I should be running to the newsagents with joy after the X’MAS blank break without any new issues of fash mags to keep me happy. However, I run out and buy the latest issues of UK Vogue and Elle to find something most joyless indeed. Perhaps the more discerning insiders can enlighten me as to why both issues have insisted on running two editorials that I have termed the ‘Blah All-Over’. Meaning, we have Daria Werbowy in Vogue on each individual page decked out in an ENTIRE ensemble from one designer and then as if it weren’t obvious that you were staring at a Balenciaga or a Dolce & Gabanna outfit, the page is then helpfully labelled. The same goes for Elle, with a different selection of designers and the model is Caroline Winberg.
At this point, I’m expecting someone to step up and say something along the lines of ‘But at the beginning of every season, mags are obligated to showcase THE designers of the season…’. Too bad, it makes for very dull page flicking indeed as you see catwalk looks re-assembled before your very eyes in the manner of an advertisement with little imagination and thus, inspiring little from me. If being decked head to toe in designer gear is an unlikely reality, then being decked head to toe in the SAME designer is even more improbably, not that mags are meant to reflect reality but at least throw us something to ponder and chew upon! The magic of editorials for me is well…the editing… the mix and match and the ability to see individual garments out of their intended context and in unexpected environments too.
So, as a complete fashion numpty, I ask the insiders to explain these pages of drabness…
Elle UK Feb 2008 – ‘The New Trends’, photographed by Matthias Vriens, styled byAnne-Marie Curtis
Vogue UK Feb 2008 – ‘Spring Forward’, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, styled by Kate Phelan
“and then as if it weren’t obvious that you were staring at a Balenciaga or a Dolce & Gabanna outfit, the page is then helpfully labelled.”
you really can be so condescending sometimes. just because you seem to know everything there is to know about fashion doesn’t mean that others do; thousands of people who don’t have the time to scour the web looking at the shows but have vogue as a bit of an escape at the office or whatever might have no idea who the clothes are by. obvious to you, maybe, but there’s no need to be so scathing. i actually agree that the shoots are pretty boring, but the tone you take here, and often in your blog makes me want to disagree with you on principle.
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Lisa, I’m sorry if I have offended you. I did say that I’m a fashion numpty who doesn’t really get the purpose of these pages. You have made a good point about people who aren’t as fashion geeky as I am (which is not really a good thing anyway…) won’t immediately know what outfit it is…
My objection though is to the unimaginative use of the clothes….
I’m sorry if you feel I’m condescending and scathing… on a whole Style Bubble isn’t really that critical… perhaps people feel differently.
I’m feeling a bit blue about the blog at the moment…. and your comment has hit me hard… perhaps I’m failing in some respects.
When all is said and done, it is my own Style Bubble here and sometimes, my thoughts are not best communicated… or perhaps my thoughts just are that ugly…whichever it is, for that I’m sorry.
I agree Susie, and it’s been a critism of magazines for many a long year. I picked up another mag (infact it might been Elle) and they had Jennifer Connelly in the same Balenciaga get-up as Daria – infact it was even the same pose! Whilst I didn’t like this season’s Balenciaga collection at all, I would like to have seen it out of context, as this is often how minds are changed about something – as you said Susie, having something to chew over.
If I do love a look I am as guilty as the next person of recreating the whole look, but for the most part I am happy to take elements of it and do my own thing, but sometimes it’s good to see what the people who get paid to do it come up with too, as that can be very inspirational.
I think your tone is fine, Susie. You’re writing from the point of view of someone who is engrossed in the subject matter. Some of your readers will be as involved as you and some not and some will clearly be PMS-ing. (I kid, I kid, Lisa. Put the gun down slowly and turn your attention back to Vogue). Anyway, Susie, it’s impossible to please all the people all the time. I say this as someone who is usually totally pleased with any fashion spread, no matter how much people who have more expertise may dislike it. Now, don’t get me started on the recent Wall Street Journal story on men’s jewelry or I’ll get pissy!
Strange! I never imagined Lisa’s reaction…I always loved Stylebubble because of it’s beautiful/playful use of words and non-snobish tone of the author,Susie. So don’t let it hit you too hard!
