CultureFashionLetters

Dear Peggy Noland, About That Naked Oprah Dress… NO MA’AM!

I came across a link on The Cut about artist Peggy Noland’s newest project, “Oprah: Skinny, Naked, and Screaming on Your Dress.” THE HELL, BRO?!? So I’m here to write Peggy a sternly-worded letter because my spirit is IRKED!

Look at the dress and see why I’m pissed:

Peggy Noland Oprah Dresses

ALL THE NAWLS THAT EVER NAWLED IN NAWLCHESTER!

Dear Peggy Noland,

You disrespectful bitch! I don’t know who the hell you are but you fucking tried it! You’re lucky I found couth in a hopeless place so I’ma just start this with “hey girl.” I am here to talk to you about the “project” you did featuring Oprah’s body imagined skinny, average and obese on a floor-length dress. And one where she’s in KISS makeup.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Are you for real? You woke up one day and thought the best way to start conversation about body image was by photoshopping the head of the first self-made Black woman billionaire on some tacky lycra dresses? This is so disrespectful on so many levels that I lack the words to truly articulate how upset I am. This gif should illustrate it:

Nope gif

Let’s talk about the fact that you really think you’re attaching some great symbolism to this because you think there are some “really meaningful philosophical layers…It can nod to how ridiculous the fashion industry is at times.” 

Oh how meta of you. So you create an utterly dumbstupid dress to make fun of the fashion industry. And then you’re talmbout it’s philosophical. Sit the entire hell down! AIN’T A GAHTDAMB THING PHILOSOPHICAL ABOUT THIS TACKY ASS DRESS! This dress is about as deep as a drool spot. You’re reaching further than the hopes and dreams of my tomorrow.

Beyond that, you’re showing a complete lack of awareness or lack of damn-giving to the history of Black women’s bodies being exploited, ridiculed and put on display for profit. YOU HAVE THE NERVE! My Venus Hottentot and Sarah Baartman radar is going off and I have to go AWF because of it. How tone deaf and ignorant do you have to be to not see how problematic this dress is, white woman?

peggy-noland-in-oprah-dress

Peggy in her “art.” UGH!!!

I am CRINGING at this. I’m not just touched because it’s Oprah on this dress. It could be a headless brown body and my whole spirit would still be bothered. I can’t shake how aggravated it makes me feel that this woman is walking around with a naked Black body on her dress for the sake of some bullshit ass “art.” And other people will be able to do the same because this crap is for sale! You’re talmbout your motto is “white trash meets high class” but this is pure trash with no class to be found.

HOWEVER, when you decided to do this (which was a bad decision by itself), shouldn’t you have picked someone who’s comfortable with having their naked bodies displayed publicly? Pick a model, or a pr0n star, or shit. HOW ABOUT MILEY CYRUS?!? When has Oprah EVER…? but lemme guess. That’s the irony you’re trying to prove. (-___-) Girl, BYE!

OR HOW ABOUT YOU DON’T DO IT AT ALL?? And how about you especially don’t do it without the permission of the person you’re putting on the dress?

I hope Oprah sues the pants off you, Peggy. I need her legal team to come after you with everything they have because you’re a starved artist who’s also starved of creativity and starved of common sense. And this dress has 99 problems and the chick who created it is one.

You and some of your skinfolk gotta cut out this blatant disrespect because I’m pretty tired of being tired of your antics. I JUST laid down my burdens regarding Blackface on Halloween and here you come with this trifling stunt. A plague of papercuts you can’t identify their location on your house. I wanna go drop you and the perpetual line-steppers in the Land of Abandoned People.

Color purple crumble gif

Sincerely,

LuvBug

P.S. Seriously. WTF?!?

What do y’all think of Peggy’s dresses? Are you proud of me for only cussing a little? Because the only thing that I wanted to do was cuss her clean out and make up new expletives for the occasion.

