We're counting down the days until "The Bling Ring" hits theaters, when we'll watch the dramatization of "the most audacious burglary gang in recent Hollywood history." Combine the film's (factual!) kiddie caper plot with Emma Watson's jaw-dropping style transformation and revered director Sofia Coppola's vision, and we're practically in line at the multiplex already.
Nancy Jo Sales, the Vanity Fair reporter who exposed the Ring's escapades in a feature for the magazine back in 2010, has released an extended narrative in time for the film's release. In an interview with VF Daily, the journalist reveals the surprising celebrity item the Bling Ring lusted after: celebrity underwear. Sales says:
It’s really alarming to find out, through doing the research for the book, about the explosion of teen and even child lingerie. That market has become a billion-dollar market. Like teddies for teenagers—it’s so disturbing. Their obsession with underwear had something to do with this whole “pornification” thing. They wanted to look sexy. Looking sexy in a celebrity’s clothes, well that’s even sexier. Especially Miranda Kerr, who’s a Victoria’s Secret model. The fact that they stole the underwear just seems so weird, but it’s not weird when you think about it, because they’re growing up at a time when their culture is constantly telling them to be sexy. Everything from toys to video games to music to fashion is hypersexualized for girls. Stealing their underwear was part of a whole trend to emulate these celebrities. They don’t just want expensive underwear; they want Paris Hilton’s underwear.
Hygiene aside, Sales' conclusion is hardly shocking. With racy images of Miranda Kerr in her Victoria's Secret underwear so commonplace, surely the sexually-charged crime ring would take every opportunity they could to get their blinged fingers in the Angel's lingerie drawer.
And it was precisely images like Miranda's that motivated them, Sales argues. Teen underwear has never been sexier, as Victoria's Secret reminded us with their controversial ""Bright Young Things" slogan earlier this year (and kiddie lingerie brand Jours Après Lunes reminded us in 2011). As long as youngsters are presented with suggestive images, Sales claims, they'll strive to emulate them.
What do you think of the Bling Ring's connection to celebrity skin? Do you think the cultural "pornification" Sales mentions was a motivating factor for the gang's adventures in larceny?
You won't see Emma Watson like this in the film:
