that’s YOUR issue. maybe get therapy. I’m betting you’re one of those folks that thinks women shouldn’t breast feed in public.
2) anyone can “get away with” a plunging neckline. if YOU would feel naked, (again) that’s YOUR issue. don’t want to feel naked? no problem, but don’t apply your discomfort to anybody else’s body image.
3) if people stare, that’s THEIR issue. it’s rude to stare, and maybe those folks should learn manners.
But what about men who wear suits! I mean they deserve to be looked at and mugged because they’re showing off they have money. Men just don’t think!
I have a solution to your problem: Do not look at them. Ignore the sideboobs.
Easy, huh?
I see your point. I don’t care what people do. If you want to have side boob, go for it. My point is that if something “slips” out or actually, full-on bouncing out, don’t be surprised when people have a reaction to it.
Not everyone want to see that, and personally I was raised that some things are private. I don’t need to see someone’s breasts shoved in my face.
Wow, what a dumb, idiotic thing to say. You should get help if side-boob makes you uncomfortable. You should try to start getting more comfortable with the human body. Or, like others said, just DON’T LOOK and it’s that simple.
If something “slips” I think it it’s natural to look– that’s fine– just as long as you’re not harassing people or body-shaming like in the Vogue article.
A Mind-bogglingly backward response.
uh, you’re on a slippery slope here.
should the young women who wear leggings or yoga pants do more to “cover up” so those poor, poor, innocent teenage boys won’t gawk or make lewd comments?
should a woman who is heavier than average not wear a bikini, or even a swimsuit to the beach because “people don’t want to see that”?
should a larger breasted woman not wear a sportsbra to jog in because she’s “showing them off”?
don’t police people’s bodies.
As a big boobed woman myself, I don’t think that’s fair. Most of the clothes I wear either make me look bigger (when I attempt to cover up) and/or my boobs look like they are about to spill out because it is what it is. Like Jessica, it took me years to free myself from that internalization of shame and objectification (cover up your boobs you are attracting attention). At the end it didn’t matter if they were covered up or not, they attracted unwanted attention in my scenarios.
And sorry but Jessica Simpson was at the MET GALA. It’s not like she was going to church in that dress!!!
Second that! Unless I wear a turtleneck sack dress, I’ll show some cleavage and boobs cuz that’s just what happens when you have big tits. And it’s ok to not want to cover up sometimes, especially at a freackin’ fashion gala. What should she had worn to please those people? A burka?!
Thank you Whitecat. I developed size DDD breasts when I was about 9 and I was sexualized to a degree that actually damaged me for years. It was horrific trying to find bathing suits and shirts that covered me and did not make me look I was wearing a muumuu. I was continually looked at as “fast” since I had a body that seemed to DEMAND comment from anyone and everyone. ( i graduated high school a damn virgin I was so sick of it all) There is NO winning when you have large breasts and you learn to “joke” about them and put them down before anyone else because you have had so many ugly and demeaning things said to you. And believe me. Even trying to find a “church” dress was a nightmare since ANY cleavage is somehow against the god(dess) who created it.
Could you be more of a mean girl? I suppose those of us with larger breasts should just walk around in baggy sweatshirts and muumuus all the time to make you self-appointed cleavage police happy.
You know… Seeing those two awful backward a** comments about women’s bodies disappointed me but reading the responses just really turned it around. I’m so happy to see so many more people stand up for women’s bodies and shame people who shame women for it. It’s true u suffer whatever you do as a woman. If you show too much you’re asking for it and if you don’t show anything you’re a boring prude. Can’t win, so ladies, dress how you want, whatever makes you happy. At the end of the day, that’s the only way to get things done. And for anyone who thinks it’s uncomfortable or Just asking to be targeted or ridiculed for dressing as you please, gonna mirror what everyone else is saying and reiterate that You DO NOT HAVE TO LOOK.
Exactly!
My breasts are what they are, completely natural. And I dress them and the rest of my body as I please. If someone doesn’t like how they look, or how the rest of my body looks, they are welcome to look at something else. Whether I’ve got on a top with a plunging neckline, a turtleneck, cut outs, no sleeves, long sleeves, or an LED recreation of The Last Supper doesn’t matter. You don’t like it? Dress how you like and don’t you nevermind about me – Kay?