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100 Comments

  1. BE
    November 14, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    Tha fudge????

    • serafima
      November 17, 2013 at 1:50 am

      The jacket in the background says 100% Chicana and has a confederate flag. WTF!

      • Lotus
        November 17, 2013 at 2:44 pm

        i was just noticing that. this woman has just demonstrated her knowledge of the new way to get famous – black women’s naked bodies. Miley Cyrus, Julianne Hough, Lily Allen and now this chick – they all get instant fame just for draping themselves in our skin. and for all whose partners have a naughty dream of fucking a black woman, this is fetish wear.

  2. November 14, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    You said it all with, “This dress is about as deep as a drool spot.”

  3. November 14, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Peggy Noland is a Classless White Wonder, crackalatin’ like Crackas are known to do. I’m so tired of this shyt.

    • Slh
      November 15, 2013 at 12:15 pm

      “Crackas” really? “We’re known to do”? Way to lump an entire race into a neat little box. This speaks a lot about you.

      • April
        November 15, 2013 at 12:35 pm

        “Way to lump an entire race into a neat little box.” Oh the irony!

        • Slh
          November 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm

          Speaking of an individual and not a specific groups idea does not make it “ironic”. Nice try though.

        • Kitsune
          November 15, 2013 at 2:22 pm

          It does make it ironic if you do the same in stereotyping. 🙂

        • Slh
          November 15, 2013 at 3:02 pm

          How was I stereotyping? I agree with you it would be ironic if I stereotyped. But I made no reference to any group.

        • KeepitRael
          November 17, 2013 at 5:03 pm

          Shut up. No really. We are not here for you trying to derail the topic at hand. This isn’t about you. I don’t care about your opinion right now. Not at all.

        • here
          November 18, 2013 at 12:01 am

          Thank you!!!

          Black woman complains about oppression. White people show up in full force (where were they when the racism was happening *crickets*) to make sure that when we complain, it’s done correctly.

      • Adwoa
        November 15, 2013 at 2:02 pm

        Not all white people are crackers – it refers to a specific subset who share many attributes, only one of which is race-related (all the rest of which are negative). Don’t come for southern slang if you don’t know what it means.

        • Slh
          November 15, 2013 at 2:29 pm

          Read a dictionary. Southern slang is not the end all be all of English. Putting your own interpretation on a word is not a strong argument. And what does math have to do with it? “Subset” or is that more slang that I don’t understand.

        • serafima
          November 17, 2013 at 1:53 am

          Yeah i don’t think you understand.

  4. bb
    November 14, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    I swear some of these simple minded broads stay doing the absolute most with the absolute least! Why does this need to exist? I know that when you’re a nobody designer you need to pull various stunt queen antics to garner some sort of attention BUT girl, this is not the attention you want. I’m sick of people exploiting black women’s bodies, and in this case the status of a black woman that actually is successful, to further their own goals. This is bullshit. No one would do this to a white woman. Why isn’t their a Meryl Strep naked dress?

  5. asetdivine
    November 14, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    You said it all Luvvie. The first thing I saw when I clicked the link is the picture and immediately Venus Hottentot came to mind. I am so sick of white folks and their constant disrespect of Black women and the Black female body. I, like you hope that Oprah rips her a new one in court.

    • Sharon M
      November 17, 2013 at 3:07 pm

      “The first thing I saw when I clicked the link is the picture and immediately Venus Hottentot came to mind”

      Boom. Perfect. What a sack of shit she is. Great art punches up, educates, and questions the Kyriarchy.

      How humiliating for Ms. Winfrey and I pray this woman is left with nothing.

  6. November 14, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    i am pissed.

  7. DSGlobal
    November 14, 2013 at 4:55 pm

    Hilarious yet entirely on-point commentary, Luvvie.

    This is absurd.

