What's wrong with Vogue?

One of my favourite fashion critics, New York Times writer Cathy Horyn, wrote a scathing piece on Vogue magazine that will likely make Anna Wintour bite her head off. In What's Wrong With Vogue? Cathy criticizes the magazine for being too compromised by their advertisers to leave room for critical analysis of fashion.

She writes:

"Vogue has become stale and predictable, and it has happened in spite of some of the best editors, writers and photographers in the business.

There are too many stories about socialites — or, at any rate, too few such stories that sufficiently demonstrate why we should care about these creatures. What once felt like a jolly skip through Bergdorf now feels like an intravenous feed. To read Vogue in recent years is to wonder about the peculiar fascination for the ‘villa in Tuscany’ story. Ditto staff-member accounts of spa treatments and haircuts.

It’s embarrassing to see how Vogue deals with the recession. For the December issue, it sent a writer off to discover the 'charms' of Wal-Mart and Target."

I have been a subscriber of American Vogue for two years now and I have noticed that in the past year the issues have become boring, predictable and unimaginative. It has nothing on the titillating French Vogue.

Editorials have the same photographers and models, wearing the same (advertisers') clothes. It makes for boring and repetitive photography.

And the articles...well their attempt at covering the anorexic crisis was pitiful at best; coming up with no answers and unaware of their own hypocrisy of fueling bad body image.

The same "house in the hamptons" article appears in every issue. Boring!

And I just skip over their beauty section because I can't relate to any of the issues (botox gone wrong, creepy laser treatments) and I'm sure most women who read the magazine can't relate either.

Let's face it: American Vogue has become irrelevant to women of this generation. We deserve more from a magazine which used to define the word groundbreaking.


Jezebel also has a great post about Cathy's article from a model's point of view.

Romeo and Coco

I always look forward to the December issue of Vogue because they usually include a fairy tale editorial (ie. Alice in Wonderland) filled with beautiful costumes, a large cast that includes actors or designers, and a romantic setting. This year they went with Romeo and Juliet, starring model Coco Rocha as Juliet and dancer Roberto Bolle as Romeo. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the photos are very romantic with soft lighting, thick tapestries, draped flowers, haunting stone sets and gorgeous long gowns by Christian Lacroix, Nina Ricci, Alexander McQueen and Vera Wang. Actors John Lithgow and Estelle Parsons play Friar Laurence and the Nurse, respectivelly.

I love Coco's expressions; this woman should be an actress. You can see the angst, the longing, the passion and the pain on her face. She makes me want to fall in love with someone forbidden.



Prince: A glooming peace this morning with it brings,/The sun for sorrow will not show his head./Go hence to have more talk of these sad things;/Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:/For never was there a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. (Act V, Sc. 3)

(Photos: Vogue)

Obsessed with Boyd

Boyd Holbrook is a model who made his acting debut in Milk. I'm usually not into blondes but I think I can make an exception this time. I don't know what it is, maybe it's a phase, but I am finding myself attracted to men who look really young (ahem, Rob Pattinson) although Boyd is actually three years older than me.
A little info on Boyd:
- Discovered while working as a carpenter at a theater
- Signed with Wilhelmina Models
- Steven Klein photographed him in his first campaign, for Bill Blass
- Walked for Calvin Klein, Dior Homme, Burberry, Fendi, Gucci, D&G and Helmut Lang and lots more
- Has appeared in V, Numéro, Details, GQ, i-D and many more mags
- Appeared in the now-iconic W editorial titled “Asexual Revolution,” photographed by Steven Meisel
- Quoted as saying “I still don't believe that I am a ‘model’…. Hopefully just a person that people enjoy being around.”

What I know is that he is undeniably hot and I'll be looking for him on the runways at the men's show for the F/W 09 season. Yum!

Thank. God.

Fashionista is reporting that the Rachel Zoe Project is coming out with a Season 2 starting mid-next year.
Now I want to know when Season 1 is coming out on DVD.

The L.A. Times says:

I die. I die. Our favorite fashionista is coming back.

Bravo tells us exclusively that the network has ordered up a second season of "The Rachel Zoe Project," the behind-the-scenes reality show following Zoe as she styles celebs, keeps the peace between her feuding assistants and goes on mad vintage-store shopping sprees.

