ICMYI: Vox called out “Plantation BlaKKKe” back in 2014

I came across this Vox article from 2014, and it reads like a prophecy! Nearly a decade ago, they were already side-eyeing Blahbie as “a popular human with great hair who supposedly stars in movies sometimes” and her defunct lifestyle site Preserve for romanticizing the antebellum South, drowning in word salad, and peddling a deeply unserious take on culture. Given her current PR disaster, it feels eerily relevant.

Some choice excerpts…

- On the romanticization of the antebellum South: “Preserve is implicitly referring to the white women of the time and is ignoring that many of these beacons of ‘beauty and grace’ with ‘magnetic femininity’ were also slave owners.”

- On the problematic nature of the antebellum allure: “The problem is that the antebellum South was only ‘alluring’ for white people.”

Vox wasn’t the only one who clocked the absurdity of Preserve—other critics were equally confused by Blake’s brand of faux deep storytelling and aesthetic over substance:

- The Guardian on the site’s pretence: “Preserve’s terrible performance of authenticity reeks of its editor’s youth and wealth. It’s clear Lively has no idea what she’s doing.”

- The New Yorker on her obsession with aesthetics over meaning: “Regress: My Preserve Life-Style Blog Reboot” (a satirical take) mocked how Preserve blended “absurd DIY projects, tinseled apples, purple prose, and shoppable navel-gazing.”

Reading these critiques now just confirms that Blake’s isn’t just pretentious—it was an early preview of the entitlement, aesthetic obsession, and lack of self-awareness we’re seeing from her now!

P.S. Even back then, Blake was stacking the bracelets like she was curating an artisanal wrist experience. A visual thesis on wealth, whimsy, and the wearability of excess. Or, you know… just a lot of bracelets 😆