Oh Elle C

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IMG_2409 >> I've been a sucker for Elle Collections every season and given that this time, it arrived whilst I was away in Paris, I didn't get grubby hands on it properly until now and as usual, it has sent me down a slippery slope where by I start querying everything in my wardrobe.  Why don't I have enough wedges, large clutches and sporty heels?  Where's my sheer floaty ballet skirt (Chloe)?  Why can't I be mummified in Prada's S/S 11 banana print covering my entire body?

The sort of questions that makes me hate myself for succumbing every season to the cycles of the season in fashion, to wincing at the word must-haves and trends but then devouring whatever must-haves and trends that get thrown at me. 

I maintain that Elle Collections feeds me all of this in the most well-edited and beautifully visual way though.  Does it lessen the guilt of my fashion consumer rampage?  Perhaps.  Well only slightly. 

It gets to the ridiculous level where I become enamoured with the idea of nips and legs out peeking through sheer blouses and skirts (in this case by Hannah Marshall and Chloe) even if I'm not normally a nips and legs kinda person.  Or that I'm just crying out for temperatures where such a notion could even be possible… did I see a MINUS 22 temperature Tweet about the weather in New York?  I've just about the scrapped the hope of peep toe sandals…

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Text wise which is still on that matte paper stock that makes you want to read things rather than flick through it quickly, I loved these mini profiles on London designers who talk about their influences of artists…

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…as well as Robin Ghivan's piece on plus-sized glamour, beautifully illustrated by John Paul Thurlow…

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I also contributed a frenetic-paced London Fashion Week hour by hour diary… nose-bleeds, the Pope stopping me from getting to a show, Pret Sandwiches… oh the joys!

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As usual, the team do a fine job of picking out potent imagery to accompany trend pointers such as this Nick Knight image to illustrate florals…

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…or pantone colour charts, something that never fails to make me smile and aim to have a wardrobe that is as wide-ranging in colour as this spread…

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They've also continue to zoom in on key pieces such as this Jil Sander S/S 11 print.  The colour blocking and solid couture-derived skirts were what made the headlines but I loved this magnified floral print too…

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Make Your Own Prada Banana – does there need to be further explanation to this? 

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Elle has also snapped a lot of the backstage directions that always reflect give non-fashion lovers cause for ridicule about fashion shows…

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My favourite though was the backpage where designers' yearbook photos were laid out for us to play "Guess Who" with… some were easy but some were quite tricky… answers on the side which makes it satisfying…

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22 comments

  2. Oh my! The backstage directions are precious haha! And I so want to have a better look at that prada banana, why I wanna go bananas too!

  3. As if I wasn’t going to get this already… now I am stopping by on my way to work (instead of from)

  8. I love going to get my Elle Collection and reading all through it, easily a good few hours read. I read a really amusing article the other day about the language used in these magazines, with the ‘muust-have’s’ and the ‘trends you WILL be wearing’ the writer completly disagreed with the whole idea, like I feel i do, then discretly admitted at the end, season after season they manage to find one of the ‘must-have’s’ in their wardrobe, its just unavoidable?! And i agree theres something about that matt paper that just makes you read it like a book as opposed to a quick flick through a magazine! x

  9. In Spain I have to wait untill the 18th of February before getting Vogue or Elle, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
    Well, at least we have the sun hehehhe.
    Mil besos Susie.
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  10. Don’t you dare go down the slippery slope of following what mags and the industry tell you to do, wear or who to be.
    You are yourself Susie. The one person we all love and respect. We admire that you’re your own woman and that you do your own thing and that it’s way more exciting than whatever the mainstream tells us our you to be. Don’t you dare conform. Elle Collections is the most stylish of trend reports. It’s slick, stylish, I love the typeset & layouts, even the paper used oozes style but you have your own style.
    Please don’t compromise it by conformity. Just be you. Even if you donβ€šΓ„Γ΄t have enough wedges.

  11. I put the date in my calendar but it came out when I was visiting family in Stockholm and then I totally forgot about the Elle Collections! Need to drag my ass to a news agent! Thanks for the reminder πŸ˜‰

  12. Elle collections are truely quite an inspirational cover on trends fashion and art; although ,still, at the same time, persuasive and intimidating in terms of what to buy and what to wear next season.On a positive note,I love the instant effect you get when glimpsing sight of the pantone colour charts; it’s rather surreal on account of how moods and views can change on just a page with different tones and shadows of colours; i guess it proves how much a specific collection or garment can be influenced only by a colour palette, which i consider to be a great motif to follow when creating one. I’d like to add some more, but my comment box is filling up quite hastilly; sorry for my over-extended comment πŸ™‚ X Neda X
    http://stylemontage-neda.blogspot.com/

  14. No worries about the pertinent reminder to buy!
    Lucy: Tropicana is a must!
    Neda: I could write 1,000 words on the magic of pantone colour charts so don’t worry yourself about a paragraph-length comment…

  17. Susie, the fact that you brought up Robin Givhan, a journalist i deeply admire says something to me. i pass by these “collections” editions all the time because i was convinced that there were nothing more than images you ca get on style.com. there is obviously a wonderful wealth of information i am missing out on.

  18. I think Elle UK is officially my favourite ‘mainstream’ fashion mag- it’s looked fantastic ever since it got its makeover, and I’m glad to see the writing spills over into the collections issue too.
    On a side note: isn’t that John Paul Thurlow drawing the spitting (illustrative) image of those famous YSL Opium ads starring Sophie Dahl? I like the fact that they chose that image for the piece- it’s probably the single most well-known piece of high fashion imagery using a ‘plus size’ model this last decade.

  20. I was tempted by Elle Collections the other day after spying what looked like a great article about plus-sized women. (Not plus-sized personally but massively into the various debates that will hopefully fuel the revolution of body diversity in fashion at some point.) Now with this lovely review and pictures I believe it’s time to part with my £7.

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