Dear Mr. Carter:

I love your magazine. I really do. I appreciate the unique blend of pithy substantive features and insightful political commentary mixed with a good dose of good old fashioned Hollywood glitz. Your International Best Dressed List however leaves me gobsmacked. Julian Schnabel in pajamas? Carla Bruni-Sarkozy masquerading as Jackie Kennedy? Just who are you kidding? And for the record, one Tom Binns necklace on a boring black sheath (especially when the neckline of the dress in question is totally wrong for it) does not constitute ’style’. My apologies to Michelle Obama and her stylist but this just doesn’t cut it.

I’m afraid I have to side with the New York Times’ The Moment blog on this one - your list is best enjoyed with a generous dollop of cynicism while reading between the lines. It’s not that the list doesn’t include a few worthy candidates - Diana Taylor, Iris Apfel and Sarah Jessica Parker have earned their rightful places on that list as has Carine Roitfeld and a handful of others. The inclusion of many of the other candidates however, especially the aforementioned Schnabel, Bruni-Sarkozy and Obama, smacks of shameful pandering on your part. Your readers are a pretty savvy bunch Mr. Carter - we can spot a lame attempt at brown-nosing (especially when it’s as obvious as this). How about giving your readers a list composed entirely of people who have actually earned a rightful place there as opposed to a list of people you want to impress? Don’t we deserve at least that? If you’re unable to provide one, how about scrapping the list altogether? Just a thought.

Sincerely,

Left to right: Michelle Obama, photo by Marcel Thomas/FilmMagic; Julian Schnabel, photo by Ben Gabbe/PatrickMcMullan; Iris and Carl Apfel, photo by Joe Schildhorn/PatrickMcMullan. All images courtesy of Vanity Fair.