Beth Ditto, lead singer of the Gossip and Arkansas’s current leading contribution to the music world (I originally put her origins in the wrong Ark. town), makes the scene at the Paris fashion show, an occasion for a New York Times feature. It comes with a photo of the outsized punk singer showcasing her mama tattoo during her appearance for Fendi. Highly recommended story. The lead:

I’m a big prude,” Beth Ditto said on Sunday.

Advertisement

That would be Beth Ditto, the lead singer of the Gossip, the Beth Ditto who not long ago took off her underpants during a performance and tossed them into the crowd, the same Beth Ditto who once mooned the paparazzi on the red carpet going into an awards show, the very Beth Ditto who appears naked on the cover of the new Condé Nast start-up, Love.

Ms. Ditto was sitting in a gilt-ornamented hotel suite. There were views of the Louvre from the living room. Through the windows drifted the tinny music of the children’s carousel in the Tuileries.

Advertisement

“In fashion, in a way, everything is permitted,” Ms. Fendi said Monday night at the Hemingway Bar of the Ritz, a favorite watering hole of people like Kate Moss, Ms. Ditto’s recently acquired best friend. “We wanted to have Beth Ditto not to sell the ultimate new handbag, but because it’s a pleasure to take a little risk and to show that fashion is the one discipline that, because it is about change, is the most open to others.”

Advertisement

Fashion may be frivolous and superficial and often cruel. (When she met Karl Lagerfeld, Ms. Ditto explained, he uttered a lot of “fat-phobic” remarks.) But, whether you are a soulful, rambunctious, alternately foulmouthed and soft-spoken tattooed lesbian feminist with a big career in front of you or a designer hopeful with a pincushion and a portfolio of sketches, fashion can open up worlds you did not know existed.

Anyway, that is what Beth Ditto concluded once she decided to let fashion reel her in.

Advertisement

 

50 years of fearless reporting and still going strong

Be a part of something bigger and join the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times. For 50 years, our progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock has been tackling powerful forces through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 email subscribers, it's clear that our readers value our commitment to great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating – as little as $1 –, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Take a stand with the Arkansas Times and make a difference with your subscription or donation today.

Previous article Beth Ditto takes Paris Next article Madoff to plead