  8. bran's boo
    November 14, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    While if the designer were a person of color I would still be pissed, HOWSUNEVAH, she be not. I am completely and entirely over the GW’s thoughtlessly using my people for whatever the hell makes them happy today. Shock value, web searches, validation, wtfever. *face double palm, followed by ariel wall slide* But God gon’ balance these here scales, you watch. And He will be the one talkin’ ’bout “I’m the one by Whom you WILL do right.”

  9. Chad
    November 14, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    Well, she designed some pieces for Miley Cyrus and is friends with her stylist so go figure.

  10. bmichelle
    November 14, 2013 at 5:00 pm

    Jesus wept. & so did I.

    • T
      November 20, 2013 at 8:06 am

      lol

  11. November 14, 2013 at 5:04 pm

    I swear to God I am getting damn tired of being on this whitepeoplecantpossiblygetstupider apology tour. COMEON WHITE PEOPLE knock it off. I am sorry for her common-faux-intelligentsia-hipster-fame-whore-ass.

    ( I like to think she isn’t really my people. My people got issued a brain, and a heart. )

    • Jessica
      November 15, 2013 at 12:51 pm

      THIS. SO MUCH THIS!!!! I keep thinking “if only stupid white people could stop being stupid and stop giving other non-white people a reason to hate us then maybe things could change” and yet, shit like this keeps happening.

      FTR, I am sorry stupid white people keep being stupid.

      • Lotus
        November 17, 2013 at 2:55 pm

        this is far from stupid. this is calculate to raise the profile of her brand. had you ever heard of her before? now you have. do you think those dresses aren’t selling, as fetish-wear, as a joke for the idle rich, as next year’s Halloween costume? they are. using black women’s bodies to get famous is THE go-to strategy of the moment right now, and white women are using it strategically to get what they want.

        and whether or not we know it, black twitter and black female bloggers are doing much of the heavy lifting here, by bringing these people attention they wouldn’t normally get, because the mainstream press doesn’t give a fuck about us and would pay something like this no mind whatsoever if *we* weren’t blogging/tweeting/protesting about it.

        not that we should stop, at all. i need to hear these word from other black women, in defense of our shared beauty and humanity, and, in my case, of my own damn sanity. but there are people out there who stalk the black blogosphere, and simultaneously try to silence us with ridicule and steal our work without credit. i’m new to the game but can’t help but notice this. Black Women Are Powerful, and the world is watching. 🙂

        Be well, love yourself fiercely.

  12. milaxx
    November 14, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    Yeah I saw this mess. I just want Oprah to snatch her wig in that quiet & thorough way that only Oprah can do.
    *sheesh*

    some folks.

  13. billy elliott
    November 14, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    Oh. . .my. . god, becky!!
    #HAVEASEAT
    -that’ll be quite enough.

  14. November 14, 2013 at 5:24 pm

    I CAN’ T really? Pure disrespect. As in. Da hell? Ouuu give me a minute. I swear sometimes, I feel some people are paid to do this crap. imagine she did one of Hilary Clinton? As in it is NOT art lazy idea is NOT art ugh! I need a minute.

  15. Kiss
    November 14, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    We can’t even come up with something equally offensive to do in retaliation! Almost all the relevant pink ppl on tv already been seen naked! And I’m mad because my Mom (God rest her soul) looks JUST LIKE OPRAH so all I see is my nekkid Momma on a hoe dress. Miley Cyrus ain’t lookin so bad now, huh?

    • maljazur
      November 16, 2013 at 12:52 am

      Girl, stop!! LOL

  16. Hattie
    November 14, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    This is WRONG on so many levels. You said perfectly what I feel, Luuvie.

  17. November 14, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    Whoa… I saw this earlier and I’m only wondering what Oprah must be thinking right now. Girl you are right for speaking your mind, this is wrong on too many darn levels. I wish that someone could reach out and plant some knowledge is this so-called artist’s head because it’s definitely needed immediately. Girl Hi-Five you said THAT!

