A lot of people get all up in Vogue US' grill. Yes i did just write that sentence. You know what i mean though, it seems like everyone's favourite sport is to attack something that is commercially successful, i'm guilty of it myself (hello, twilight, although since watching new moon and taylor lautner's fabulous pectoral area i may have changed by mind) from time to time. Tall Poppy syndrome, i suppose. People recycle the same old complaints about Vogue US - commercially minded (since when did that become a bad thing?), repetitive, unoriginal, uninspiring, favours the actresses over the models. Yes Vogue US may be, at times, one or all of these things. But so are many other magazines. One of my pet peeves about people who love fashion is their ability to forgive magazines like Vogue Paris the sin of repetition whilst abhorring it in Vogue US. Sure, 1000 pictures of Lara Stone, lustful and bonded are a hell of a lot more engaging than a 1000 pics of karlie kloss leaping through a khaki studio, but six of one, half a dozen of the other.
The fact is, Vogue US is what it is. Of course we'd all like it to change, and this year certainly has been one of the best for the magazine in a long time. May's model cover, for one, was gorgeous. the couture editorial dedicated to Lacroix was inspired, and impeccably well done by Coddington and Elgort. I personally loved Michelle Williams' October cover. I'd even like to bring to the class' attention all the wonderful articles in the magazine across the year. Without fail this is a magazine I read. I am guilty of purchasing magazines like Vogue Paris and, even though i can read french, flipping through it and just looking at the pictures. I even do this for some english magazines (sorry, harper's australia and vanity fair!). But Vogue US is one of the few magazines that I look forward to each month for the sheer joy of reading. It is consuming, I cannot put it down, and although the articles sometimes go over my head I thoroughly enjoy it. It makes me happy.
So, in the face of all the mud slinging and the beef (what is with my youth-tastic slang today?) I would like to try a different tack. I mean, i've been told that sometimes compliments and positive encouragement can work wonders for self esteem.
scanned by Luxx for tFSThis photo is lovely. No. It is more than lovely. It is arresting.
It is the moments like these, ones that stop you in your tracks and captivate you, that reveal a glimmer of that magic quality that makes Vogue US so successful. At the height of its glory Vogue US was a wonderful magazine. In some ways, it still is. It was fashion, beauty, myth and legend. It was a lifestyle. It was a woman, a girl, a dame, a librarian. It was neon orange hair and a grey draped dress.I can't stop looking at this picture. I don't even have the magazine yet. I'm not even sure what this picture accompanies. All i know is that it is the perfect embodiment of fashion's whimsy and utilitarian that is my absolute favourite thing about the world. It cancels out all the drivel that Karlie has done for Vogue US this year, although I personally think she is a great model. Viktoriya looks radiant, yet obtrusively melancholy.
Why are they sad? How could you be, with such bright, vivacious hair. The slumped posture. The bra strap. The eyes, slanting and tormented. I want to know why they are sad. It reminds me of the Greuze painting, girl with a bird. The young girl in it has downcast eyes and a face leant gloomily into a hand as she contemplates her dead bird. Many stood before it and contemplated the source of her melancholy, including the great critic Diderot. 'Why this dreamy melancholy air? What, all this for a bird?'. This photo's power comes from its ability to prompt the question, 'why', from the viewer. It transcends normal fashion documentation to become something else entirely. It is a great fashion photo and you hardly even notice the clothes. That is because good fashion photos, like good fashion, are more than just clothes.
Sometimes we want big things. We want 40 pages of overwhelming fashion editorials. We want thick publications, supermodels, the best clothes, even better styling. Sometimes this quest for the most glorious, the most fantastic, leads us to overlook the small moments of perfection. I feel that many people would pass this photo over in the quest for the interview with Cate Blanchett or an article about holiday gift-buying.
But those who stopped, well, their reward is bittersweet.
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