Not Satisfied/Kidist on Asian fashion designers (MERGE)

[GolightlyGrrl]

Kidist turns her hate towards Jeremy Lin and Anna Sui

Jeremy Lin

cameraluc.blogspot.com/2012/02/chink-in-armor.html

Anna Sui

cameraluc.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-york-fashion-week-revelations.html

cameraluc.blogspot.com/2012/02/dolly-girl.html

Kidist is an absolute sociopath.

But look-Kidist has been noticed by Firedoglake. I’m sure she’ll notify the hate crimes commission about this blog calling her out on her bigotry and hatred.

http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/01/07 ... del-again/

[Jezebel]

She compares Ana Sui to Dior--never mind that it's like apples and oranges because each line has a completely different aesthetic and target audience. False dichotomy, much?

I'm a liitle surprised it took her this long to start slagging on Ana Sui as well as Vera Wang. I keep wondering when she's going to discover other Asian-American designers such as Prabal Gurung, Philip Lim, and Derek Lam (much less Issey Miyake, Comme des Garcons, or the host of Asian designers currently working). But then again, it's not like she actually knows anything about fashion. She prides herself as an aesthete and critic, but has no genuine understanding of anything she writes about. And being a critic of fashion, music, architecture, photography, or anything else requires understanding. It's more than just deciding you dislike something, and saying so.

[GolightlyGrrl]

She compares Ana Sui to Dior--never mind that it's like apples and oranges because each line has a completely different aesthetic and target audience. False dichotomy, much?

I'm a liitle surprised it took her this long to start slagging on Ana Sui as well as Vera Wang. I keep wondering when she's going to discover other Asian-American designers such as Prabal Gurung, Philip Lim, and Derek Lam (much less Issey Miyake, Comme des Garcons, or the host of Asian designers currently working). But then again, it's not like she actually knows anything about fashion. She prides herself as an aesthete and critic, but has no genuine understanding of anything she writes about. And being a critic of fashion, music, architecture, photography, or anything else requires understanding. It's more than just deciding you dislike something, and saying so.

And don't forget Jason Wu. Not only is he Asian, but he designed Michelle Obama's Inaugural gown and many of her other frocks.

You are so right; Kidist seems to have very little understanding of what she writes about-fashion, art, film, music. Yet, she regards herself an expert in all of these fields. Combine that with her bigotry and bile, and you get one pretty big clusterfuck of a blog.

[Dinaberries]

Wait, who is this racist bitch? I started reading the entries that the OP linked to, but I couldn't make it through any of them. There are only so many times I can read the word "Chink" when referring to a person of Chinese descent without getting riled up. I'm part Asian and this is pretty upsetting to me on a personal level. It's not often that I come across this kind of in-your-face racism.

[Lillybee]

I think that she is from Ethiopia and is now living in Canada. She did a nasty rant on white men dating or marrying Asian women.

[Kitty]

Kidist seems obsessed with white men/non-white women relationships. I love how she assumes that the children in the photos of Anna Sui and her family have Chinese mothers and white fathers- wtf?! The kids clearly have a white mother and Chinese father, fucking moron!

This bitch has issues.

[valsa]

Kidist seems obsessed with white men/non-white women relationships.

One of my weird hobbies is reading Black Women Empowerment blogs (they usually very strongly advocate that black women date non-black men) I wonder how she would feel about that (I don't read her blog but if she's from Ethiopia, I'm assuming she's black, right?) I wonder if black women/white men relationships are okay with her or if she's just as against those as anything dealing with Asians.

[acheronbeach]

I just don't get how someone could get SO worked up about something SO outside of anything that affects them... I mean, at least Dougie and co. could possibly be closeted homos going apeshit in self-hate. This... this is just bizarre.

[Jezebel]

Wait, who is this racist bitch? I started reading the entries that the OP linked to, but I couldn't make it through any of them. There are only so many times I can read the word "Chink" when referring to a person of Chinese descent without getting riled up. I'm part Asian and this is pretty upsetting to me on a personal level. It's not often that I come across this kind of in-your-face racism.

