The curse of overexposure

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":5.26,"text":"Fashion is popularly considered a hub of newness and innovation. In the main, however, its followers are about as original as a flock of sheep. Offer someone a glimpse of anything unusual or exciting, and soon everyone piles in."}],[{"start":19.04,"text":"Take the Milan-based photographer Szilveszter Makó, an artist who has reimagined the celebrity portrait of late: his sensational pictures draw on classical paintings, folk tales and his memories of growing up in post-communist Hungary. He broke through with a New York magazine cover of Rama Duwaji, the artist married to New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, and has since blazed to media ubiquity."}],[{"start":42.52,"text":"This season, Makó has produced at least six covers, including ones of Sandra Bullock (Interview), Emma Corrin (Harper’s Bazaar), Gigi Hadid (WSJ) and, as of this week, Jenna Ortega (US Vogue). When I ask whether his delicate, artful style is in danger of overexposure, he tells me he still has five more covers due for publication, books planned with Céline Dion and Madonna, and is nearly fully booked until July. Moreover, he says, it’s nice to be making money, having worked for free for many years. No one could begrudge an artist a living. But I can’t help but feel the thrill of seeing his work is becoming somewhat dulled."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":80.58,"text":"Fashion loves to develop passions. See also the near-constant presence of actor Sarah Pidgeon on the circuit following her appearance as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in Love Story earlier this year. Or the fact that every season, one sees the exact same models walking in every show. At the zenith of his power, the photographer David Bailey produced 800 pages of editorial in a year for Vogue. Some might say this early flush was a career high, although he was protected from total saturation by being on a non-compete contract with Condé Nast. Nevertheless, social media, distribution networks and a greater focus on covers have taken on a new ferocity. Seeing six magazines with a nearly identical aesthetic dilutes their individual power."}],[{"start":123.2,"text":"Makó is one of many creatives who find themselves the flavour of the month. In the film world in particular, you could be forgiven for wondering if there are only four actors available for work. Is Anne Hathaway the only brunette actor in her early forties? She’s had five films released this year. No sooner has she finished one press junket — stroking Meryl Streep’s ego or enriching Homer’s legends — than she’s out promoting another film."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":147.96,"text":"Olivia Colman is a “national treasure”. Her warm, self-effacing humour has charmed the world. But this autumn she will have sexed a woven husband in Wicker, mothered the Bennet sisters in Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice, walked the Miu Miu catwalk (see her “naturally grey hair stealing all the headlines”) and played the British physician Margaret Johnson (the first dedicated HIV doctor at the Royal Free Hospital) in the awards-season favourite Elsinore with the Irish actor Andrew Scott."}],[{"start":178.96,"text":"Likewise, Scott has two films out this autumn. In addition to playing the Chariots of Fire actor Ian Charleson in Elsinore, he’s popping up to launch the D-Day landings in Pressure, as Captain James Stagg. Scott is a massive talent, but that notwithstanding I don’t want to see him in everything. He now risks being too successful: the chat is that, come awards season, Scott’s stiffest competition will be himself."}],[{"start":204.56,"text":"Oversaturation is an issue. And the outcome is generally ennui. Amol Rajan is a salutary warning: despite having presented TV’s University Challenge, hosted the BBC news flagship Today programme, written columns and crashed out of Traitors, he still has a fairly mediocre fan base: his much-touted Amol Rajan Connection podcast, which airs on YouTube, has only accrued a few thousand views."}],[{"start":229.2,"text":"Then again, maybe it’s about personality. Or not doing so much promotion around the work. Nothing is more off-putting than someone trying desperately to shill their brilliance."}],[{"start":238.88,"text":"Robert Pattinson came to fame in the massive movie franchise Twilight, and has since sustained a strange and surprising career. He has had four films out in the past 12 months, including The Odyssey and the awards contender Primetime, yet he seems to maintain a comparatively low profile. In a 2024 interview, he talked about the “fugue state” of dealing with celebrity. “The main thing is constantly remembering what your job is,” he told the interviewer. “It’s a discipline to not use your energy on anything other than that.”"}],[{"start":271.2,"text":"Instead of dispensing the normal blandishments offered by red-carpet hopefuls, Pattinson is a different, more quixotic personality. He is a core player in the Hollywood system — he’s filming The Batman — but he’s not playing by the normal Hollywood rules. It will be interesting to see how he navigates the awards season, when actors in search of trophies are expected to be friendly and more saccharine. Maybe that’s the problem, we tend to recoil from those who want it. We don’t want to see the hunger of ambition, or know that artists care about rewards."}],[{"start":301.88,"text":"The madness for Makó has, most likely, reached its saturation point. Soon, fashion will flip and it will be someone else’s time. It’s a pity that being shiny, unique and different can so quickly slip into the mainstream."}],[{"start":314.56,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792825228_8431.mp3"}