As for the single designer ensemble, I’d be quite dissapointed if I bought a mag and found that to be the main editorial. I already am quite turned off with the countless advertisements by designers that masquerade as style shoots, often found in the Japanese magazines I check out.Anyway, as a stylist, it must be quite boring to be bound within the restrictions as well…
What’s making you feel blue about the blog?
Not to be a big suck up or anything, but it truthfully cheers me up a lot! I work in the fashion industry as a head designer (for a company, not truly independent) and it’s a really tough industry and sometimes gives ME the blues! But you remind me of the fun,inspiring and exciting side of things. And dammit, I think every once in awhile you are allowed to not like something and get a little cranky about it. That seems perfectly normal to me.
And who’s to say your blog CAN’T be from the view of someone who is totally immersed in fashion (from a loving fashion, not working in it standpoint). There are readers out there who are just as immersed and will appreciate your thoughts. The ones who don’t can just skim over those posts and move along their merry way.
OK opinionated commenting, over.
i’m sorry you’re feeling blue about the blog. you really shouldn’t. i think it’s the best one out there, or the best i’ve seen anyway. also, as you point out, it is YOUR style bubble, so i suppose you really should say whatever you think.
i just think that you sometimes forget that not everybody (or anybody, really!) knows as much about fashion as you, and so little comments like the one i highlighted can make people (like me! i might not have recognised every one of those outfits!) feel a bit crap, and like they don’t know anything. and in fact, the main reason i said anything is not because i think you’re rude or anything, but that i think you don’t even realise how it comes across, as you mean it innocently, so i just wanted to give you a heads-up, from the point of view of someone who knows a lot less than you.
please don’t be offended, you do a wonderful job on this blog.
I completely agree! I got Vogue in the mail this morning and wet “ooh!” and two minutes later I was done with it. So boring, ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.
Also, is it just me or did the actual magazine pages look like crap? Did they change their printing or paper or something? It looks rubbish 🙁
I honestly don’t think about your blog is condescending or critical, if anything, all your positive and witty take on trends has really inspired a fashion novice like me:) I agree with your point about the dullness of Vogue and Elle. I see the same Miu Miu dresses in Pop, yet the styling and make up is so much more creative.
Lisa, thank you for coming back…
Somehow, as blogging becomes a bigger part of my life and I’m contemplating whether a job in fashion outside of my non-fashion day job is for me, I use my blog as a barometer for that. i.e. if ppl are getting peed off with the blog, then what chance will I have in the REAL world, in the REAL industry?
It’s fears and doubts that I’m stressing out over as I’m going through some tough career decisions….
Comments like yours are valuable and I thank you. Sometimes I am waaay too immersed in fashion to take a look at the bigger pic. I really did mean this post as a call for a little more imagination. It isn’t a dig at people who won’t immediately recognise those outfits to be such and such a designer. I have many a friend who don’t give too hoots about fashion because it may be hard to believe but I do yap about things other than fashion in real life!
So Lisa, no hard feelings, I got what you mean and I do apologise!
And everyone else…. its nice to know that you didn’t read my tone as being condescending….. seriously though, I merely just wanted to say that I felt a little hard done by when I spent nearly a tenner on mags that I didn’t get a lot out of….
I bought German Vogue and encountered the exact same clothes, all be it presented in a slightly different way. All the photo stories were photographed by the same photographer and all I can assume is that at the time the February editions are planned only a few samples are available post the shows and maybe the staff are taking a much needed break and leave juniors in charge. Couple this with the advertising lite, what incentive is there to push out all the creative stops when ALL the advertising hits in March.
As regards the rather harsh comment by Lisa remember this is YOUR blog and the reason you are as popular as you are is because you do have strong opinions thats what makes your blog interesting and popular.
