Babe

This is what I talk about when I talk about fashion and celebrity normalization. Until today, almost all of the talk I've been hearing about Will & Kate's Carribbean tour is what a disaster its been- everywhere they've gone, they've been met with large-scale protests over ongoing imperialism and the British monarchy's role in enslaving Africans and colonizing the Caribbean. The purpose of these tours is traditionally to strengthen ties with the native population of commonwealth countries, but instead, it's looking more and more like Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Belize may do like Barbados did recently and remove the Queen as their head of state.

And, just to be clear: this colonialism isn't just a thing of the path, it's ongoing. In Belize, Will and Kate wanted to visit a cocoa farm, and their plan was to land their helicopter on a soccer field. The land the soccer field is on is owned by the conservation organization Flora and Fauna International. It took 12,000 acres of land, acres that had previously been freely used and sustainably managed by the indigenous Q'eqehi Maya people, and told them it was private property and they couldn't use it any more. Will and Kate are patrons of Flora and Fauna International.

And then Kate shows up in what is objectively a very beautiful gown and the conversation changes. Suddenly it's all about Kate in a pretty dress and not the very real historical injustice that this tour represents, and its colonialist political goals.