Unless you are an officer of the law and I’m violating some written law about public dress, keep your opinions about my boobs, my cleavage, the color of my skin, the thickness of my ankles/thighs/waist to your own darn self 🙂
Do you honestly believe they were “spilling onto a dinner plate”? I am a 32e, not as perky as Jessica in those pics and there is no way my breasts would be described as such.
38DD? You obviously have no idea how bras work. 38 is the circumference where the bra band sits. She’s 30 or 32. DD also aren’t the highest letters in the alphabet nor when it comes to bras and Jessica is most likely not a DD here. While that would be forgivable, you have not really an idea how objectifying works. I have bigger breast and people will always comment on them and do so because they think it’s okay. Covering up does absolutely nothing to stop them. No matter what I wear, it will not make them disappear. They are they and noticeable. What you say is extremely harmful as it implies that one only had to do the “right thing” to stop unwanted behavior from others.
If women weren’t objectified it would not matter what parts of her body were showing.
The Vogue article was repulsive and symbolic of the whole societal mess. Anna’s time at the helm is up.
She looks a lot more covered up than others I have seen since then so I cannot imagine this being remotely true. Sally is probably thirsty for some attention…and it worked.
Agreed.
There is enough material on Jessica’s outfit to dress the three Kardashian women for a night out.
Am I missing something?
Singer said “At dinner it was suddenly like, whoa, Jessica Simpson’s breasts are across from me at the dinner table and they are on a platter and I’m looking at them,” Singer said in the Vogue piece. “And John Mayer was putting his hands on them at the dinner table. He kind of reached down and I just remember thinking, ‘Oh, celebrities, feel free to play here. That’s what’s going on’.”
Perhaps if there was a picture of Jessica sitting down that would help people see Singer’s point of view.
The date of the article is May 4, 2020 and contains a variety of people recounting memories of the Met Gala in years past. In that section, people were sharing mishaps that had occurred. So a Fanning (can’t remember which one) recounted the time her fake ponytail fell off when she was whipping it around, but Alexa Chung came to her rescue. Anna Wintour recounted the time a peahen escaped from a cage and made it to some exhibit before it was rustled up and returned. It was all pretty lighthearted kind of stuff. And for reasons that I cannot fathom, in this crappy, awful time, Sally Singer decided an anecdote about Jessica Simpson in a revealing dress – 13 years ago – was the way to go, but with a really crass spin. And the writer and editors went along with it.
I think the truth is in the middle. Was John playing with them, sure, where they spilled out probably not. But it makes the story funnier to sound like her nips were out. She also talked about being drunk a lot since she was so insecure about not being John’s intellectual equivalent. She may not remember exactly what happened that night.
This ^
I am wondering why she hasn’t responded to the claim that John Mayer was groping her at the dinner table. It’s disgusting (which he is) and shows him degrading her again in public.
Because that part is probably true.
That is the worst part to me. I hope it isnt true. She looks so pretty in those picture. Love her as a brunette.
I find that part difficult, I mean your partner is grabbing your breasts in public but your problem is that other people commenting on your breasts? Seems so strange to me.
At the time there was a lot of interest in them as a couple, if that was true, or Jessica having a wardorobe malfunction there would have been headlines.
I’m reading her memoir right now and I love it.
Last night, I literally just read the part where she said she’s going to keep using her voice to stand up for women against body shaming, and I’m glad to see it! Can we just not?
With all this Adele stuff today, I just want the response to be “I hope that you’re happy and healthy”.
Also, given how much John Mayer really messed with her, I’m sure she appreciated this being dragged up two-fold.
This is the Met Gala. People might have skin showing or they might be completely covered in plastic cats. Sally was being cruel and sexist … but then again, I think that is the fashion industry at that level. The woman who hosts the Gala is known to be atrociously judgemental.
I think this type of comment is slowly going out of style as more women realize how harmful this is to all of us.
I really need to read her book. So many people have raved about it.
Idk, I think Sally is entitled to her opinion. If my mother or grandmother saw me dressed that way, they’d probably have a similar reaction & if they saw me tolerating John Mayer, they’d definitely have a private word.
Sounds like Jessica has a real sensitivity to this kind of criticism. I’m sorry she was hurt.
Right, but Sally isn’t her mother or grandmother. And she’s blabbing to the world. Completely different from a private remark.
she’s entitled to her opinion.
but maybe be a nicer person and don’t put it out for the entire public to hear.
as for your mother and grandmother, I find it interesting how different some folks are at an older age. I once wore a dress that was quite form fitting and lower cut in the front. My grandmother told me that I looked like Madonna (this was circa 1990-1991) and meant that I looked fantastic and glamorous.