I feel your pain! I got Elle through the post, it was so dull I nearly lost the will to live. I so miss living in Town where you have easy access to better magazines us poor sods out in the country are lucky if we can pick up Vogue at all sometimes lol
Susie,
this is the first time I’ve commented. I love your blog and it always makes my day when I see your new posts. while I do like that magazine labels the designers (even if I’ve seen the same balenciaga floral armour a thousand times), I do think that they need to editorialize their editorials; especially since you can see the same look on the runway at vogues website.
but, what I really wanted to say was, your blog makes me soo happy because you love fashion, and are excited about it. and the way you write shows that you want everyone else to enjoy it. you are never condescending, and as someone who is not inside fashion, i find your blog much more comfortable and welcoming than ones like say fashionista. (nothing against fashionista, its v. good, but I do think it sometimes is a bit inaccessible to people like me)
Egh, that’s what US Vogue does…advertorials. The labelling is all very well, and may be helpful to people who aren’t total fashion geeks, as Lisa says. However, it’s the unimaginative presentation that is the bigger issue, and the pet peeve for a lot of people.
seeing this Balenciaga dress it reminds me of the similar one you’ve worn some posts ago and haven’t commented. it was amazing. really impressing!
*oh! just a remark. Greece was never part of the eastern bloc. (it’s not a matter of dislike, it’s just annoying reading/hearing the same mistake from people around the world)
thank you 🙂
i wouldn’t say you’re condescending, but i have to agree that sometimes it feels like you forget to note that not everyone is as well-informed and so into fashion like you are. seeing your creativity and your knowledge i can understand how you feel, and i know that you read dozens of fab magazines which i’ll never be able to buy in Berlin. but for many people vogue is probably the only way to read about new collections and that’s okay (even if it bores us!). life has always been diverse.
Lisa brings up an interesting point, aside from her ad hominem remark about Susie (with which, incidentally, I disagree).
Does a non-commercial blogger have an implied responsibility to her audience, to act as the “voice” for the larger group? This is the point Lisa has made; she believes Susie is acting as though she speaks for everyone. And yet, at least to me, it is clear that this is Susie’s blog with Susie’s imprimatur, and reflects Susie’s world and Susie’s tastes and Susie’s thoughts.
Does this latter viewpoint need to come with an apologia or disclaimer at the end of every post that states “These opinions are strictly my own, relative to my own experience, and are not meant to represent those of the community” or are we capable of intuiting this on our own?
The debate is not limited to this blog; it is community-wide and I find it fascinating, having run into something similar myself. I believe there is a growing trend to hold a blogger socially responsible for her content, which to me is creating a climate of censorship. I’ve always felt that a personal blog is just that, a journal, and makes no assumptions about the thoughts or emotions of others.
Susie’s statement about redundancy is based on her own personal viewpoint. Would Lisa have found the comment less “condescending” if Susie had phrased it as a question, as in:
“Hey, guys, do you think this business of naming the designer when it’s obvious what the model is wearing is silly?”
giving your readers credit by not addressing the lowest common denominator isn’t a bad thing.
keep up the smart talk… i love it. and it’s far LESS condescending than talking about the first time you purchased a garment costing 4 digits… like a lot of the fashion mags do. assuming anyone actually reads any of the articles in the fashion mags.
ok, and now what i was going to say about your POST…
🙂
the balenciaga dress looks way less extreme in the photo doesn’t it? it seems soft the way she’s wearing the dress.. it makes me covet the dress even more.
also… i know what you mean about head to toe… over the weekend i was in japantown browsing through the japanese fashion mags, and over there they go over the season with runway shots. it was hard to justify purchasing them because you can easily find them online, however, i feel like it was easier for me to visualize the collections seeing them in print.
would i want an english speaking magazine to do the same? hmmm… maybe… it would be nice to have runway reviews. i don’t knwo… i’ll stop here because i’ve written a novel.
oh… btw.. i’m sorry you feel blue about your blog, i’ve been feeling blue too.. i can’t put my finger on it. but keep it up.
