The FRENCH VOGUE is the perfect example of my pretty TENSE RELATION to fashion magazines: As a PARISIAN IN MY HEART, I had subscribed the French edition for years after moving back to Vienna. And for years, I loved it. It was like an anchor back to my Paris years – its style was inspiring, surprising and fresh.
But with Emmanuelle Alt arriving as the RÉDACTRICE EN CHEF I noticed a harsh change style-wise. Change might be the initial intention when changing the head of an enterprise, I know. But the style did not really change to the better, the style became an endless repetition of the style & life of its editor in chief. And forgive me, but Alt’s style might be the perfect example of Parisian style, but in my opinion that’s nothing that should be repeated on an every day level. Even Parisian ladies get tired of tiny little black jeans, the perfect little white shirt and kitten heels. Even Parisian ladies need eccentricity every now and then. Not to talk of all the other stylish but bored ladies worldwide looking at French Vogue.
Of course, at this point I have outed myself as a fan girl of Carine Roitfeld, who is also a Parisian lady – of course. But a charismatic one. A provocative and intelligent one. A fashion leader, well aware of the power of culture and image, not only of kitten heels.
Dear Ivana,
I just discovered your blog and reading this article, I am already excited to read all the others. Being a “cultural observer” myself that worked in the fashion industry for several years and now makes its first steps into the art world, I loved your analysis of the VOGUE September issues (and I would really look forward to hear your opinion on the German issue by the way) and I am thrilled with the concept of FACTION as a whole. In general I share your opinion on the changed role of the fashion magazine in daily life. I still enjoy buying it and having it on my pile of “things to read” but almost never find the time to really do so and as most of the content is not as relevant or interesting as the stuff I find online, I kind of forget about it at all. Still I love having a printed issue of VOGUE around from time to time because it reminds me of a certain feeling, that I can not describe quite well. I guess you know what I mean. Anyway, thanks for this wonderful article. I really look forward to read more from you!
Dear Larissa, I just browsed through my blog pages while preparing another article and thought: OMG! I never replied to this dear comment by you! I am so sorry, I remember reading your comment on vacation while I actually was digitally detoxing and when I returned to my “normal life” I must have forgotten replying while attacking my long to-do-list … . Thank you so much for leaving your comment and kind words – I totally feel you when readiung about your switch between the art and fashion worlds! And yes, I do agree on your desire to have a printed magazine around – I totally feel the same. It’s just that the VOGUE for me is not as good as I feel it should and could be (even though there’s big quality differences between the different issues). In general many tradtional, “big” magazines are missing out on digital opportunities in my opinion… . I’ll write about this topic soon again. Hope to read from you again! Many greetings from Vienna, Ivana