“Sounds like Jessica has a real sensitivity to this kind of criticism. I’m sorry she was hurt.” It seems like within the past year or two with this memoir coming out, Jessica has been really taking a look at how she and some of the other women around were were treated. It’s good that she’s been speaking up. It’s not just her though- it’s something that’s been happening with a lot of female public figures over the past few years calling out disrespect that’s typically supposed to be laughed off to keep the peace, or otherwise just accepted as a consequence.
Or maybe . . . She’s been subjected to this sh*t for ages and now finds courage to address it?
Your comment reminds me of when some woman hijacked my Uber and then claimed I was being too sensitive about it. Ah, no sweetie.
Some of these comments are frightening. Thank you to those speaking up.
A Vogue staffer is scandalized by seeing too much breast? Lolololol! A ton of runway shows feature women who are braless, barely covered, or have only sheer fabric on top. I absolutely agree that she’s shaming Jessica for having full breasts.
More so, she told the story because she feels like she can get away with it, as Jessica’s not a megastar by their standards. Gisele, for instance, also favors this type of look- she wears a lot of Versace – and is definitely not flat chested. Google her dress from the 2008 Met Gala. Pretty sure Sally wouldn’t have told a story like that about her.
Because the “ideal” body type for the fashion industry is small breasts on very skinny models. Jessica doesn’t fit their accepted norm. And the fashion industry is not known for its kindness toward varying body shapes. 🙁
Exactly. Jessica Simpson has breasts. Giselle Bunchen has very small breasts. Jessica Simpson showed cleavage framed in a gown designed for her body, and Giselle barely has any. Models pose topless in Vogue all the time, but they don’t really have large breasts.
I’m sure that Mayer was into her, and that there was sexual energy between them, but groping her at the table? There would be photos and it would have been reported if anything that bad had occurred because there was a lot of interest in them at the time, reports like, “…they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other”. A lot of people are put off by sexual energy and they project their own crap onto seeing couples who have it. Mayer is a creep, but it was a public event. This sounds like jealously and spite to me.
Gisele got breast augmentation several years ago, and she does wear very risqué dresses. I realize her boobs look more proportional to her body than Jessica’s, because she’s tall, and they are in fact smaller overall.
I completely agree on the acceptable vs unacceptable body types comments, but wanted to say there’s also an elitist element at play, too, because of Jessica’s career and how she’s perceived. There’s not having the “right kind of body” and also not being “the right kind of people.”
yes yes yes to all of these comments.
for the same reasons that small breasted high schoolers are allowed to wear strapless to prom, but a larger-chested student has to “cover up”. even if NOTHING IS SHOWING.
I would be so uncomfortable if someone would play with their girlfriends boobs in front of me.
So then why didnt the vogue piece criticize john mayer instead of jessica?
Exactly
I think everyone would have been different if this sally person criticized John Mayer only. I think we could have all rallied around that because Mayer is a misogynist A hole.
An aside, women should have the same rights as men when it comes to being topless in public.
Agreed, and that applies to bra but with a top on as well. Even when there are other valid criticisms of individual women or things that are irritating, nobody be called ‘cheap’ (hello dehumanization!) or otherwise be female virtue/modesty-policed for not doing something that men don’t have to bother with anyway. It’s not an, ” only when my saintly ones do it” game, and it goes for all races, ethnicities, and body types.
What a good return, Jessica! And, by the way, the Sophia – Jane Picture is one of my favorite pictures, good old Jetset/Hollywood/Diva-Gossip without words. Iconic!
I’ve alwayss wondered what Sophia was thinking. Has she ever addressed this?
What I read last night was that at that time exposed nipples meant a jail sentence of I believe, seven years where Sophia is from. Part of Jane’s is exposed in that picture, and the author said that Sophia was shocked about the exposure. I don’t know if it’s true, I’ll try to find the story. The original picture shows the exposure and also apparently shows the stretch marks on Jane’s breast.
Whenever I see a picture of Jayne Mansfield I always search for resemblance to her daughter Mariska Hargitay.
Thanks. I will havee to google because now I’m really curious.