<3
i’m pretty much sure these are the things any fashion magazine wouldn’t skip – it’s easy to edit, it doesn’t take much time, it gives a guaranteed level of glossy-ness and the exact amount of fashion fever we all are dying for. the question is… what’s the role of a stylist in this case? british vogue just put the exact looks on daria making no attempt to customize it. maybe it was the idea, but the result is pretty blank (ooh la la) for those who skipped style.com even once. as for the elle’s version i pretty much like it because they tried to play with volume, dynamic of human body if you will. that gives some kind of visual illusion and you see the outfits in a bit different angle (not the frontal view we’re so used to, again, thanks to style.com). yet there’s another way to do this. i remember simon robins’s work for russian vogue, the shoot with natasha poly. it was all about the TRENDS (what an ugly word it can be), the most typical and successful looks of the season (isn’t it funny how successful and typical mean the same sometimes? – need to think of it). anyway, this was a fusion of brands, textures and colours, a real explosion of creativity and mix’n’match-ing. these were trully beautiful and inspiring images in a real russian vogue’s spirit. yet! some people found the eds too random and unconvincing. so maybe it’s far easier for the magazine to ask its fashion editor to pick few dazzling dresses, some wicked pantsuit and 3 pairs of stilettos and that’s it. who knows… and let’s remember… british vogue (as ony other traditional huge fashion mag)is not only for those who spends sleepless night to be the first to post new balenciaga runway looks on TFS. someone will surely see these outfits for the first time. let’s be forgiving 🙂
ps btw, just noticed you added my blog to the ‘susie’s faves’. what an honour! love, dbp
The Elle one doesn’t look too bad a shoot (not that I’ve seen the rest of it), though yes, Vogue’s was a bit dull. But that’s as far as I’d go with the criticism…
You say it’s improbable to be decked out head to toe in one designer – but don’t people do just that for a Prada launch, or a Valentino party, and so on? Besides, hell, fashion is improbable, that’s its joy – we like it because the clothes are weird and hopefully original. Us civilian fash-mag readers** are going to see so many articles in Elle, Grazia etc in the next months about what the big SS08 trends are, so it’s good to get some sort of coverage of the key pieces and what each designer was focusing on, before we get knocked over in a deluge of more general “Wear florals! Gladiator shoes!”
** i.e. only two or three magazines a month, not checking catwalk show pictures online, etc. Remember, people like this are these magazines’ target market – you’re the exception! It’s fine to be insider-y on your blog, but Vogue’s going to have to be more straightforward in its fashion coverage sometimes. That’s just life – and you’ve got all the other magazines you read for more radical editorial.
Maybe the fashion editors are on strike (just like those Holly writers) and the job was done by the sales representatives.
Hello, I read this post – and comments – at work and wanted to immediately comment, but, er couldn’t!
So I know collections stories are boring but we have to shoot them like this! Every accessory we add that doesn’t come from the designer gets us a telling off; if we don’t shoot in studios (so as best to show off the clothes) we get told off – from the advertisers and the publishers. And it’s tradition. There are 16 other stories per season to be creative (and collections stories also give the stylists a bit of a rest – ie no crazy locations to recce / prop stylists to brief).
Sorry, rambling a bit but just home from work and EXHAUSTED! Re you considering a move to the fash industry – don’t do it! I’m just considering your sanity!
And don’t be blue about the blog, it’s still the first I – and thousands of others turn to every morning.
Mrs F
xxx
I completely agree Susie and have been dismayed to see the same outfits in several magazines so far this month.. not to mention both Daria Werbowy wearing THE EXACT SAME get-up as Jennifer Connelly on the Balenciaga advert in Vogue. Tut tut tut.
As for you feeling blue about your blog: please don’t! I read it without fail everyday and it has been a source of fashion enlightenment for quite some time; not to mention giving me some insight into what I’ll be buying when this bloody weather eventually cheers up. x
I completely agree with you Susie. I was just about to go out tomorrow and buy the magazines, but I’m reconsidering. I’d prefer to NOT spend my money, and rather look on style.com. I want ideas, not to be refed images – how disappointing!
PS. I love your blog.
I couldn’t agree with you more – it is boring. Mixing and matching explores the vitality of fashion in a much more dramatic way…But sometimes I feel as if one has to look at the editorial (words) that accompany a shoot to get the drift they are after…
I love your blog.. and you update it so frequently I find it hard to keep up the pace. Nevertheless, I like to say that your style and your creativity makes alot of magazines look boring and drab in comparison.
