The Fashion Of Disaster: Vogue's Supermodel Sandy Shoot

To put your finger on the massive disconnect between our pop (and "high") culture and (the often grim aspects of) Reality, look no further than Vogue's latest fashion shoot featuring stick-thin models in expensive gowns posing amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Entitled "Storm Troupers" (clever), the pics by famed photog Annie Leibovitz juxtapose willowy women in high couture with search-and-rescue dogs, military emergency food supply teams...

...and a flooded street in the Far Rockaways:

I suppose the message here is "Fashion Cares" -- and certainly, by donating funds for a Sandy charity Vogue "bought" the right to use one of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States as the backdrop to advertise Chanel and Ralph Lauren -- but I would have much preferred to see these models in the hand-me-down emergency clothing donations that so many people who were flooded out of their homes had to wear. You know: ill-fitting old pant-suits, oversized sweatshirts with holes in them, and (gasp!) OLD (though warm) SOCKS.

What you won't see in Vogue's photo shoot

It is almost as if we have reached the scenario presented in "Hunger Games," where the suffering and danger experienced by the "proles" are displayed as just another fashion accessory -- a rustic addition to the world of glitz and glamour:

Effie Trinket or Anna Wintour?