Yeah, she's a real piece of work, all right.

She was born in Ethiopia, and her parents emigrated to Canada when she was a kid. She lives in Toronto, which makes her pure, unblinking bigotry, homophobia, and racism even more amazing because Toronto is such a wonderfully diverse, tolerant city.

On top of that, she's also had some education in the arts, which, in normal people, tends to expand one's worldview. But not so with Kidist. (And that's reflected in her dull, amateurish textile designs and photography--what little technical skill she may have is not harnessed to a creative, exploratory, innovative spirit.)

Someone else here identified her as psychotic, and I believe they're right. I thought she was a narcissist, and her hatred came out of envy, but after reading more I realized that a narcissist would adapt her stated beliefs and alter her self-presentation in order to get the right kind of attention from important others, whereas the delusional psychotic holds unswervingly to her beliefs despite opposition and any rational arguments to the contrary. Narcissists aren't loyal to their ideas, but delusional psychotics are consumed by them. And Kidist is consumed by her hatreds.

Many people with delusional disorders can still manage to function well on a day-to-day basis, but one thing I've noticed about Kidist is that lately she's been more open about expressing her hateful ideas ("the truth") to people in public. Granted, it's only been to waitstaff, who are in no position to tell her off, but if she keeps getting bolder about it she's going to end up in serious trouble one day.

She's seriously mentally ill, not in touch with reality, and not likely to be.

[YPestis]

I've never heard of this woman. I'm intrigued to her hatred of white men/asian female pairing. She is neither. How can that pairing possibly offend or affect her? I'm Chinese and my fiance is white. I live in a far less cosmopolitan area than Toronto and never dealt with anyone offended by our relationship. Maybe she's a fluke.....

[Vex]

What a shock! Kidist (moar liek racist) bitches about something she knows absolutely nothing about.

She's one of those people who think everything should match and that certain colours don't "go together". I hate those people. I'm not in fashion, but I do make necklaces. Two of my favourite colour combinations are turquoise/orange and cherry red/peacock blue. Once, I was putting together an outfit for a wedding. I had found a gorgeous cherry red bolero and I wanted a silky peacock blue top for underneath. I expressed this to the sales assistant, who instead of pointing me towards what I requested, stood there as if I'd just shouted obscenities at her and asked "You want to wear those two colours... together? Why would you want to do that?"

She was a Kidist. Worked 'in fashion', thought she knew what colours 'go together'. Well, guess which colour combination sells the best out of all my jewellery? That's right - cherry red and peacock blue. That's followed by turquoise/orange - a combination one of my art teachers told me was an abomination. I guess all those buyers must have my shitty taste.

Apparently, Kidist doesn't understand that Oscar De Le Renta is a haute couture designer and thus caters to a different demographic than Anna Sui - whose prints I actually loved. I particularly liked the one on the left, although I wasn't horrified by the mixture of -gasp- orange and fuchsia (as if that hasn't been done before, dipshit).

PS: Allow me to blow her mind. Here is the stylish Leighton Meester sporting a bright orange Orange De La Renta gown - with FUCHSIA ACCENTS! It looks fucking amazing. She was on the set of Gossip Girl at the time, so she was styled by the show's stylists - who are considered to, well, know their shit. The fashion writer who mentioned this thought it was a pretty great idea too.

I don't really follow De La Renta (I could never afford his stuff and much of it isn't to my taste), but if I had the time I'm pretty sure that I could easily find the orange/fuchsia mixture amongst his work. Even if Anna Sui's look was far too bold in its use of the two colours for Kidist's tastes, the actual combination pops up all the time - especially whenever jewel tones are in style - even in the couture fashion houses. The way she wrote about it, it sounded as if her issue wasn't just how loud Sui's print was, but the mixture of the two colours itself. Proof positive she knows nothing about art, colour, or fashion.

