{"id":5997,"date":"2007-02-09T10:45:34","date_gmt":"2007-02-09T15:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=5997"},"modified":"2022-10-12T13:11:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T17:11:17","slug":"rip-anna-nicole-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=5997","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Anna Nicole Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote some of what I felt over at Alex’s<\/a>– but I’ll add a bit here.<\/p>\n

It’s strange to remember an ad campaign – and normally I don’t – but I remember Anna Nicole Smith’s Guess campaign, when she first made her splash. It was kind of startling, as I recall. Guess sometimes has a misogynistic feel to their campaigns – the whole heroin chic thing … but the Anna Nicole campaign did not have that anti-woman feel to it. It was campy. It had a referential quality to it – there was the great photo (which I’m trying to find) of Anna Nicole and a brunette sitting at a table at what was supposed to be an awards ceremony. Anna Nicole is smiling at the camera, spectacular cleavage on display. And the brunette (also gorgeous) is glancing sideways at Anna – looking at her bosoms. There is an actual photograph of Jayne Mansfield [corrected! thanks, Pappi!<\/i>] and Sophia Loren – sitting side by side – and Loren is surreptitiously eyeing Mansfield’s bazoombas. So the ad campaign had a kind of humorous quality to it – I enjoyed them. Also: A woman with those dimensions? When models like Elle McPherson and Linda Evangelista – tall lanky broads – ruled the day? The Guess ads were eye-catching. Truly. I loved them. I loved her kind of silly blonde vibe, there seemed to be a self-effacing quality to the photos. Now I don’t think Anna Nicole Smith was truly aware of what she was doing … she was pretty and all that … but I don’t think that she was like Marilyn Monroe – a true MASTER of print work. Nobody knew how to be photographed like Monroe. I think Anna Nicole Smith used what she had … and if she was part of a good campaign, that used her properly, she could shine.<\/p>\n

But I never got the sense that she was really in charge<\/i> of her image, like Monroe was.<\/p>\n

That was part of the sadness I felt surrounding Anna Nicole Smith. We now live in the era of EX-supermodels. When people like Cindy Crawford and even earlier – lauren Hutton – etc. – have to diversify, go into business, whatever … Models never were that big a deal in earlier days. They would have their day in the sun on magazine covers – and then disappear into obscurity. No more.<\/p>\n

And Anna Nicole Smith never seemed to fit into that post-model thing. Who knows why. I think she was surrounded by bad people who did not have her best interests at heart. I watched only one episode of her reality show and couldn’t bear any more. The thought of how blatantly she was being used made me uncomfortable. And like I said over at Alex: Yes, she was complicit. Yes, she agreed to do the show. Yes, yes, yes. I know all the arguments. I think they’re all correct. But I still felt sad for her.<\/p>\n

I also feel lucky. I feel lucky that I have good friends. That I have had good boyfriends. All of them. That I have a family who gives a shit. I have people in my life who can say to me, “Uhm … do you really want to do that?” When I’ve had my depressions (which I don’t have anymore, knock wood) – I have people who surround me, with love, support … they listen, they give advice … and even if I can’t appreciate it in that moment, I am buoyed up. If I am injured (emotionally) – then I have friends and family who can pick up the slack for me until I am better, stronger. I am lucky. I am lucky but also: I chose well. I have the strength of character to choose well.<\/p>\n

Anna Nicole Smtih did not have that. And I guess it makes me sad.<\/p>\n

Anyway. I went out and found some of my favorite images of that age-old Guess campaign – and I’ll post them here, in memory. I remember these images. How long ago was that campaign? Years, right? But the images have stuck in my head. They’re just delightful, I think.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

I hope you rest in peace, Anna Nicole Smith, and I hope you can hang out with some angels up in heaven who will treat you better than your “friends” did in real life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote some of what I felt over at Alex’s– but I’ll add a bit here. It’s strange to remember an ad campaign – and normally I don’t – but I remember Anna Nicole Smith’s Guess campaign, when she first … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5997"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180148,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions\/180148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}