The Dressmaker and the Baker: Who’s the Real Bigot?

This is so good! Here is Bryan Fischer writing at BarbWire.com about what constitutes a bigot:

Sophie Theallet is one of the top dressmakers in the world. Her designs have been worn by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Jessica Alba, Gabrielle Union, and Michelle Obama.

She has famously begun a campaign to recruit every major fashion designer in the world to join her in refusing to provide a stitch of clothing to the new first lady, Melania Trump. Other luminaries in the fashion world such as Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs have joined the boycott.

So why is Ms. Theallet adamantly, vigorously and publicly refusing to dress the incoming First Lady? It’s a matter of values, you see. Her designs are not just dresses. “We consider our voice an expression of our artistic and philosophical ideas.” Our brand, she says, “stands against all discrimination and prejudice,” and has “always been a celebration of diversity and a reflection of the world we live in.” (Emphasis mine throughout.)

In other words, her designs represent her values on display, and she refuses to allow her artistic ability to be used on behalf of ideals she finds abhorrent. She is perfectly willing to give up income for the sake of something higher. “Our bottom line is not just about money.”

She concludes, “I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next First Lady. The rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by.”

And for the highbrow elites in the fashion industry, this is perfectly normal, praiseworthy, and worthy of imitation. Abby Schreiber, the managing editor at Paper Magazine, said, “Fashion has always been about expression, provocation and, not infrequently, politics and, to that end, these designers’ refusal to dress Melania Trump is not, in and of itself, unusual for this industry.”

And she adds, if the person who would like to do business with you is linked to a message that is at odds with the brand you are seeking to cultivate, then it makes perfectly good sense to refuse to do business with them.

“Fashion designers have long attempted to tell a story about their brand and vision and to articulate a feeling, emotion or sense of who their customer or ‘muse’ is. And for those designers who are troubled by the hateful, bigoted rhetoric that surrounded Trump’s campaign, it may make sense for them to want to distance their brand and their visionfrom it.”

Let’s summarize the worldview of the left. If you are an artist, your work product is a vehicle for expressing your most deeply held values. And you have a right to decline to produce a work product that would violate your own conscience and compromise your values.

Read more: BarbWire

Image credit: www.barbwire.com.