Fall Fashion Issue: Diversity or Disparity?

Thank you! For the first time I was pleasantly surprised by the models featured in your fall fashion issue (“Objects of Their Affections,” Aug. 27). They usually look as if they’re starving to death. But these represented the real world and what Angelenos really look like. Many were minorities--even the one on the cover--and the models were of all shapes and sizes.

Andree Honore Smith

Via the Internet

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The true scene stealers in the fashion issue were the extraordinary, ordinary women photographed in “Swing Time,” not the fashions worn by the actresses profiled in “Scene Stealers.” While “Swing Time” featured exquisite earrings, it was the portraits of women I could know that captured my immediate attention, along with the simple listing of each woman’s name, age and occupation. Each face conveyed an untold story, and as I read the descriptions of the earrings, I wondered, “What could the community activist do with $2,700, the cost of the sapphire drops she wore? And how would the single mother of three put to use $22,000, the cost of the 22-karat gold drop earrings with emeralds, diamonds and pearls?” Just wondering.

E.D. Lutwak

Los Angeles

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Have we so completely lost perspective that we believe any of the women featured in “Swing Time” can actually afford the jewelry? I am surrounded daily by images of the unattainable. But on a good day, I can still be grateful for simple pleasures and cheap imitations. I would rather see what these working women can afford. What a ridiculous layout!

Melissa Read

Los Angeles