  18. mootsiepoo
    November 14, 2013 at 5:50 pm

    OMG, Luvvie…THANK you for making me giggle a little with this entirely appropriate cuss-out. I just left a message on her FB page and calling out the racist heifers telling her they like this ish. I need to do something really black and proud to get this out of my heart and head right now. #stompinonmyspirit

  19. November 14, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    I am so with you Luvvie. I hope Oprah sue her ass so bad she gots to live underneath the streets.

  20. Opal_nda_rough
    November 14, 2013 at 6:08 pm

    I knew you was the type of sister to quote The Color Purple, just didn’t know when it would present itself.

    No lets me commence to the draggage:

    1. Why are Europeans and thier decendents still utterly fascinated with Black sexuality? It’s 2013 bro, get used to me already.

    2. (Assuming that’s her in the pic) WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOUR EYEBROWS?!?!? Oh that’s right they came off when Luvvie dragged you by them.

    3. Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow, dishonor on your whole family! BYE FELICIA!!!

    • Tee Tee
      November 15, 2013 at 3:41 am

      The shade of this comment, i am floored and lmfao at no2

    • Angela Means
      November 15, 2013 at 4:53 am

      LOL. I’m the actor who played Felicia in “Friday” every time I see BYE Felicia it cracks me up. But when I see white lady’s nude Oprah dress it makes me sad. She went to the queen of all media and stripped her. horrible

      • kwan
        November 15, 2013 at 11:25 am

        Hey girl hey!

      • November 15, 2013 at 12:10 pm

        I just want to thank you for giving us such a great piece of pop culture. And you can always borrow my VCR (yes I still have one, don’t judge me ya’ll).

        • kwan
          November 15, 2013 at 9:50 pm

          Girl, I still have one too, she can borrow that but umm not my car tho lol.

    • tammy
      November 15, 2013 at 6:29 am

      #3….iDIED! Tee Hee Hee!

  21. lamar
    November 14, 2013 at 6:09 pm

    This hooka needs a swift hard chop to her throat! Real hard.

  22. FedUp
    November 14, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    Who the hell is this try’n’a ride a coat tail, thirsty ass b—h? Here she done, with her we don’t know yo’ name ass, trying to get some shine by putting a naked picture of Mother Oprah, on a maxi dress. I wouldn’t give her time, but, I am so incensed, that she has made me, an English teacher, go to talkin’ ebonics. WTF? I’m not going to mention her name, but I will say I take offence at her artistic vision and creative execution. You a cheap floozy, and you’re reaching. Reaching for notoriety by disrespecting someone who got her accolades by true creativity and vision. You parasite! You want some shine? Put one of those Bush babes on the dress. Why choose billionaire Oprah, who has always conducted herself with the utmost dignity and positivity to decorate your dress? Mass producing naked pictures of Oprah. Hussy please!
    Well, y’all go on and buy and wear the dress, and don’t be surprised if you get the response shown in this clip from Mediatakeout.com: http://cdn.mediatakeout.com/66066/shock-video-white-oil-workers-thought-it-was-funny-to-tear-up-a-picture-of-a-holy-muslim-cleric-while-in-iraq-bad-idea-warning-extreme-azz-whopping-inside.html
    Everything is not for profit, people.

    • KeepitRael
      November 17, 2013 at 5:11 pm

      This. See, intellectual arguments haven’t worked. Twitter wig-snatching hasn’t worked. Trying to “educate” white America is NOT working. It’s time we just take it to the streets and start straight up beatdowns against the people who kill, hurt, shame, exploit and belittle our people.

  23. i'm sleep tho...
    November 14, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    i…how…who…what even?! the fuck was this white trick thinking? oh i know, trying to make a name for herself by exploiting black women’s bodies. why is this the white national pastime lately? ugggghhh, so gotdamn sick of this shit. this heifer needs to worry about that damn wig she got pushed all the way back on her head…hope oprah sues the hell outta her.

    white people have never been nor will ever be shit.

