Vanessa Friedman Takes Terry Richardson to Task

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Terry Richardson was behind two big covers this month for Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone, but Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times isn't letting him off the hook that easy. It hasn't taken long for things to return back to normal for Richardson, who was accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment this past year.

Friedman draws a parallel between Richardson and John Galliano, saying that while Galliano dropped off for four years and showed visible signs of working toward self-improvement, Richardson has nothing to show for himself:

Talent is talent and all that, and Mr. Richardson unquestionably has a singular point of view. But fashion is an industry whose whole identity is based on catering to women and making them feel better about themselves — helping them hide what they want to hide and armoring them for the everyday, be it the boardroom or a school run. Or at least it should be.

Celebrating someone who has been accused of doing the exact opposite risks undermining the very point of the discipline. Women buy clothes to solve problems: of how to communicate power, empathy, femininity, ability; of how to define their place in the world. And they buy magazines to help them understand how to do that. The way a photographer interacts with and views the women he shoots goes to the very heart of this message.

Talented or not, Friedman believes that Richardson needs to spend more time showing he's sorry rather than picking up deals for magazine cover shoots.
· Terry Richardson Returns to Magazine Covers, Without a Fuss [NYT]
· Terry Richardson Isn't Having Trouble Booking Work [Racked]
· Terry Richardson on Terry Richardson's Sex Scandals. Warning: Graphic Content. [Racked]