female factor NEWS

TOO MUCH MINNIE

29 Oct 2012
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‘MINNIE Mouse has been through a lot. Since she was first created in 1928 as a love interest for Mickey Mouse, she has been abducted by outlaws, swept away to sea, trapped in a hotel fire, imprisoned by an evil android and held hostage by a gorilla.

She’s no stranger to controversy either, making headlines in 2010 after an Egyptian mogul angered hardline Muslims by tweeting a picture of a niqab-wearing Minnie to promote his mobile phone company; and again in 2011 after her unauthorized appearance in a televised concert to honour North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lead to harsh exchanges about intellectual property rights between Washington and Pyongyang.

Through it all, the former tavern dancer (her debut was as a Tango-dancing barmaid in a tavern in Argentina) has never let her smile slip, and there’s no question the girl-mouse has a distinctive personal style. Originally a ‘flapper mouse’, she was redesigned in the 1940s, making the cinched-waist polka-dot mini her signature, and boldly pairing it with a large matching bow, white gloves, black stockings and oversized high-heeled pumps.

But how is the spirited Minnie bearing up under the news that New York retailer Barneys consider her Too Short And Too Fat To Wear Lanvin? This blow came a week or so ago in the shape of a Barneys holiday campaign video set to launch on 14 November, in which an elongated, slimmed-down Minnie wears an Alber Elbaz-designed hot-pink ruffled mini with elbow-length gloves and strappy stilettoes.

The subtext – that only skinny mice can look good in designer fashion – unsurprisingly has body image activists up in arms and a petition to scrap the display has so far collected over 130 000 signatures. But not a squeak out of Minnie.

Has she holed up in her Disney World digs chomping through her own weight in toasted cheese while promising herself she will start gym on Monday? Does she believe the stylist who tells her that, worn below the knee, her polka-dot dress will make her look slimmer and that a bow in a contrasting colour will draw the eye away from her problem areas? Does she loathe herself yet; does she throw up her meals; is she convinced Mickey would love her more if she were thinner?

And will she remember, the next time she gets on the scale, to first take off those clunky yellow heels?’

- Annelize Visser

Images: Disney and Barneys New York

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GUGULETHU LEETO on 10/29/2012: WOW WHAT A PROFOUND LESSON LIES IN THIS ARTICLE, I ALWAYS ADMIRE YOUR WORK ANNELIZE.
BGT on 11/7/2012: So well written. Sheesh. Potent points to ponder about, on a more serious note.
Noms on 11/12/2012: Oh Annelize! Well this is just sad. Don't fall for it Minnie! You're beautiful just as you are. You are Stylish, you are sexy and you are spirited, sista!