  24. Tish
    November 14, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    I hope Oprah’s legal team comes at her with the force of a tornado. Skip the cease and desist and go RIGHT into litigation. Oprah’s legal team need to connect together like Megatron in that courtroom.

  25. Emily
    November 14, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    I literally spit my juice out at the end when I seen Ms. Celie. LAWD Luvvie you brighten up any dark day I ever have! Thank you!

  26. November 14, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    Wow. Some of these White women stay doing triflin’ ish trying to be edgy, different, and express their feminism. However, in doing this, they keep trying to co-opt our bodies with no regard to who we are, where we came from, and the pain behind the skin, hair, and body type they so clearly envy. You know what would be really innovative? Your own naked bony, gnarled ass in some tiny draws on the front of your dress. Use. Your. Own. Damn. Form.

    If I see anyone in my area at all wearing this product of buffoonery and fuckery, I will do my best to embarrass that heffa and everything she is.

  27. November 14, 2013 at 7:35 pm

    ***DROPS MIC***

    WELL SAID! THIS CHICK GOT ALOT OF DAMN NERVE.

  28. November 14, 2013 at 7:48 pm

    I don’t have much to say about that 2520 chick using Oprah’s naked image (WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU) that hasn’t already been said before, and better by some of the other commenters.

    I only came on this post to say that I laughed completely and totally out loud at you using that NOPE gif of Anora from Dragon Age. When she did that in the cutscene on my first playthrough of the game, I immediately thought “NOPE” too, and now it’s a gif.

    I love the internet sometimes.

  29. Ayelia
    November 14, 2013 at 7:50 pm

    not worried Oprah won’t even have to see this woman in court. It is 100% illegal to use another person’s face, image or likeness without their given consent. Her lawyers will issue a cease and desist quick, snap and in a hurry.The reason why these white folks keep exploiting us is because they don’t actually know how to be creative,the cost of their privilege, so they come take from us. But they can’t keep that up much longer.

  30. Are you finished?
    November 14, 2013 at 8:21 pm

    I’ll start by saying that this dress is the most (on purpose) ridonkulous fashion faux pas my eyes have had the unfortunate sight of and I can’t wait to see Oprah come for her and shut this ish down. Now I’m going to touch base on the blatant racism the oozes out when a white person does something stupid like this. I don’t feel it’s necessary to apologize on behalf of my skin folk, and it’s damn sure not necessary to degrade an entire race because of one’s lack of good sense. Talking about what white people never have and never will be, you have your nerve. I love this blog and have been rocking wit you for years now Luuvie. When I come across all these racist ass comments though, the ignorance makes my blood boil! Ya’ll don’t know my damb life!!

    • i'm sleep tho...
      November 14, 2013 at 10:25 pm

      girl bye…and take your white feelings with you, this ain’t about you. first off there is not such thing as reverse racism. second have you not seen what your ppl have been doing for centuries?? wouldn’t you be mad as fuck if the shoe was on the other foot?! damn can’t yall just let ppl be and let us vent tho? finally if you’re not a racist then none of this applies to you, so why even say anything? let it go, damn.

      • kwan
        November 15, 2013 at 11:27 am

        mmmhmmm because hit dogs holla and pink pigs squeal *sashays away*

    • April
      November 15, 2013 at 12:48 pm

      You’re seriously going to comment on a post about a dress that is nothing but a life-size portrait of a Black woman’s naked body (and not just any woman but Oprah who certainly didn’t consent to this) and cry about how “racist” the comments are to white people? Honey, go cry to your favorite barista about it.

      “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” In other words, ask yourself why those comments bother you so much.

      Also, since you’ve been following this blog for years, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that your misspelling of Luvvie’s name was a typo rather than ignorance.

      • Lee
        November 17, 2013 at 7:45 am

        Honey, go cry to your favorite barista about it.
        —-
        iHollered. lmfao.

      • Shakira
        November 17, 2013 at 3:13 pm

        April, my dear. I. Am. Here. For. YOU!!! “Go cry to your favorite barista about it”? Sheer brilliance!

