I couldn’t write about this yesterday because the Queen of all Feelings gave ME all the feelings. Seriously, I cried reading the interview, I cried watching the videos, I’m still crying – and there’s more!
Celine Dion covers the new issue of Vogue France, styled by Law Roach. This is basically what I saw first, the images of her looking so beautiful, so wonderfully HER, so f-cking amazing in all this fashion, and remembering what she and Law gave us during their summers in Paris for Fashion Week. And knowing that they’re working together again, now that she’s ready to step out in public again, after over two years of private struggle with her Stiff Person Syndrome, it was Law who she wanted to reconnect with. It was the biggest moment of the Grammys, for me at least, and it clearly wasn’t a one-off. Law has two exceptions: Zendaya and Celine Dion. And… like… if you haven’t already, look at how they are together, three videos in the carousel below. He calls it tender, and that can be a cringy word, but in this case, it’s perfect. Tenderness is exactly what is needed, exactly what it is.
As for the interview, which you can read here, it’s so pure, and it’s pure Celine. When she feels something that feeling has never been felt in the same way before, never more intense, never more sincere. The overwhelming feeling that comes through in this discussion is gratitude. Celine is grateful.
Being grateful in these times belongs to social media now. Being grateful is tossed around so often that, well, the cynic in some of us starts to doubt whether or not people are actually grateful. I don’t think we doubt it with Celine though. She was always grateful, she has never been the kind of celebrity who’s ever complained, ever found fault, with her fame. Celine has consistently been grateful and she remains grateful now that she’s living with this disease, refusing to allow herself any regrets.
And it’s not just with her health issues either. She’s asked about starting her career so young, she’s asked about spending her childhood as a performer – and from her perspective, in her personal experience, which is not everyone’s experience, she is not lamenting what was lost, if anything.
“I don't know what normality is. What is normal? You go to school, you leave school, you're on stage, it's something else, it's sharing with the world, it's emotion, it's thrilling, it's a way of expressing yourself. It was a different kind of school. Did I have any friends? Did I miss out on anything? I never had the time to have all that. So I can't compare. Do I have any regrets? I don't know, I don't know and I don't care because the stage, my family, my children and my songs have taught me everything I know. There's life, school, the arts, emotion, passion, secrets, desires, gifts. People question life all the time. Stop questioning life, we should be living it. It's not always beautiful, but it's here.”
Maybe this is hitting harder for me because it’s what I wish for my ma who also lives with an incurable illness and does not have the same attitude. Ma is a fighter and she is resilient as f-ck, but she also never lets go of grudges. So many days are spent in bitterness – she rues the people who stressed her, betrayed her, hurt her, and she blames them for her condition. Every time my phone goes off I’m braced that it’s her, ready to unload another three hours of 40 years of resentment against the person she holds responsible for her fate. It’s too late for her to change now, she never will, but this eternal umbrage is like poison to those of us who spend time with her. So when I read about how Celine has chosen to exist in this reality, and of course I know she has advantages that almost anyone else in a similar position will never have, so maybe her general energy is a privilege other people can’t afford, but I can’t help but be grateful myself, on behalf of the people in her life that she trying to make the best of it.
In happier news…
“I love myself so much…”
This is what Celine says at one point during her Life in Looks with Vogue and… it’s the way she drawls it out, theatrically. She’s the Celine we came for!
These looks!
Her commentary – which, at points, is done through song, because OF COURSE IT IS.
And the level of detail she shares about her wedding dress, and that headpiece, and also her Oscar dress for “My Heart Will Go On”, and what she says about Law and his approach to fashion. She is hilarious, she is verbose, she is feelings through fashion. And she buys everything.
I have mentioned this many times where Celine is concerned but I don’t feel like enough people know it: Celine never borrows, Celine OWNS.
“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I collaborate with the designers, as this would be very pretentious of me. On the other hand, I can say that, all my life, my mother mended my tights, sweaters, coats and mittens, all my little things for winter. I was very lucky, because I had 13 brothers and sisters, and I got everyone’s hand-me-downs. When I got my first paycheck, my first paid television appearances I bought clothes for myself and dressed myself. With my first successes, I bought a house for myself and my husband, and for my parents and some family members too. After my first album in English, I was able to buy clothes by designers, and I started to read fashion magazines. And then, I was a guest, and I’ll never forget this show by Karl Lagerfeld… He looked at me and said, “You remind me of La Callas.” I treated myself to a Lagerfeld jacket in the same way that people buy themselves diamonds. I have always bought everything myself. I didn’t want to borrow. It’s a form of respect. People pay to come and hear me sing, so I pay to buy myself clothes by designers.”
That’s why there’s a warehouse in Vegas where all her sh-t is stored. It belongs to her!
And then at the end? At the end, be reassured. Celine is still Celine, she is nuts, LOLOLOLOLOL.
Click here for more on Celine in Vogue France.
