Earlier in Back Row:

The world is on the brink of war. Republicans are trying to pass a bill in the U.S. that would cut healthcare for working people so the wealthiest can have a tax break. And over at Vogue, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the new wife of Jeff Bezos, whose net worth stands at $230 billion, enjoys her moment in the sun:

The wedding that brought nearly a hundred private jets to Venice scored a digital cover for the bride, wearing a custom Dolce & Gabbana dress.

Sánchez has been at Bezos’s side more or less since their relationship broke in a tabloid scandal in 2019. She was at his side when she told CNN she planned to go to space on a tourist’s joyride via his company Blue Origin with a “great group of females.” (To be fair, she left his side for eleven minutes to do that.) She was at his side when he attended the Inauguration in an apparent show of support for President Trump. And she’s been at his side in countless paparazzi shots of the two getting on and off their yacht, where, before the wedding, they playfully slathered each other in foam.

There has been nothing subtle about this couple from day one. (Bezos’s leaked texts included, “I love you alive girl.”) And there was nothing subtle about their wedding, filled with Kardashians wearing animal prints and jewels you could probably see from space and local protesters floating a Jeff Bezos mannequin clutching a wad of cash down the canals.

While we knew Vogue coverage was coming (Page Six had reported the magazine was “vying for an exclusive” on the wedding), the story was as confidently oblivious to world events and public sentiment as the wedding events themselves.

I struggled to find a relatable detail about Bezos and Sanchez’s lives in the story the same way I struggled to find a positive comment about it on Vogue’s Instagram posts.