I’m peturbed and concerned. Ok, so I don’t really begrudge or have a strong opinion about a girl who happens to go to all the right parties, knows all the right people, is prominent on a scenester site and has a blog that probably gets about 20 gazillion hits more than this one does. She’s sort of cute, a little bit haphazard/messy with her dress sense. I don’t even mind her column in Nylon where she wreaks havoc at hardware stores and makes ‘mum’ jeans look wearable in her bid to open our eyes about fashion, showing us that a white painters jumpsuit is a viable outfit. Nay, in fact, it’s kind of sweet. Furthermore, her recent appearance in the Offspring issue of i-D also sort of makes sense. New generation of style icon, new way of being promulgated to fame (MySpace, blogging, internet blah blah blah). Her growing presence in other mags (Russh, Oyster etc)? Don’t really care either way.
(Above: from Sept07 issue of i-D)
By this paragraph, if you know who I’m talking about, then you’re either a fan or a hater. Cory Kennedy (for those of you that don’t know…and I don’t blame you if you don’t!) seems to inspire the sort of love/hate reactions that only Marmite with eggs (my newfound strangely delicious combo) could equal. I’ve sort of half heartedly mentioned her before once or twice especially in the spirit of all things ‘famous for 15 minutes via the internet’ and all. However, it seems that Cory has a staying power longer than I thought. I don’t particularly like or dislike her but when she takes over the cover of my most favourite magazine in the world Jalouse (shot by a photographer I love as well no less….Jean Baptiste Mondino)… the question marks pop up over my head in the same way that I was perplexed when they put Paris Hilton on the cover of Paris Vogue.
I’m not entirely sure what sort of a European following she has (France, Spain, Italy etc) but by and large the UK is pretty un-Cory-savvy so it would be good to have the French readers enlighten me as to the popularity of this LA-chick. Is her junkie style styling on the cover with Mickey Mouse gloves, fur gilet, toy snake necklace, faded (I think they’re meant to convey a ‘so bad they’re great’ vibe), camera swinging supposed to be some sort of anti-thesis to the effortlessly simple chic that Jalouse is so good at perfecting?
On a UK-related note, it doesn’t really surprise me that Ms. Kennedy is not deified here but then again, we have other junkie stylers here that take it to the next level, KO’ing Cory’s ‘not extreme enough’ style antics to look up to so that explains that.
So is that the attraction for the French then? The lack of style extremities to look up to (I’ll label her as such but for me, there is nothing that is really remarkable about the way she dresses but I can see why for some people she is seen as ‘extreme’)? Is there an exoticism about her? I read Jalouse to escape into a very French/Euro-centric world of actresses that I’ve never read about in English magazines, labels that I can’t get hold of in the UK and restaurants/shops in Paris that I can put on my list to go. Will this all be taken over by a fascination with the LA lifestyle that I can read about in other publications? I’ll keep buying and hoping…
there must be an exoticism about her, seeing as how she’s managed to blind everyone to the fact that she was 15 when she started dating the cobrasnake eejit. I can’t believe no one has called Child Protective Services on her seemingly non-existent parents yet.
i seriously can’t wait until this crappy ironic style of dressing is over with. and putting a kid-hipster on the cover of a magazine makes it lose all credibility as far as i’m concerned
i thought they were so good at keepig obvious choices away fro their pages. i think cory is pretty obvious right now, she’s everywhere and i can’t really figure out why, as there are more hipsters/scensters pictured everywhere that have the same exact credentials.
I don’t know if you noticed, but on a smaller scale the phenomenon is everywhere in the teenvogue/myspace world. the girls from the shapshots (esp. nicole, the one you featured) are literally being spammed with comments on their myspace.
I believe this phenomenon originates from the fact that most celebrities are way too unreachable to create the same interest that these girls create. Cory, Bianca & co. (from cobrasnake and related sites) are celebrities of the american teenagers’ world, it’s like a small universe on its own, and i think normal girls like the fact that they can just go to a party and see a celeb (they made into themselves) or chat with her on msn.
