NEGLECTIVE MOTHER is like so "IN" right now..

Recently Vogue Italy came out with the their “Vagaries of Fashion” spread - is the third “neglectful mother” editorial we’ve seen so far this year. 

From Milla Jovovich, who just so happens to be a phenomenal, nurturing mom herself posing as a power business woman who is just “so totally too busy” to deal with the troubles of being a mom and leaves her stay at home husband, who if you look close enough is believe it or not ANTI-MARRIAGE & ANTI-CHILDREN the notorious B-I-G from Sex and the City, to French Vogue’s “Smokin’” carefree model and now we have the high-society “can’t be bothered” mother brought to courtesy of Vogue Italia!

Whether this is in fact a satirical look at the rise of working mothers or just a fashion-mishap and none other than a fashion mishap is unknown. French Vogue said that they were kind of making fun of that fact that motherhood doesn’t in fact come natural to all women. Not all girls are born with that ‘natural-caregiver gene’ and they chose to step it up a notch and overly exaggerate that fact.

Vogue Italia even stepped it up by including liquor & cigarettes in their shoot. As well as a shot of plain ol’ avoidance. 

Some people were so disturbed by these recent fashion spreads that a professional sociologist actually stepped in and nit-picked the photographs explaining the probable reasoning behind the shoot(s):

…Most countries don't share the American middle-class demonization of smoking or our concerns about the effects of second-hand smoke on children, or the idea that drinking cocktails around the kids is problematic (and remember, we used to give kids alcoholic drinks and Marlboros were marketed to moms). And many people don't believe that children need to be tended to every time they cry or look unhappy–that's a culturally and historically specific parenting ideal.

The message that motherhood might produce boredom, irritation, irreverence, and drive one to consume massive quantities of alcohol is one that I find refreshing, rather than appalling. Although this spread glamorizes the condition of being trapped within the confines of domesticity, can we not also interpret it as depicting the failure of domesticity and motherhood as a norm? And isn't the critique of a norm a productive act?