Tim Tebow is everything I want in a man. He is sensitive, thoughtful and a heaping serving of man candy. There are a lot of things I want from Tebow, which include (but are not limited to): a dinner date, a romantic walk on the beach where he professes his undying love for me and to be serenaded under the moonlight while he is shirtless.
However, if there’s one thing I definitely do not want, it’s Tebow in my issue of Vogue.
You heard it right. Tim Tebow, the Heisman winner, will be gracing the pages of the famous fashion magazine’s October issue.
The spread will feature Tebow because of his recent addition to the New York Jets. The photographs and editorial work are titled “Superman Returns: Tim Tebow Touches Down in New York.”
While the photos, shot by Annie Leibovitz, depict Tebow’s tire-rolling skills and apparent aversion toward shirts, the editorial describes Tebow’s background before the Jets and provides insights into some of his greatest moments.
Vogue has always been a beacon of feminism. Fashion is a language that every woman speaks and the language that most men cannot understand. It has long been our edge as women. It opens doors for us from the flappers in the ‘20s making bold fashion statements with short skirts to the skinny women prancing along today’s runways in pants that look like shower curtains.
To my dismay, Tebow has made his way into the shiny pages of Vogue usually reserved for these curtain pants and skinny women.
The most ironic part of Tebow posing for a fashion magazine is that he is hardly wearing any clothes at all. Though I don’t oppose to seeing his back muscles clench a rolling tire, I am shocked that the image of a man wearing jeans and football cleats is being sold to me in the magazine I use for finding out exactly how I am supposed to wear an up-down skirt.
The editorial is another story in itself. As a University of Florida student, I even become disgruntled at the fact that a story about Tebow’s football career is being thrown at me to read. Vogue time is for flipping through photos of new fall fashion lines, not for reading a biography on a football player’s life. Vogue is meant for terminology like draping, ruching and shabby chic. “Tebowing” should never be in the Vogue vocabulary.
We come to the magazine as an escape from men. True fashion is not meant to please men. Why else would maxi skirts and turtlenecks have been invented? Putting a man in the issue seems like a violation to the fashion contract every woman has signed from the second they put on their first pair of shoes.
The October issue is throwing a wildcard at its readers. Some may enjoy the break from fashion, while others, like myself, will flip to the cover immediately to make sure they didn’t buy Sports Illustrated.
So here’s my advice to Vogue: stick to the glass bikinis, snakeskin manicures, junderpants and fur Speedos for shock value.
Don’t use a football star — unless of course you put him in a Speedo.
Tim Tebow rolling a tire, as depicted by photography great Anne Leibovitz.
Tim Tebow wearing a hoodie, as depicted by photography great Anne Leibovitz.