I’m French and as far as I know, that girl doesn’t have much of a following here. I think only the Internet savvy people even know her name, and the rest will just see her as a pretty face on a magazine cover.
Actually, the question on the cover says it all : “Qui connait Cory Kennedy?” (‘who knows Cory Kennedy?’).
Now probably they’re going to try and make her the new hip thing, the name you’ve got to know, still I doubt she could become a style icon here. But hey, you never know !
I actually think she looks kind of French, in that charmingly dishevelled, Lou Doillon/Jane Birkin kind of manner. There is definitely something about her, as I recall distinctly noticing her when I came across Cobra Snake’s photographs over a year ago. She stands out, has presence, and what have you.
i’m confused about cory kennedy – all she is is an internet phonomenon and now she’s treated like a celebrity? she’s just a scenester 🙁
For what I know she doesn’t have much of a “following” in continental Europe, I’m still to meet someone that ever heard of her beside us Internet maniacs.
I do not really know what to think of her, sometimes I think of her her a reflection of our time, so she has all the right to be everywhere, others that we are promoting people that do not deserve it.
But anyway she as a very strong resemblance with Lou Doillon, that is probably my favourite “celebrity”.
i definitely think there is a l.a./paris love connection going on in a certain scene…maybe the cobrasnake/collette/ed banger/dim mak scene….all of l.a. dresses like they want to be birkin or bardot….and i was surprised at how big hip hop eighties style(collette dance class?) still is. and there’s a similarity in the easy, breezyness. i feel like paris and l.a. might have mutual crushes on each other(once again in a certain scene but you can definitely feel the pulses and influence of it…) oh and nylon magazine contributes to it, too the l.a./paris thing.
I have to admit I am rather taken by Cory… probably because she has nice hair (a mon avis anyway) and is rather pretty… Lou Doillon-ish. I’m just envious that she is the same age as me and is getting on the cover of Jalouse…
I don’t know whether this is because of an LA fascination or rather that she really is just quite a novelty, especially the fact that, like you said, her 15 minutes haven’t ended yet. It’s making people wonder why the world isn’t bored of her by now and so her popularity grows…
At least she’s having fun with her “fame”
Is she real? I kind of assumed so was made-up, some sort of marketing ploy or art joke, or just a persona that columnists sometimes adopt. I find her blog very hard to read though.
I’m with you on the Marmite & eggs thing though.
i used to like her and think she was really cute, until i watched an interview with her and she was just full of attitude… it really changed my opinion on her.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_w8lTgbwaB2I/Rr05SEH_EQI/AAAAAAAABGI/n1E5-zRtisg/s1600-h/IMG_4887.jpg
see her wearing what looks like your prada socks
I think there are many parallels you can draw between the Cory Kennedy obsession now and the Chlo√´ Sevigny fixation in the early 90s upon being “Found” by Sassy magazine…There maybe be a million girls just like her, but it is about catching the eye of the right people. Obviously, there are differences…age & the effect of online media are very important ones. Personally I think she looks better without the glam makeover Jalouse gave her…give her minimal makeup & tossled hair and she draws you in.
it’s easy to like and not like her. as a vancouver, canada resident i see her everywhere. well not her, but hoardes of girls just like her. her style is easily imitatable, and surprisingly highly desirable.
my take on it is when people like her, it’s because she represents what’s “fresh” in their eyes.
when people hate her, it’s because she’s a seemingly useless overpriviliged teenager living a life that — don’t deny it — anybody would enjoy if it was theirs.
Funnily enough, Cory Kennedy inspires neither love nor hate from me…I’m quite simply indifferent.
Only…why on my most favourite magazine in the world? I just…don’t…get…it…
I think the reason why they choose her is because nobody knows her yet in France (exepted bloggers and internet fanatics). Jalouse wants to be the magazine where the trends start, not a follower.