    • Sharon M
      November 17, 2013 at 3:43 pm

      “Now I’m going to touch base on the blatant racism the oozes out when a white person does something stupid like this.”

      It’s not racism. Racism = power+ privilege. There is no such thing as reverse racism. Do you like it when men scream reverse sexism? Society protects and rewards us, and frankly POC have every right to be angry and yes, even hate us.

      “I don’t feel it’s necessary to apologize on behalf of my skin folk, and it’s damn sure not necessary to degrade an entire race because of one’s lack of good sense”

      I do apologize because this shit is fucked up on so many levels. From the daily micro-aggressions, the fact of 45 cents per dollar gap to us getting away with murder.

      But apologies aren’t enough: without whitesplaining, expecting cookies, or acting like a white savior, it’s up to us to educate other white people, make sure to take on the inevitable slings and arrows that’ll come, don’t be defensive when you fuck up, and for Dog’s sake I don’t know if you say it, but declaring you don’t see color is not helpful.

      Also remember we are benefiting from 400+ years of genocide and oppression against First Nation tribes, African Americans, Latinos et al.

  31. Brenda
    November 14, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    As much as I agree with your message, can you leave out ableist language next time? I’m Deaf and I found you using “deaf” in that way and it offended me.

    • x01a4
      November 14, 2013 at 9:38 pm

      Oh good lord. *rolleyes*

  32. K-Bar
    November 14, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    Kudos for using a gif from DragonAge.

  33. November 14, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    I’m sick of people thinking everything is “art.” People wanna vomit on a plate and call it art. That, actually, would’ve been a better move than this horrid dress.

    • x01a4
      November 14, 2013 at 9:39 pm

      Have you ever seen performance art? Yeah they do that.

    • kwan
      November 14, 2013 at 10:29 pm

      Oh Performance Art has gone father than vomit believe me.

      • kwan
        November 14, 2013 at 10:29 pm

        *farther*

  34. Ms Lady J
    November 14, 2013 at 8:57 pm

    Prison rules need to apply when handling that Peggy Broad.

  35. Valerie
    November 14, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    As if the dress wasn’t bad enough, she had to pose under a huge watermelon display!? Pathetic-

  36. kwan
    November 14, 2013 at 10:36 pm

    Why must these Europeans continue to hypersexualize the image of black women. like that’s all we are hips, thighs and a big behind ughghghghg!!!!! I hope Muhva O sues the few edges she has left off.

    I would have been perfectly fine if you would have cursed her out all up and through this blog but I applaud your class.

  37. November 14, 2013 at 11:27 pm

    I sincerely hope that Ms. Winfrey’s team of lawyers go straight TASMANIAN DEVIL on her candy ass and snatch up everything leaving her with nary a piece of thread to be found!!!!!

  38. Nakita
    November 15, 2013 at 12:41 am

    white people just keep trying it. like they wake up every morning and think “how can we contribute to the hurt of WOC today?” i can’t with this shit. i just can’t. not when some white people just told me if they offer their help, and i don’t accept it, i as a black woman am racist. like what the entire fuck?? i remember a few years back this white woman decided to sell ceramic models of Sarah Baartman at her boutique. how do you do that as a human being? how does that even make sense? white people need a damn time-out so they can sit and think about how shitty they are to POC, more especially WOC.

  39. November 15, 2013 at 1:24 am

    […] Luv: Designer makes nude Oprah […]

  40. Anne
    November 15, 2013 at 5:13 am

    good preaching Luvvie!

  41. Livvy
    November 15, 2013 at 5:24 am

    *applause*

  42. IJS
    November 15, 2013 at 6:05 am

    Now THIS is grounds for a true cunt punting. #solidarityisforwhitewomen

  43. Jess
    November 15, 2013 at 8:14 am

    this is wrong and offensive to everyone, aside from any race issues it 1)exploits women and a woman who 2)did not give permission to use her likeness. There is no statement here it just looks like one of those stupid bikini t-shirts you see in spring break destinations in Florida only she decided to take the top off. What’s the point of this, i can use photoshop? I hope Oprah does sue her and i hope her tacky dress ruins any more attempts of hers at “art”.