[acheronbeach]

I've never heard of this woman. I'm intrigued to her hatred of white men/asian female pairing. She is neither. How can that pairing possibly offend or affect her? I'm Chinese and my fiance is white. I live in a far less cosmopolitan area than Toronto and never dealt with anyone offended by our relationship. Maybe she's a fluke.....

Yeah, I live about 100 clicks West of TO, and the boyfriend stays in my smallish farm town every weekend... we've never had any stares, comments, anything. I definitely think she's a fluke. I think, in fact, that she has some kind of serious mental illness.

Edit: To clarify that BF is Chinese.

[Lillybee]

I skimmed through her blog and she is really awful. She uses the Stinking Housewife as a reference sometimes.

[Seven Severn]

She was a Kidist. Worked 'in fashion', thought she knew what colours 'go together'. Well, guess which colour combination sells the best out of all my jewellery? That's right - cherry red and peacock blue. That's followed by turquoise/orange - a combination one of my art teachers told me was an abomination. I guess all those buyers must have my shitty taste.

Turquoise and orange is one of my favorite color combinations. A little white element in there and everything gets even happier. If it's permissable, please post a link to your work. I have no money now, but maybe someday...

Are you familiar with ColourLOVERS?: http://www.colourlovers.com/ It's a wonderful, supportive place where people work on color palettes and patterns. I've been there for a little over a year and it's been nothing but positive.

[Dinaberries]

Yeah, she's a real piece of work, all right.

She was born in Ethiopia, and her parents emigrated to Canada when she was a kid. She lives in Toronto, which makes her pure, unblinking bigotry, homophobia, and racism even more amazing because Toronto is such a wonderfully diverse, tolerant city.

On top of that, she's also had some education in the arts, which, in normal people, tends to expand one's worldview. But not so with Kidist. (And that's reflected in her dull, amateurish textile designs and photography--what little technical skill she may have is not harnessed to a creative, exploratory, innovative spirit.)

Someone else here identified her as psychotic, and I believe they're right. I thought she was a narcissist, and her hatred came out of envy, but after reading more I realized that a narcissist would adapt her stated beliefs and alter her self-presentation in order to get the right kind of attention from important others, whereas the delusional psychotic holds unswervingly to her beliefs despite opposition and any rational arguments to the contrary. Narcissists aren't loyal to their ideas, but delusional psychotics are consumed by them. And Kidist is consumed by her hatreds.

Many people with delusional disorders can still manage to function well on a day-to-day basis, but one thing I've noticed about Kidist is that lately she's been more open about expressing her hateful ideas ("the truth") to people in public. Granted, it's only been to waitstaff, who are in no position to tell her off, but if she keeps getting bolder about it she's going to end up in serious trouble one day.

She's seriously mentally ill, not in touch with reality, and not likely to be.

Thanks for the info. It is shocking that she lives in Toronto, I agree. Everybody I've met who lives in or is from Toronto has been incredibly open-minded and tolerant. My husband's best friend is an out gay man and he grew up in Sydney, Australia but lives in Toronto. He mentioned that people in Toronto tend to be even more tolerant than people in Sydney. That says a lot since Sydney has a massive openly gay community. This Kidist person must be very lonely in a city like Toronto.

So, since she is from Ethiopia, is she of African descent? If so, it seems very bizarre that she would be upset by interracial relationships between white men and Asian women. It's not exactly something that affects her, is it?

I haven't had a look at her designs, and I'm not going to, since it sounds like viewing anything she's spewed out would be a waste of time. But yes, it is very strange that her exposure to the arts failed to expand her world-view, as you said. I wonder how she thinks she could possibly have a career in the arts with her attitude. Doesn't she realize that she will be working with people of various racial backgrounds and sexual persuasions? But if she is indeed mentally ill, I guess she may not be able to understand that anyway.

If she is actually mentally ill, then I feel sorry for her and am slightly less angry...and also less personally hurt by her racism.

[Lillybee]

She describes herself as black, the picture of her on her blog shows a light skinned black woman.

She really, really dislikes Michelle Obama.

