Monday news
Today is the 21st of March, 2022. Absence of news, questions without answers and yesterday's visuals.
Balenciaga FW 22/23
Every morning I start by reading the news. Today wasn’t an exception. And though I searched hard I couldn’t find anything other than Ukraine and Russia based stories. Feels like nothing else happens in the world, which is obviously not true.
So I gave up and watched interviews on YouTube. Spend the day like that unable to concentrate on any topic and write. Subjects ran through my mind but nothing stuck. Between personal and social there was a hole I wish I could fill with sleep and dreams, and love. The things I’ve learned today were mostly about the reflection on what is going on right now in Russia. About guilt and the borders of it in the relation of what’s happening.
Though there were no answers, only questions each person should reply individually, it was very important to hear those. I think they are important to all the people, the country doesn’t matter because it only seems that the situation here is unique. It’s not.
Andrea Kowch “Matriarch”, 2018
Now everyone is talking about citizen’s responsibilities for the people in power. That it’s not enough to vote or to talk. It’s time to openly protest. What if that time of protest has passed? What would you do? You can say: it’s impossible. You should go out, they can’t kill all, restrain all. What if even a million protesting wouldn’t be heard? Unless those are with guns, killing others, but it’s not a protest, it’s a civil war. And would you be ready to risk your life, to lose everything for the cause to move those people - a million? Would you be able to put your family, children, friends in danger and lose your home? Because it’s not the “maybe” situation, those are the guaranteed consequences of your life choice. Plus a guilt for the people who died because of your fight.
If you are a creative person, working on important - your lifetime - projects, or on social projects like charities, would you cooperate with authorities accepting the money and help to promote the initiatives? You will help the poorest and save someone’s life, but you’ll also be a face of the regime. Would you risk your dream or your mission for speaking the truth? Your truth? In return you will get betrayal, condemnation, most certainly will lose the job, may end in jail or in exile.
AlexColville, “"Pacific”, 1967
Will you prefer to run abroad and live there, spreading your vision, your thoughts about the country you left? But as far as you left isn’t it worse than a betrayal of those who are left and need to deal with the challenges you ran from? Every word you say hits them more than hours of official propaganda, because you are comfortable and safe, telling things, behaving like you know better now. But a month ago you were paid and happy enough to live nicely, having dinners with the same friends that now are reading your interviews, watching your manifestations. Not that you spend years fighting for people's rights. You ran because of the fear. The actual threat wasn’t there yet. Do you have a moral right to speak now?
If you call yourself a journalist, after years of raising your own cynics inside, what will you do? Will you write for the job? Will you choose to tell the truth? Then no work, no publications. Threats. No perspectives, just a sense of professional honour. No backup plans.
I know those questions are born in extreme times, but don’t we make the same choices every day? I mean when we were protesting on social media but never left the comfortable life to actually move and do stuff. Or when instead of telling our customers the truth we, who sell something, prefer to lie - to keep the client, the profit, the job. Should I talk about public relationships and advertising, influencers and all sorts of celebrities? All the entertainment and media is based on semi truths, exaggerations, and expected lies. They feed the politicians, the regimes, the big companies. Finance climate changes, wars, weapon productions, sweatshop production, deforestation and desertification, overconsumption and overproduction.
Should I remember the COVID year and the resolutions we made - to consume less, to buy only what is needed, to help the poorest, the neighbours, to limit our impact on nature, to respect each other, to reflect on ourselves, to be better? Now what? Everything is back on track - from fashion weeks to war conflicts. Only now it’s worse. We still say one thing and do the opposite. More fake news, more discrimination, more shopping, more hate, intolerance, fast fun and fast consumption of all sorts of goods, including luxury.
More, more, more. And noise. Less sense, less time spent on reading, more on scrolling. No time for thinking. No will to do it. We hurry to live. Mostly online. Mostly in a comfortable space. Consuming. Responsibly. Sustainably. We think so.
But the more I consume our digital and distant reality, the more I feel that there’s not much I can choose. Everything is custom and chosen for me by algorithms and their owners, by many generations of politicians, by lawmakers, by banks priorities, by marketing teams, by the media, even by gadget producers and apps writers, that cut and restrict functions in the stuff I buy.
“Choose your future, choose life. I chose not to choose life. I chose something else” - I don’t know if it is just a citation or a credo of my generation, but for me and those who chose something else it’s finally time to live. I’ve never wanted it to be boring.
A digest from my Instagram for March 20th, 2022
7.30am zakharova_kaetanoGood morning ☀️ how is your Sunday?) #haveagoodday here’s #shadowplay from @aialahernando feed. I woke up very early, it’s became a habit and it doesn’t matter that I feel exhausted and haven’t slept enough, my mind refuses to sleep. News reading, worries for others, for future. For the future. I have a pause just to reflect on the light, street noises, birds singing. Sky in the window is clear blue. Until I switch on the human world back on, it’s peaceful and beautiful. And full of hope. #morningmood #morninginspiration #natureasinspiration#beautyofamoment #goodmorningpost
9.00pm zakharova_kaetano #nightmood #beautyeditorial#fashionportrait @prestigehk // Beauty // 2022. Photographer @chou_mo_ Editor @alvingoh Model @zo1fun @venuskiki Hair @fran_lin15 Makeup @nash_chen #artofphotography #beautyoffashion#makeupcloseup #fashionasinspiration
11.00pm zakharova_kaetano #goodnightandsweetdreams #nightmood#fashioneditorial Numéro France @numeromagazine La Pucelle: September 2013. @jeanbaptiste_mondino photography Hair @visapyyapy makeup @CaroleColombani set #HerveSauvagenail @ccnailsparis
Model @ashinstagood #artofphotography #beautyoffashion#fashionasinspiration #portraitphotography
My platforms
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zakharova_kaetano
Twitter: https://twitter.com/olga_kaetano
Telegram: https://t.me/f_simulacrum
Tumblr: https://fashionistaru.tumblr.com
If you like F! Simulacrum and want to help make it even better, give me feedback, point out factual errors or typos, or send me news subjects you want to describe. My email: o.zakharova@adlifestudio.ru
Substack says I have exciting news to share with you: You can now read my F! Simulacrum in the new Substack app for iPhone.
With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for my Substack and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or stuck in spam. Longer posts will never cut-off by your email app. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a big upgrade to the reading experience.
The Substack app is currently available for iOS. If you don’t have an Apple device, that sucks (for me:))) you can join the Android waitlist here.