The rise of Julia Fox is a metaphor for celebrity culture

Whether you like it or not, it is a fact that the revelation of 2022 is Julia Fox. Although her existence only became known to the international press thanks to her flirt with Kanye West, perhaps the shortest relationship in the history of gossip, she certainly deserves credit for holding on to her success. The favourite daughter of meme-culture - ever since an interview clip went viral on Tiktok in which she pronounced Uncut Gems, the title of the Sadfie brothers' film she starred in with Adam Sandler, as if she were a 12-year-old girl speaking in cursive - is perhaps the real reason why the Y2K trend that has been with us for two seasons now is so hard to die for. With her low-waisted jeans, "imprint" eyeliner and hallucinatory tutorials on how to turn any piece of clothing into a skimpy two-piece armed with scissors, Julia Fox is the Star System's rising star.

Since she met Ye everything she has touched has turned to gold (and controversy), often riding on gossip as when she decided to participate in a podcast together with the fraudster Anna Delvey, whom she called 'my little sister'. Starting with the make-up that made her famous, the so-called 'Thumbprint' eyeliner, first shown off at Paris Fashion Week in a full denim Schiaparelli outfit and then repeatedly used as a signature look at subsequent events, was posted on social media by a series of discordant information. It has never been clear who actually did the make-up, as celebrity make-up artist Path McGrath claimed to be the creator just as Julia Fox explained that it was actually Kanye West himself, The fact is that this same look became the subject of an instagram tutorial by the actress, the first in a long series of disorganised, weird and confusing videos that have fuelled public affection for her and a new wave of memes, so much so that Chiara Ferragni herself has decided to repurpose the look.

From casual DIY outfits to red carpets, Julia Fox's bare-bellied outfits are a dystopian evolution of the Y2K trend in a darker, Glenn Martens-esque version. Sharp hems, total black and low rises are the watchwords of her looks, which wink at the Avant Apocalypse aesthetic, first highlighted by trend forecaster Mandy Lee (@oldloserinbrooklyn) on TikTok as the natural evolution of Subversive Basic. A maximalist aesthetic made up of deconstructed pieces and asymmetries and the concept of always wearing clothes the "wrong" way round, on the bias, trousers as tops and socks as skirts with silhouettes, reminiscent of the collections of Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens. Iconic was the last dress worn by Julia for the Oscars red carpet, entirely in floor-length black leather by Han Kjøbenhavn with the extraordinary detail of a claw wrapped around the neck, leather opera gloves, pointed black leather boots and a clutch adorned with black human hair, as she herself declared.

Yet despite her unquestionable likability, Julia Fox is the epitome of celebrity culture at its most debased. Although her career in the New York scene has long been active, as an actress starring in successful films such as the aforementioned Uncut Jems and Steven Soderbergh's No Sudden Move, as a photographer and artist, especially with her 2017 exhibition entitled "R.I.P. Julia Fox", consisting of silk canvases painted with her own blood, none of the activities she has pursued over the years have made her as successful as a single photo with Ye. A success that she is now chasing, fully understanding its volatility, attending all the social events and putting her name alongside the most talked-about people of the moment, first and foremost Anna Delvay. It seems that in the end, despite all her past projects, the job she did best was to 'be there', to attend fashion shows, events and award ceremonies with the unspoken fact that she was only there because Ye lent her his reflected light for a few weeks, despite her talents.

But regardless of how she got there, Julia Fox is now there and she is being heard: vampire-like, emo-core, dystopian and at the same time with a light-hearted and naive personality, the young woman who started her career as a dominatrix has conquered the media with her contradictions and has charmed the fashion world - on the catwalks or in the front row - with her unmistakable style. What will Julia Fox do when she grows up? It's impossible to answer the obvious question right now, but seeing the rise of the actress/model and her now incessant flirtation with meme culture, the one thing Fox will have to avoid is being swallowed up by the same matrix that created her, becoming just another meme. For now, though, we can only say thank you to Kanye for Julia Fox.