She works as a sales clerk in a clothing store at the mall. The store has a mixed race staff so she is not happy there.

[Wolfie]

PS: Allow me to blow her mind. Here is the stylish Leighton Meester sporting a bright orange Orange De La Renta gown - with FUCHSIA ACCENTS! It looks fucking amazing. She was on the set of Gossip Girl at the time, so she was styled by the show's stylists - who are considered to, well, know their shit. The fashion writer who mentioned this thought it was a pretty great idea too.

I don't really follow De La Renta (I could never afford his stuff and much of it isn't to my taste), but if I had the time I'm pretty sure that I could easily find the orange/fuchsia mixture amongst his work. Even if Anna Sui's look was far too bold in its use of the two colours for Kidist's tastes, the actual combination pops up all the time - especially whenever jewel tones are in style - even in the couture fashion houses. The way she wrote about it, it sounded as if her issue wasn't just how loud Sui's print was, but the mixture of the two colours itself. Proof positive she knows nothing about art, colour, or fashion.

Drool.... I don't usually like red, but my goal is to do my living room in orange, fuchsia, brown and red. I just love the color combo. Kidist can go back to her cave. (I really think that the reason that some colors appeal to some of us and not to others is that we see colors differently- some of this has been proven to be genetic, I'm sure that I carry the colorblind gene. I also think we're influenced by what we are comfortable with, but I think that most of it has to do with what we actually see.)

[Sunnichick31]

She's such a stupid bitch. I was reading some other posts and I found this post talking about how people should learn English.

cameraluc.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-elevator-news.html

So, I quickly pressed the "close" button, which threw them off. No more chattering, and funnily enough, no attempt to hold the door open. They saw what I was doing. But, wouldn't more considerate people wait for the other elevator (there are two elevators) instead of cramming into the confined space of one? Is this the kind of Third World over-population mentality we're going to have to put up with in mulit-culti Toronto?

Yes, of course taking an elevator is a subtle form of world domination. (end sarcasm)

I said to the man: "We are turning into Babylon! What language are they speaking! It sounds like some kind of Nepalese, or some Chinese dialect! Why don't they at least learn English before coming here!"

Last I heard, it's not illegal to speak another language. They probably do speak English. It's not a crime to speak another language though.

And how is Vera Wang a bad designer? Whatever. I wish I could comment or email her. I have a few things I'd like to say to her.

[super skeptic]

She's obviously projecting some deep self-hatred, since I'm guessing she's a mix of Black/other by looking at her picture. You only have to look at how she puts down anyone who is not white and who is not an immigrant (while being a NON-WHITE IMMIGRANT) to realize this. She's delusional, hateful (self-hateful) and is projecting this onto everyone else because she can't deal with her own identity.

What a disgusting human being. The only thing she needs is some serious psychiatric help and to be banned from the internet so that she can stop spreading her stupidity onto others.

[Tuesy]

Wow. I thought it was mainly Asians she had a deep hatred for, but apparently not:

http://cameraluc.blogspot.com/2012/02/m ... endly.html

I'm pretty sure the waiter wasn't smiling in agreement with what she was saying. It was probably more of that slightly stunned smile I get on my face when someone has said something so absurd that I don't even know how to react (which tahnkfully rarely happens in realy life because I don't hang around too many idiots.) And when she spoke about raising an army to fight the gay uprising, I'm pretty sure that his silence spoke volumes.

She is incredibly vile.

[LucySnowe]

And from that same blog entry:

I said as much to another waitress at Fran's. A group of white men and their Asian girlfriends were at the table next to me. I said to my white waitress: "Doesn't it bother you when you see so many white men with Asian women? They are taking away your chances of having a husband and children." The poor girl looked bewildered, but didn't disagree with me. She continues to give me good service when I go there, so she clearly didn't mind (or find racist) what I said to her.

No, sweetie. It's because she is a professional who knows how to do her job.

What actually happened is that she didn't disagree TO YOUR FACE, but the moment she was in the break room, she was gasping 'OMG YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT THAT RACIST BITCH SAID TO ME' and her co-workers were standing around making the sort of comments we are making here on FJ.

