Kimora Simmons: "I Am A Fly Bitch"

New York Magazine's Linda Evangelista look alike, the magnificent, Swan-like Phoebe Eaton does a great and, most importantly, even-handed job on the mess that is Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons. And there is so much The Corsair would like to get into about this article (The Corsair bows his head solemnly), so so much, but this chestnut particularly strikes our fancy:

"The gossip columnists sunk their canines into the incident (Ed Note: podiatrist-to-the-stars Dr. Suzanne Levine and Kimora got into a frisson over a silent auction for naming rights to a Manolo Blahnik shoe). That scarlet Kabbalah string on Kimora�s wrist, the one 'blessed by the matriarch Rachel �she�s long dead, like in a tomb somewhere,' had again failed to protect her."

Averted gaze, followed by a small closing cough of feigned detachment:

"'You gotta get tough,' Russell told his wife. She had gone to such trouble�for him!�to measure up as an urban fashion icon, a woman who, in her own words, could 'inspire young women to aspire.' But to the New York tabloids, Kimora Lee Simmons is an irresistible pincushion."

If you go in for that sort of thing, which, in point of fact, I do. I truly-deeply-madly-do.

"'Why is everyone worrying about what she spends?' says Russell. 'They should be worried about what Roberto Cavalli spends, too. What Ralph Lauren spends, too. How many cars does Tommy Hilfiger have, by the way?'"

"'If you are successful, people want to see it,' says (Andre Leon) Talley. 'They want to share in the dream.' Especially people of struggle, as Russell Simmons tactfully calls them. It�s one reason rap lyrics sometimes read like shopping lists."


The Corsair particularly cringes at the clumsy use of the phrase (makes quotation marks with his fingers out of thin air) "people of struggle."

"Long ago, Kimora Lee realized that if she couldn�t be the most popular girl in school, it might be fun to be the girl everybody talks about. 'Be happy if people are talking about you,' her father used to say. Only now she�s not so sure. The self-styled World�s Biggest Collector of Louis Vuitton is trying not to brag these days, but it�s hard: There�s just so much to show off. 'I am a fly bitch!' the 29-year-old says, sounding slightly exasperated."

And exasperated doesn't begin to express what I feel after reading this great story. This will be the most talked about article of the week.