The story I read was that it was Sophia’s night at her premiere movie in America. Jayne was not even invited but she showed up with her nipples showing and basically demanded to sit at the head table and they let her. She showed up to upstage a new, young sex symbol and there is no doubt Miss Sophia is PISSED. That is some GRADE A, organic side eye.
Team Jessica all the way here. As a LBW myself there are too many times I get treated like a freak for them. I actually with Mayer would support Jessica with a comment about body positivity (and not sexual napalm) but maybe that to classy for him.
Salty Sally should be ashamed, but I’m sure she isn’t. Jessica is totally right; this is mean-spirited, misogynistic, and uncalled for. Her ladies were taped in, that’s pretty obvious, so this story is sizeist bullcrap (though I’m pretty convinced John probably was pawing her inappropriately, because that man is sentient chlymidia with a guitar). I am not a Jessica stan, and I white hot hated her playing up the dumb=cute/sexy thing early in her career, but we really do need to support each other and call out this stale crap. Jessica has moved on and Sally needs to unclench and shut up.
“that man is sentient chlymidia with a guitar”
*DEAD*
Lol!! I’m 100% going to refer to that man as sentient chlamydia with a guitar from now on. I hate his music and his gross, public behavior and statements.
Great description of JM. I was and am still not a Simpson fan but it always made me feel for her that she said she felt insecure about her intellect compared to his. Sure no one is going to confuse her for a Rhodes scholar but it’s not like Mayer is an intellectual. He is supremely pretentious and that’s all and deliberately made her feel inferior because he’s a revolting piece of turd.
What this journalist wrote was sexist and gross.
That said, re: “ditzy America’s sweetheart” — unless I missed something and she was coached into acting that way, that was the persona she chose to put forth on national television. She had a reality show and could be as authentic as she pleased, and she chose to pretend to be a stereotype. I kinda…have a hard time feeling bad for her if that’s how she was perceived afterward if that’s how she chose to act in the public eye. *shrugs*
So just because someone takes on a few-spirited, fun-loving persona, they can be body-shamed? Jerry Lewis acted as a literal idiot – shall we criticise his body now as too fat?
Big boobed woman here.
The dress looks painful. Like it is squishing her poor bubbies. As she doesn’t have “model proportions”, it probably was a little.
But also, damn she looks banging in it. Her comments don’t reflect that she felt bad or uncomfortable wearing it so I hope she knows how banging she looked.
If Ms Sally Schoolmarm should be pissy at anyone in the context of that story, it’s John Mayer. Don’t know why she is tearing Jessica down.
I dont feel bad Jessica has been labeled a “ditzy Americas sweetheart”, she fully leaned into that trope to make money. She has done nothing to dispel the ditzy image and nows she mad about it? That’s the image she (and her team) pushed forward for years, you cant change that image one day bc you decide you dont like it anymore. She could choose to go back to school or engage in thoughtful philanthropy so dispel that image but instead she just whines about it. My guess is she isnt whining about all the money that ditzy Americas sweetheart trope made her.
I’ve never ever seen her complain about being labeled ditzy. She knows she leaned on the persona and laughed all the way to the bank. You should read her book, or an excerpt, maybe.
She’s responding to the rude comments about her body here. She’s really big on not shaming women’s bodies of any size.
I take it Sally Singer doesn’t like breasts, Jessica Simpson, and/or women with ample breasts. Stupid and offensive comments on Singer’s part. I also came here to say I hate Vogue and the pretentious Met Ball. That is all. Seeing my way out of this thread now.
Jessica used the word nausea correctly here where she said something was “nauseating” , instead of “it made me nauseous”, which is incorrect
She gets points, and yes, the joke on Jessica’s ditziness has run too long
In addition to the Jessica comment, the whole oral history was pretty bland to me. Why were Kendall Jenner and Elle Fanning quoted over and over? They needed a greater variety of voices and some real fashion legends giving their memories. Sadly this fashion bible is now pandering to the Kardashian audience
I have 36DDs, I think Jessica is about that size or a D. On a halter type dress like that, it is next to impossible to keep the girls in place. I am tired of getting shamed for having big boobs. If I wear a tank top, I get dirty looks from women, lascivious ones from men. I wore a wrap sweater at work one day, and it gaped open and my boss was horrified that she saw a glimpse of my bra. While standing there in a dress so short, she can’t bend over. I’m tired of the double standard
She’s quite petite… She’d have a smaller band size and a larger cup size for sure…
32 E or F maybe?
pretty hypocritical to pile on de Armas for showing her nipples as “thirsty” but be outraged for Simpson more or less being accused of the same.