She gives you good service because standing up to your insane racism isn't worth her being fired. And you are the sort of person who clearly wouldn't hesitate to make loads of trouble with her boss if she made the first move towards disagreeing with you.

And while I've never worked in food service, I have heard plenty of horror stories about what can happen behind the scenes before your food arrives all nicely plated up. Personally, if I were you, I wouldn't be eating there anymore, no matter how cheap the breakfasts. I hope the staff there is truly professional enough not to do anything like that, but it's entirely possible they would make an exception just for you.

[Clementine]

It's very strange that a black woman who is a first generation immigrant from Africa (three things that would really make her a "minority" in Canada) and who probably has experienced racism at one time or another in her life, seems to hate Asian people so much. It's very strange.

I wonder what her real story is.

[lilah]

Well she's not a fundie, she might be a super conservative and she's definitely rascist as hell. And how she hates michelle obama.

She and stinking lousewife link to each other evey so often. I don't think she is a lawerence auster sockpuppet judging by how much personal information she is reveals about herself.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Ah yes THIS woman!!! She was snarked hard on Livejournal a while back. The main thing I remember from the thread over there is she apparently lives next to (near?) a mixed-race couple and is obsessed with the activities of their child to the point that it's very disturbing. The kid has a nanny and that is just!! terrible!!

The main impression I got was that she paints herself in some special category, yeah she's a minority person of color herself but she's enlightened about it, she's Doing It Right, because she knows that she should identify with white things always and put down other minorities. Or something. It's just over the top nuts.

[Jezebel]

Ah yes THIS woman!!! She was snarked hard on Livejournal a while back. The main thing I remember from the thread over there is she apparently lives next to (near?) a mixed-race couple and is obsessed with the activities of their child to the point that it's very disturbing. The kid has a nanny and that is just!! terrible!!

IIRC, the little boy and his parents are white, and the live-in nanny is Filipina. She made a post about encountering the boy and the nanny in a shoe store downtown, where she cheerfully greeted the little boy (who was in a stroller) by name, while being intentionally rude to the nanny by ignoring her completely. And she was proud that she'd been so rude.

The main impression I got was that she paints herself in some special category, yeah she's a minority person of color herself but she's enlightened about it, she's Doing It Right, because she knows that she should identify with white things always and put down other minorities. Or something. It's just over the top nuts.

I'm on my phone, so I can't look for it, but there was a post awhile back where she decided to walk right into the various buildings of the national ballet academy and ask what the purpose of each building was. It was very strange, and security didn't look kindly on it. Even Kidist seemed to understand that the female dancers might get crazy stalkers, hence the need for tight security. But as a respectable-looking woman (she even described her ladylike, feminine outfit), she felt she should be deferred to and her questions answered, without resistance. Especially since all the guards, according to her, were non-white.

One of the guards she quarreled with--who she claims treated her most rudely--was also Ethiopian, but from a dark-skinned ethnic group, while Kidist's family is from the light-skinned group that has always been in power. She claimed that woman must have been prejudiced against her for that very reason. Which is interesting--but then again, Kidist seems to encounter rudeness and opposition from non-white shop clerks, government workers, and security guards a lot. I know she's made several mentions of such petty conflicts. So I'd love to be the fly on the wall when she's out in public, forced to interact with the kinds of people she hates. I imagine she comes across as very rude and arrogant, In a finger-snappy way, and puts people on the defensive. She's so hateful and so disturbed, I can't imagine her not taking it out on people whenever she can, especially if she can use it as evidence of their inferiority.

She seems to have aligned herself with "whiteness" and Western civilization in the way some female misogynists align themselves with men, and prove to the guys that they aren't like those other dumb, weak bitches by being hateful. Laura Wood and Kidist Asrat are pretty much doing the same thing, with one hating her female-ness and the other hating her blackness, immigrant status, and possibly unacknowledged lesbianism (given her gay-hate and rants against "masculine" women).