Production has not yet begun, but expect new episodes of "Rachel Zoe," produced by Original Media, to air in mid-2009.

No word yet on whether on-and-off-again rivals Brad and Taylor will be back, but as of October, when I last spoke to Zoe, both were still happily employed.

At the time, Zoe thought Taylor was getting "a bad rap" from viewers, who took issue with Taylor talking back to the boss lady. "Taylor's tough, she keeps me focused. She's there to tell me no, because I'm really bad at saying no," Zoe said. "But I need her to do that. I'd be lost without her."

Bravo also will be unveiling several new series on Thursday.

Now all the network needs to do is tell us when "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" comes back and my Christmas wish list will be complete. And that would be, as Zoe might say, "bananas amazing."

I can't wait to see Taylor and Brad duking it out over nipple covers and garment bags. And will Rachel hire a third assistant like she promised Taylor? Will Rodger be able to pay off all of Rachel's debt? I need these questions answered!

Caption this

(At the Prada S/S 09 show)

"The model, fed up with being taller than all the others, decided to crouch down the runway, with the help of her army of pink-shirted men."

Would this be considered torture?

The VIP members only Pirelli Calendar has just come out and it features old pros like Daria Werbowy and Isabeli Fontana posing nude and smoking cigarettes alongside wild animals. As if posing with potentially dangerous animals who could trample your head at any second isn't scary enough, the girls had to pose with humongous scary bugs on their face.
See here:
That's Isabeli Fontana, one of the world's top models, crying. Now this made me think, what if, at your job, the boss told you to put a potentially harmful bug on your face or dance around with mammoth-sized, head-crushing elephants? You would say no, right? Ok, I know that that probably wouldn't happen in the office, but you get the idea: Sometimes you get asked to do ridiculous things at work that could be borderline illegal/inhumane.

But models have to put up with a lot of crazy requests and can't really say no because they need to make money or be in a "prestigious" calendar. Where is the models union when they need one? Should there be a limit on what models can be asked to do? Who's standing up for their rights?
The thing about models is that if they get really hurt, their modeling career could be over. Or if they take a long time to heal, they could miss fashion weeks, ad campaigns, editorials; opportunities for their face to be seen. If they are out of circulation, they might not be in demand next season.

"Tatiana the anonymous model" over at Jezebel wrote a great piece (which I can't find anymore) about models' rights (or lack of.) She says that sometimes models go through excruciating pain just so that photographers can get a pretty photo. Her example is her model roommate who had to put shards of glass on her eyelids and eat sand for a photoshoot and ended up vomiting the whole night. If one of us non-models were vomiting from work, I think we would do something about it. But models can't.

Here's a behind-the-scenes video of the making of the calendar where you can see Isabeli crying and the fear in the models' eyes as they frolic with elephants and dead birds.

Want to go to a Chanel show?

The Chanel 08/09 Cruise Collection will be showing at the Exhibition Place in Toronto this Thursday in support of Healthy Kids International.

I emailed the publicist to see how much tickets were selling for and I choked when she told me. A hefty $1000 a ticket. Still, if I had that money lying around I think I would use it to see a Chanel show. But I don't. So I won't get to see it.

But if any of you are willing to fork over the cash to see beautiful clothes, call 416 813-6166 ext 2026.

And if you have an extra $1000 take me with you!

The girls in glasses

I want to buy this print. I came across the art of Danny Roberts through Fashion Toast and I'm now obsessed with this painting of his. Can you tell they're wearing Chanel?

Here is some more of his beautiful artwork:

Falling down at Prada

Remember at the Prada S/S 09 show the big kafuffle over the models falling down in those impossibly high and impractical shoes?

Here's a great Fashion Television clip that shows the models tripping and falling. I wonder how many careers were ruined that night?

The reactions to the show are really funny and varied from "I felt sorry for the models" to "that's the price you pay for being a supermodel."

Addicted to LV

A couple weeks ago, a group of us who are members of The Purse Forum decided to meet in Toronto for brunch and shopping. Here we are in front of the Louis Vuitton boutique on Bloor St.
That's me second to the right leaning to the side with a big grin on my face.
I had such a fun time with them and I can't wait till we meet again. And yes, I did buy a bag.