Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Blake Lively finds fashion inspiration from slaveowners

Blake Lively recently announced her pregnancy on her lifestyle website Preserve, which is a lovely occasion worth celebration. Something NOT worth celebration? Her recent ode to the “Southern belle” and her seeming ignorance over, you know, the fact that Antebellum America was not a great place for black people, who were largely enslaved.

Here’s her description of the fashion spread:

Georgia peaches, sweet tea, and the enticement of a smooth twang…we all love a bit of southern charm. These regional mainstays, along with an innate sense of social poise, evoke an unparalleled warmth and authenticity in style and tradition.

The term “Southern Belle” came to fruition during the Antebellum period (prior to the Civil War), acknowledging women with an inherent social distinction who set the standards for style and appearance. These women epitomized Southern hospitality with a cultivation of beauty and grace, but even more with a captivating and magnetic sensibility. While at times depicted as coy, these belles of the ball, in actuality could command attention with the ease of a hummingbird relishing a pastoral bloom.

Like the debutantes of yesteryear, the authenticity and allure still ring true today. Hoop skirts are replaced by flared and pleated A-lines; oversized straw toppers are transformed into wide-brimmed floppy hats and wool fedoras.

The prowess of artful layering -the southern way- lies in inadvertent combinations. From menswear-inspired overcoats to the fluidity of soft flowing separates, wrap yourself up in tactile layers that elicit a true sense of seasonal lure.

No doubt there are many beautiful, charming things about the South both geographically and in its people and traditions. However, to completely ignore pre-Civil War relations and instead focus on the fact that ladies were ~real ladies~ for the sake of fashion and faux-artisan bullshit is pretty tasteless. Maybe hit pause on that one, Blake.

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9 CommentsLeave a comment

  • I actually agree on this. I hate when people romanticize the past for the sake of fashion, or a particular look. I think it is tasteless, and does a disservice to what those people actually went through.

    “While at times depicted as coy, these belles of the ball, in actuality could command attention with the ease of a hummingbird relishing a pastoral bloom.”

    Yeah, they could command about as much attention as their husband or father allowed them to…

  • You can find ugliness in any era if you look for it. Being born in Mississippi and raised in Alabama, I never grew up with the notion that being a “southern belle” meant you were pro-slavery. It meant you were polite, knew how to make sweet tea in a pinch, and dressed to the nines for Sunday church.

    If she finds beauty and inspiration in an antebellum hoop skirt, let her. The best way to move forward is to leave the bad behind, but take with you the good. :)

    • I agree you can find ugliness everywhere in time but to focus on that ugliness when all she was doing was trying to do was refer to a pretty sweet innocent young lady is just showing how truly ugly negative some people are.

  • romanticizing the old south from anyone besides white men (land owners at that) is pretty stupid and show how little you know history

    • So, we should do away with Oktoberfests, too? After all, the Germans……. YOUR logic shows how tunnel-visioned YOU are.

      • and a closer analogy would be finding inspiration in nazi fashion acknowledging women with an inherent social distinction who set the standards for style and appearance. which sounds stupid unless you was a nazi yourself