+1.
I see no nipples here…?
good point (ha ha)
She looks like Rita Hayworth with her hair, makeup, and dress. A true bombshell. This look really suited her.
As a woman who is bustier, I do think there is something to be said for the fact that when you wear something revealing or that isn’t covering them fully, it’s definitely more noticeable than, say, a woman blessed with more modest proportions. It’s not entirely fair, but it is a reality that in cultures where breasts are a sexualized body part, that’s going to be something people notice, and frankly, you don’t wear a dress like that unless you’re playing up your looks. Which is FINE, mind. She’s an adult among other adults. They’re just breasts. She’s allowed to dress attractively if she wants, but I do think Jessica needs to be honest that’s part of the consideration of wearing a halter when you are fuller in the chest.
This being said, I do think a magazine with the readership Vogue has a little more responsibility to be thoughtful about the material they put out. The problem here is the contempt and disgust implicit in her description. If big breasts aren’t your thing, that’s fine, but it’s her body, and it’s a natural body part. At least half of the population has them. It’s not that big of a deal that you need to publish your need to make her feel lesser for having them and wearing something a little risque. That’s what makes Sally the jerk.*
*This being said, if John was feeling her up at the table, that is absolutely inappropriate and deserves to be called out for it. Other people do not have to engage in your kinks.
I literally got picked on in middle school by all the girls in my class for having D cup boobs and all the boys wanted to play with me at recess (dodgeball etc). I found this out in 11th grade because one of the girls came up to me and approached me to apologize for her part in the behavior. It was eyeopening because I thought I was not cool enough for them and thus they hated me.
Her book was amazing heartfelt and a true positive read for all women. I wasn’t expecting it to be that good! I was crying like every other chapter – you really don’t have any idea how much turmoil and pressure people are under!
Women HATE other women. We are own worst critics and enemies.
No. That’s just another misogynist trope. You think men don’t bitch and criticise each other?
I would expect someone who knew anything about fashion to notice rather the fact the hem of the dress is long on her and dragging and doesn’t appear to have been fitted to her height. Jessica is shorter. On a lesser note I would also say the bust could have been fitted better: she looks a tiny bit squashed / not really that well supported. It’s possible this was a last-minute choice without much time to fit the dress perfectly to her.
That said… it’s Roberto Cavalli… of course it’s going to be a sexy, sparkly, revealing dress. That’s his style! Versace lite. I saw him / his designs in Vogue MANY times in the early 2000’s. It is too bad we can’t have fun dresses without being shamed by women who hate women in this self-loathing puritanical porn-obsessed country. I feel like Sally Singer just disliked and wanted to hurt Jessica in particular. It’s just sensationalism, misogyny, and shaming a woman for having a body and wearing something distinguishable from a burial shroud.
It wouldn’t surprise me if John Mayer was pawing at her at the dinner table. But that’s John Mayer’s (grossly on brand) Faux Pas, not hers.
In the years since those photos were taken we have seen the sheer, see-through dress take over the Met Gala carpet and much more daring dresses than Jessica’s. Singer’s comments are so classless and bitchy, and totally uncalled for. Shame on her and Vogue.
Jessica’s book was great. I was not expecting that much honesty and openness from a celebrity book, and consequently, I feel a bit protective of her when I see stories like this. Her relationship with John Mayer is a cautionary tale at best- he is a manipulative psychopath. She is smoking hot in this picture. I think society likes to sexualize women but gets super uncomfortable when a stunning woman dares to own that sexuality, or her body, especially in a public space. Like hey lady, how dare you live in the body we’re busy objectifying (sarcasm). Had to be triggering for her on multiple levels and I’m so glad she clapped back.
None of this makes any sense. Recent articles say Singer left Vogue sometime in December 2019. She was not a staff writer but a digital creative director (whatever the heck that is). Here’s a pic of Singer at Met Gala – perhaps a little too “lined” and “resting bitch face” to compete with the upbeat and always smiling Jessica Simpson.
https://fashionista.com/2019/12/sally-singer-vogue-digital-creative-director-stepping-down
And yet Jennifer Lopez’s green dress was somehow “iconic” and everyone only had compliments for her……….#eyeroll