Also, I think French magazines are a bit afraid of the internet and the fashion blogs at the moment. It is so easy to read ‘les blogs de filles’ to stay in the know with fashion trends, the information comes and goes very fast with the internet, and the interaction between bloggers is something you cannot have in a monthly magazine. Choosing an ‘internet celebrity’ for the cover is a way to say : “we’re a paper mag, but we still worth reading and the internet won’t kill us”.
An interview with the parents, for anyone who is interested:
http://www.latimes.com/features/magazine/west/la-tm-corykennedy08feb25,0,591340.story?coll=la-home-headlines
I can’t seem to avoid her. I must admit to reading her blog but certainly not enjoying it. How is it that a girl can get away with neither using spelling or punctuation to the point where sometimes what she says is incomprehensible, and still has a bigger following than the likes of the beautiful Susie here?
Yet I feel compelled to look at her newest pictures.
And then there’s the fact that on her myspace page she says “I hate fake people”
Something about that really grates at my bones.
I don’t really want to fault her style-wise…. as I can see why her pics are alluring and widely follows…. but it’s her rise to mainstream fashion media that I’m most curious about really…
It is beyond belief that so many people could be captivated by an unbearably ugly girl (the comparison to Chloe Sevigny is pretty apt) who looks as though she hasn’t showered since Christmas. If that wasn’t bad enough she’s as dumb as a box of rocks and has parents who don’t seem at all perturbed by any of this (I gagged my way through the LA Times article when it first came out). So tragic that this grubby little urchin is considered cool. The fact that her popularity has transcended the LA basin is quite depressing.
I dont think this girl is beautiful at all and if people call “fashion” or good taste on clothes to the way this girl dress like then I dont know wot to expect of fashion world. I cant believe she is even in a magazine, people who do nothing and live at expences of others should be rewarded that way. Dad’s little girl. A bad example for teenagers and fashion world… MAN!
Hmm, not for me…and why on earth do they call her photogenic?
It must be her hair!
I never understood the appeal and was under the impression her parents had stowed her away for the time being.
Obviously, they decided to let her out.
i m french, and i don’t understand either. I’m disapointed of the choices Jalouse made recently, i mean, mischa barton, lindsay lohan, kate bosworth, now Cory Kennedy… who’s next? nicole?
She invaded Nylon mag too!
I’m french and from a long-time-Jalouse-reader point of view… I think this is just to please their Hobo-Hype readers… I’m pretty sure 80% of jalouse every-month readers know her… for sure!
Now, I doubt she’s known among the rest of the french, who are not internet freaks…
The problem is not really her, but the fact they choose her now… I mean if Jalouse used to be pretty “avant-garde” (I hate this term…) and “indie”, now they are just hobo followers… Putting Cory K. one year ago on the cover would been good… now it’s too late…
(sorry I’m thinking/living as fast as internet’s doing…)
About this choice, well I just only can say : S***!!!
Jalouse is going down my top10 for more than 1&1/2 yrs now… they remain the same and don’t interest me anymore… they used to have a very good eye and “indie” choice… I think they are now more mainstream…and it’s really bad…
they have no critic points on fashion (and honestly I think WE NEED CRITICS), it’s just about “loving and helping” their friends , that’s it!
You always see the same people, the same contributors (they used to have great different contributors), the same “Family”…
and I think this is sad…
Paris is smaller than you think…
When I first bought Jalouse (back in the late 1990s) I was happy to see different people, different style I saw in Vogue, Elle etc… but maybe I just grown up… and I am now no longer interested into that…
Jalouse is now “over-ground”…
i totally love her style. shes my absolute style icon/idol.
I think their October choice kind of redeemed them- it’s Clemence Poesy!
in italy she s not famous…few people now about her
There’s definitely something in her. You can just have that kind of aura, she was born with it. Even if she can’t do anything, have no talent whatsoever, she is destined to be stand out in a crowd. Deal with it. Some people have that persona.