There is something so incredibly rejuvenating about the month of February. It’s not quite the first month of the year, and so it is often the month that resolutions are modified into a slightly more achievable form, it’s the month where valentine’s day can bring the whispers of new love, or at least the realisation that you don’t need a man to complete you. And it’s the month of the autumn(fall)/winter fashion weeks all around the (northern) globe. Wasn’t there a line in the sex and the city movie, there is an event in February where women flock together to shed away the baggage of the past and look forward to the future: and that is new york fashion week.
Of course, the february issues of magazines are created long before february, but the whole vibe and feel of february as a whole must be conveyed in their pages. People look to the february issues to accompany their fashion week experiences, to signify the change in seasons and aid them in both getting excited for, and preparing for, the future.
Which takes me to two february issues of the same publication: Vogue. One is Vogue US, cover girl Blake Lively of Gossip Girl fame, the other is Vogue Paris, covergirl Lara Stone of Vogue Paris fame.
Let's start with Vogue US, shall we. We might as well start at the beginning, it is after all a very good place to start. I don't really want to talk about Blake Lively as their choice of a cover girl, i don't think she warrants it particularly, but i think she does look stunning, much better than i could ever anticipate, and in Anna's editor's letter she states that Gossip Girl is important for society not because of any real intellectual merit but because it provides escapism, which in these hard economic times is more important than ever. And, if you read my gossip girl post last year, you would know that i agree.
More importantly, i want to focus on the content, both written and editorial. In the editor's letter Anna Wintour states that 'without renewal - culture dies', and it is clear that her and the Vogue US team are undergoing major renewal changes. Vogue has been a bit of a toothless tiger for such a long time, parading endless celebrities of the same ilk (jennifer aniston, gwyneth paltrow, reese witherspoon etc) without acknowledging the new guard. This year has seen two covers by two young actresses, both their first, Anne Hathaway and Blake Lively, so that in itself is a change for Vogue US.
Even more applaudable, and surprising, is the editorial 'It's a Madcap World' shot by Steven Klein and styled by Grace Coddington featuring a bevvy of beautiful leggy models, the vast bulk of whom had yet to break into vogue US (Karlie Kloss, Anna Maria Jagodzinska, Jourdann Dunn, Vitktoriya Sasonkina, Liya Kebede, Natasha Poly)
[tfs via sansartifice.wordpress.com]
It's this type of editorial that is so completely 'Vogue', and in particular Vogue US. It's crazy styling, interesting locations, quirky props and an irreverence, a sort of tongue-in-chic execution that make vogue US, when it is at its best, the leader of the fashion pack. So 2008 may have produced a slew of much criticized covers and content, but that's all in the past. Editorial like this one with their lashings of bright colour, clash-tastic styling, and overall feel of nonchalant and quirky glamour, are the reasons why we love fashion. We all have different taste, but this is the kind of editorial that can unite those with different tastes in a love of high fashion, and its variant mixes.
And then compare this to the whole of the Vogue Paris February issue, which centres around model Lara Stone. The issue features editorials of Lara shot by various photographers such as Lindhberg, Inez and Vidoonh, Slimane, Richardson, etc. artists submitting works they made inspired by lara, interviews and all that jazz. Also, let me make the point that this is the first issue of 2009 for vogue paris, considering that they do not make a january issue, they make a dec/january issue. So the february issue is intended to be even more rejuvenatory, more renewing, more refreshing.
Which is why i am stymied, absolutely stymied, by this issue. I love Lara, don't get me wrong, she's actually one of my most favourite models of all time. And there is no mistaking the fact that she looks great here. But this issue is mediocre. It is the same Lara we have seen all our lives, bare breasts, often masculine tailoring or sexy mini dresses in sparkly spangly fabrics, don't mess with me attitude, long, tousled bed hair... She looks gorgeous, but we've seen it all before. It quite possibly could have been editorials pulled from vogue paris from any issue last year, it doesn't look at all like the renewed, rejuvenated, refreshing take on fashion that we come to expect from february.
The worst thing is is that there was rumoured to be a brigitte bardot theme to the shoot, which would have been so interesting and new. Lara has been in some groundbreaking and intriguing shoots, all of which really challenged the perceived notions of both feminine dressing and feminine beauty. But these editorials seem stale, both in terms of her facial expressions and poses, but also with the photographer. I mean, it's not like Hedi Slimane differs very far from his usual formula. He knows what works for his aesthetic, and he continues in it. But at the end of the day, well, at the end of January really, do we want the same re-hashed formulas or do we want editorials that delight and challenge our perceptions?
Because that is what 'madcap world' does. It really challenges us what an outfit should look like. How many of us dress as crazily as those models in our day to day life? Paris Vogue is a force to be reckoned with, but it must be said that it promotes a very clear aesthetic issue after issue. The formula is clear: black, lots of it, classic lines, super high shoes and killer accesories. Sexy, border line dominatrix items, clothes for a lover... We've seen these clothes, these outfits, before. There's only so much balmain one can take before you start yelling for every sequin in the world to be burned.
As Wintour herself said in the editor's letter, fashion is all about pushing boundaries. And with the mad mix of styling in 'madcap world' they aim to push the boundaries of what a dress, or a pair of pants, or a handbag, or a hat, looks like. And all of this in a wearable way. Coddington was not aiming to style an editorial that is so mad it can only exist within the pages of a magazine, one recalls the nick knight shot editorial for british vogue DEC 08, rather she is trying to create a touchstone for women the world over who need inspiration and a refreshing take on their wardrobes.
Style need not always be safe, matching and 'together', which is a lesson that is quite widely known in the blogger-sphere, but cemented in the hallowed pages of vogue US it becomes a lesson available to all, the housewife, the high flying lawyer, the teacher, the 18 year old fashion student...
And that is certainly a refreshing change from Vogue's usual fashion messages that exhort women to all dress like 40 something society wives in the hamptons. First choosing Alexa Chung in their best-dressed issue and now this. It looks like Vogue is turning a corner!
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