Hence, hope you will cheer up soon..
and it is YOUR BLOG. you are free to comment and say whatever.
I dunno, i really enjoyed Vogue this month, the fashion all seemed so… well art! i found it a real inspiration, especially as i’m just starting to have a go at printing/painting my own fabrics! there did seem to be a lot of adverts though.
mind you that’s the difference between blogs and mags surely? one is done for the love of it, one is done to make money. magazines are just product after all.
*notices Mrs F’s explanation of why the collections stories have to be done that way*
It’s definitely enlightening to know exactly why the collections stories look the way they do…and it gets you told off if you take the shoots outdoors? One must never underestimate the power of the advertisers…
I don’t work in fashion, so don’t quote me on this, but I remember reading somewhere that the reason the first issue of a season always has the same head to toe designer look as on the catwalk is to do with time- that the stylists don’t have time to do elaborate shoots because it’s all put together quite soon after the clothes become available to shoot. Every (big) magazine does this, every season, every year, and it’s always annoyed me as well.
Oops, just saw Mrs Fashion’s comment. Must have got my thoughts muddled up. Aren’t the January editorials done quite soon after the end of the fashion weeks as well though?
Well, thank you Mrs Fashion for clearing things up as I knew you would. That makes perfect economical and commercial sense. I really didn’t mean to incite anyone with this post… I understand that Vogue caters to people who aren’t fashion fanatics. But I’m also glad that some people agreed with me in the sense that it doesn’t really make for exciting page flicking in an issue that was very thin on the ground with regards to content (written and visual…).
Thank you to those who wrote kinds words of support in lieu of blog-blue-ness. It’s something I’m working out at the moment and I will snap out of it for sure! Lisa brought up a valid point and Suzanna has also raised an interesting issue that I’d like to see discussed around the blogosphere. Am I meant to act as a voice of authority? What a scary thought…
Mrs F: I don’t think I’d be able to handle the industry anyways…
Lady C: I’d love to hear you elaborate about your blogging blues…
I love caroline w. and I want those Balenciaga shoes <3
Susie,
I completely agree with you. Spreads like this are incredibly boring and uninspiring.
I was going to write something super-long but I’ll try keep it short; I love your blog. Please, just keep being yourself, it’s one of the things that makes me keep coming back to this blog.
With all other magazines, a writer just sounds like a writer, but in everything you write, there seems to be a bit of Susie. Don’t lose that.
I’ve become so much more fashion aware, used to fashion terminology, designers and that’s all thanks to you.
I don’t actually know what point I’m getting at, because I’m really sleepy, and my eyes are closing as I type at the moment but yeah. Keep it up. I understand how Lisa feels but, I believe it’s just part of a learning process. If you don’t know the names, go find out, research. I like being immersed in all this fashion fluency. It’s like how you pick up a foreign language easier when you’re put into that foreign country itself surrounded by native speakers. You just pick it up easier.
Whenever I come to this blog I aspire to be as well fashion-knowledged as you and your readers. I like how things are.
And now I know I’m totally not making sense.
Ah.. I’m going back to bed.
The latest Australian Vogue is also a blah issue. And that Balenciaga dress (on the left) seriously is the ugliest dress I have ever encountered. The funny thing is – I see it everyday. First on J Connelly in her premiere, then on another magazine that I was reading yesterday and here it popped up again in another editorial. Blah!
I think most magazines at the moment are suffering a case of the blahs, especially the newest Australian Harpers and Vogue.
And as for my two cents, I love the way you write from your own point of view, don’t dumb it down or make it more general, cause I think that would lose some of it’s susie-ness, which is what everybody loves! And your recent blue-ness hasn’t shown on the blog, I’ve been loving it all recently!
As for getting a fashion job, I think you’d be wonderful at whatever you chose, but there’s also the chance that doing it as a job can make you lose a bit of the passion you have for it, because it’s all you deal with. I’m not saying this happens to everybody, but it happened to me and it’s really saddening. Good luck and keep it up! 🙂