  44. November 15, 2013 at 8:57 am

    What in the entire hell?!?!

  45. soulcial
    November 15, 2013 at 9:00 am

    It would be nice if we could express the same anger towards black hip hop artist who degrade and bring down black women. whats going on in our music is far worst than this dumb ass oprah dress. Have you seen a french montana, or rick ross music video lately?? There is nothing new with white ignorance, but when we do it to ourselves, its up to us to hold our self accountable. Your coming at the wrong people!

    • Mrs.Hill3
      November 15, 2013 at 1:20 pm

      I feel where you’re coming from. However, this situation is different. Those women who participate in those videos choose to degrade themselves. Be it for money, fame, or whatever excuse they use to justify it. As far as we know, Oprah didn’t sign up for this. I think the fact that she chose Oprah, a WOC who has always carried herself with class, is a kick in the face of black women like myself. One who is trying my hardest to raise my black daughter with the same level of self respect that role models like Oprah and Michelle Obama radiate each time we see them.

  46. Rachel
    November 15, 2013 at 9:49 am

    This sickens me so deep.

  47. November 15, 2013 at 10:27 am

    That hair cut on Peggy says it all. She shaved all her brains off. Just stupid.

    • Tori D.
      November 15, 2013 at 4:22 pm

      Pam idk you but I love you for that “she shaved all her brains off” comment!

  48. November 15, 2013 at 10:37 am

    I wish I could come up with an intelligent analysis but all I’ve got is “ugh, what a horrible thing to do” and “jeez, what’s on the back side of the dress?”

  49. tracy
    November 15, 2013 at 11:32 am

    It doesn’t look like Oprah to me. Not that Peggy didn’t say it was supposed to be Oprah. And surely it’s not her actual body. Where would someone have sourced that? It is an ugly dress, but lots of Peggy’s things are ugly. Exploitative? I don’t know, I just read an article about something oxymoronish: feminist porn, so . . . Our world is weird.

    PS, Noland’s not exactly “unknown.”

    http://peggynoland.com/press.html

  50. November 15, 2013 at 11:57 am

    I don’t care that the body on the dress is supposed to Oprah’s. And I don’t even care that it’s a black woman’s body. What bothers me is that someone would market the ‘imagined’ nude body of a person who has never, ever appeared nude public. And, even if a woman has appeared nude in, say, a film…that doesn’t give anyone the right to take her image and sell it unless she agrees to it. A woman’s body is not property – it should not be commodified.

  51. isonprize
    November 15, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    To anyone (lookin’ at YOU, slh – about the 5th comment in) who is offended by this post, I give you a photo featuring Morgan Freeman.

    In case the link doesn’t work for ya, this is what is says:

    “Actually, no, my post wasn’t about you, but if the shoe fits, feel free to lace that bitch up and wear it.”

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v–rxK3_7ss/UfmKmA0faXI/AAAAAAAABiM/eU8LT3lc6Rs/s1600/freeman+post.jpg

    • Gracie
      November 18, 2013 at 2:39 pm

      And let the church say Amen.

  52. […] Dear Peggy Noland, About That Naked Oprah Dress… NO MA’AM! […]

  53. November 15, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    This is wrong. Can i say something in response to some comments here? As a 40yo white woman, my feelings are not at all hurt by people calling out ‘wrong’ and saying the word ‘white’ as well. How awful would i have to be to say that this is some kind of reverse-nasty. Give me a break. This has been bothering me all day. I have been a long term reader and a sometimes commenter, and when my shit has been called out, I have gone home and had a good long think about it, not went crying..wee wee all the white way home. I am astounded that this is a thing, and shocked that there is any way that anyone could be upset by saying the word ‘white’ when this is clearly, irrevocably the issue here. Rant over.

