Angelina Jolie may be a curious kind of megacelebrity in that she doesn’t seem overly concerned with her clothes or fashion at all. Whereas some celebrities rely on it to be intriguing (hello, Lady Gaga), Jolie — damn her — is intriguing all on her own, and even more so with the help of her kids and megafamous significant other. Bridget Foley of WWD is downright bothered by this, since celebrities are such a key part of the fashion industry. Jolie, she argues, owes it to the industry to try, rather than “often [looking] as unglamorous as her considerable physical gifts allow.”
Angelina has this odd, everywoman thing going on. Her clothes suggest that she wants us to think she’s just like moms everywhere. Getting dressed for the (well-chronicled) day is all about ease, comfort and what makes sense. For fashion, that’s sad enough when it comes to all of that with-the-kids press. True, Jolie always looks casually fabulous, but the fabulosity is all Angelina, not something a designer sent tied up with a bow. That might make her a better person, and Entertainment Weekly readers feel a misguided kinship, but it makes no one feel like rushing out for a T-shirt. They’ve already got one just like it, and it doesn’t make them look like Angelina.
… It probably doesn’t read well for one woman to lament that another woman seems to pay too little attention to her clothes while still looking great. But fashion needs icons other than those who amuse via outrageousness (Lady Gaga) or cheap stereotype (Snooki). Fashion needs aspirational icons; it always has. Michelle Obama can’t do it alone. Right now, despite fashion’s ongoing celebrity obsession, the best of Hollywood isn’t doing its part.
More Salt-related dresses.Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images, ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images, Jun Sato/WireImage