  54. Joe Sargent
    November 15, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    I don’t like or “get” the dresses honestly. But while reading, it hit me the black female form is being portrayed as art. Wouldn’t that be the opposite of the Hottentot/exploitation/etc you motioned?

    I mean, seperate not liking the art from it being art of course. I dot know, seems like a (misguided) attempt at what most Black women are striving for.

  55. maljazur
    November 16, 2013 at 12:56 am

    Just wondering if I put BET’s Black Girls Rock on repeat and chant the phrase 25 X, maybe I can reverse this last assault on the psyche and sense of self-worth of my sistas. BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Black Girls Rock! Black girls rock…black girls rock…black girls raw…

  56. November 16, 2013 at 3:22 pm

    She needs to be a manure farmer, because this is Grade A bullshit. #lastdaysfuckery

  57. Disgusted
    November 16, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    This was extremely tasteless and offensive – even beyond considerations of race. If you felt you needed to make a statement, the only body you had any business using is your own. Shame on you.

  58. November 16, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    What kind’ve fake-deep-artistic mess is this?
    People always have to take it to the next level with their “art”.

  59. […] Miller goes on to namecheck artists who have similarly used black women as pawns and objects in their videos, namely Lily Allen and Miley Cyrus. Black women have dealt with the misappropriation and exploitation of their bodies by others since Saartjie Baartman first stepped onto European soil in the 19th century. It’s 2013–you’d hope people would know better by now. Sadly, they don’t. Not only is this dress offensive–it’s disrespectful to everything Oprah has built and stands for. I’m sure Lady O’s lawyers will be giving Noland a call soon… What do you think? Read Miller’s original piece on XOJane.com. *Fashion Bomb friend Luvvie also had a funny take on this. Read her thoughts here. […]

  60. November 22, 2013 at 11:26 am

    […] Read more about it here. […]

  61. Bert Noodles
    November 23, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    I didn’t even want the dress until y’all started arguing about it. I’ll take a dozen. Sheeit.

  62. Wowsers
    November 24, 2013 at 3:48 am

    I’m sorry, but having a bitch fest in a letter is not effective. Oprah is a famous human, not a God. Stop treating her like a God. Famous people get shit on all the time. Who cares!! I love JC, does it mean I get pissed about a play that Jesus sleeps with Mary M? Nope. Because it doesn’t change my love for JC. Only weak Christians get pissed and boycott. My truth is truth no one ain’t gonna change that. Does her stupid ass dress change Oprah’s accomplishments? NOPE. When you write so angry, it shows you are weak. It shows that anyone can get between you. Look at your weakness now, you get racist black bigots spreading hate by your dumbass letter. It proves people calling me a cracka are weak too, because they got upset about 1) a dress no one will ever wear. 2) a person on the internet they will never meet.(that’s you) got pissed too. I got arrested for dating a black girl in Elwood Indiana (home of KKK). I didn’t get pissed; I paid my $1 fine and I went about my business. I can’t change them. Law caught up with them and got out. Didn’t change me or who I date or who i married. So ask yourself: Are you helping the community? What exactly are you accomplishing?

  63. Yazz
    December 27, 2013 at 9:55 am

    I think it is offensive towards black women and Oprah in particular but I wish BW would be as outraged when black or white men sexually objectify black women on a much larger scale and more frequent base compared to white women like her. So it seems when men do it, women are way more desensitized to it, yet when a woman does it, it triggers a whole lot of anger. In this context, I have to wonder how much does the race and/or gender of this “artist” play a role in this? Women in general tend to blame one another more quickly and choose to remain blind to the original instigator(men) and all the other shit they do, this reaction is also due to part internalized sexism and racism (when *white* women are blamed more than black men from which the latter does far more heinous things to BW proportionally speaking)