Monday 7 September 2015

September Issue 2015 - French Vogue review

It's been a while since I've done one of these - I unsubscribed to US Vogue but I still read the French version so here some highlights of the September issue.


One annoying feature of iPad subscriptions is that the technology allows more control of what ads are shown when viewed and these Chloe ads were shown every few pages.
I don't know what they are trying to convey.
Boho lesbians or BFF fashion editors during fashion week?

















Even though the September issue is seen to set the fashion pace, there are very few trends that haven't done the rounds. No fashion editor can reinvent the wheel.
The editors put animal prints in their Mood page.


Fishnets, leopard print, ankle boots are a tricky combination to carry off but if in doubt
hang out in a red convertible.

I always feel Dior gets a bit lost and always comes in just after the top three medals of Chanel, Hermes, and Louis Vuitton.  But if I had to choose one brand I had to wear for the rest of my life it would be Dior.  I love this coat.

Regular readers of this segment knows that French Vogue takes its jewellery section seriously and takes care to style the editorials.

This has to be one of my favorites ever.
It's a tactile sensation.
 
Knitting, cats, and carats in plush wool and cashmere.

You just want to stroke and touch everything.



Miss Vogue - the monthly section where more affordable fashion are featured toyed with the idea of what Bob Dylan would wear if he was a woman.

If this look takes off, it will give vintage stores a boost which would be nice for charity shops and eBay.
The next feature was titled - A Quiet Day in New York.


The model has the same deadpan look in every single shot and white Celine shoes in most.
But it looks as if she is embodying several New York stereotypes.

She looks like a fashion magazine intern on her lunch break.
Not eating.

If Belle du Jour was a brunette New Yorker.

Girl who has come back from her French semester abroad practicing the Parisian deep in thought look.

Girl who is trying to be sartorially different by borrowing what her mother used to wear to Studio 54.

Uptown girl who is going through a rebellion phase and waiting for her east village boyfriend to finish his game.

Brooklyn art dealer on her weekly graffiti artist scout.


We are going to see this outfit on one of the girls in the HBO show "Girls".

Wait a few months and you will see this in H&M.
I am not naive and get that "sex sells".
However, this is Vogue.
The main demographic is straight women and gay men so 
there is really no need for the open crotch shot Madame Alt.
The titles of the editorials rarely have anything to do with the theme as I see them.
It says solitary/single lover but I just see a poor little rich girl at her weekly therapy session.
This looks like one of those insecure young girls who are trying to seduce their father's friends when they come over for dinner.

The moment she wants to be a chemist because she thinks the glasses make her look cool.

Body language translation is I just can't go out to another function.


Joyriding.

Well taking her parent's token ironic car in their vintage collection.


Failed attempt as it doesn't have built in GPS and it is a stick shift.
Uber is much better.

Selfies are for people with no entourage.




Yes I forgot my bra but I am not smudging my eyeliner to put one on.

There were a few more editorials that didn't make much sense and were oddly below par their usual standards.


I think it was just a ploy to flog underwear.


Rule number one - Never talk about fight club.

I find this picture so depressing but I suppose it mixes the looks up and caters for the anti-fashion fashion crowd?

Well I hope you enjoyed browsing the September issue! x

45 comments:

  1. Love these round ups they are so funny! Meanwhile, I luff the knitting story. Makes me want to wear cashmere and jewels and knit my little heart out x

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    1. Glad you got a chuckle! Oddly their issue seemed low key for an important issue. But don't you think all those diamonds would cause so many pulls? X

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  2. I love your take on magazines!
    What I learned from studying the "New York Look" -- well, since New Yorkers don"t wear white shoes in the city (our streets are dirty and our sidewalks aren't much better), I concluded that the photos were styled by someone who's never been here. This in turn has reinforced my doubts about the countless pages of catalogs, mags and newspapers showing us how to style "Parisian looks".

    Merci encore!

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    1. The pastiche is always wrong...the Parisian look is always embarrassing because striped tops does not a Parisian make!

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  3. Your round ups always make me laugh. Always so many topless women in French Vogue. Ironic given they're trying to sell lingerie in one shoot, and get rid of it in another. Loved the knitting feature, although the jewels end up being second to the rest of it, and kind of look like they're getting in the way xx

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    1. Yes there are many topless women while IRL the trend has died down a bit due to the drying effects on skin. The knitting feature is one of the best but can't imagine the sweaters survived the shoot with all those diamonds and cats! Xx

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  4. It's so fun to read a magazine with you because you are hilarious. If I'd looked at this on my own it just would have made me grumpy and confused, well except for the knitting pictures with the big jewels, love those. Thanks Naomi! xo

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    1. This issue was oddly not very creative but maybe everyone is still on holiday? Glad you got a laugh Dani xx

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  5. Hilarious roundup. Most of these pictures are just plain ugly. What's up with that? I'm with Dani, the only ones I like are the knitting, cat and jewel ones. And the lesbian ads do confuse me just a tad. I'm mean, why?

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    1. The Chloe ads were slightly ambiguous because I wonder if it was close friendship but unclear messages are never successful. Bar the jewels you are right - it's not pretty!

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  6. Very well done Naomi! I think these girls could only be less interesting if they were talking.

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  7. Oh, very amusingly written post Naomi, reminding me exactly why I do not subscribe to any of these fashion rags any longer.

    Now, I must share with you a funny story. Recently, I've started receiving American Vogue for no apparent reason to me. I did not subscribe to the magazine, nor do I wish to receive it. I called the subscriptions line and asked them why I'm signed up for a subscription until August 2017. The answer "you were subscribed by a third party". Me: Well, please cancel as I do not wish to receive your magazine. They: I'm sorry, I cannot do that. Me: Why? They: Because you've been subscribed by a third party. ME: Who? They: Acorn Communication (or something like that), and you can call them directly at 1-800... if you have any questions. Me: Thank you. I try to call third party directly and their 800 number is "busy". Who gets a busy number on a free line? I gave up and looked them up on Google and it appears I'm not the only one receiving free Vogue subscriptions. Basically, the circulation department floods poor innocents like moi to up figures which attracts advertisers.

    It is sad that in today's day and age, you have to give Vogue away in hopes of it being read.

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    1. So interesting about your Vogue because I cancelled vanity fair - another Conde Nast publication because it was getting stale but I kept getting it and I emailed but they said as I was a loyal subscriber they'd give me a year for free but I'm still getting it!! But U.S. Vogue has become so ridiculously boring and like people magazine that I had to cancel but French Vogue keeps me in the loop plus it makes me laugh too.

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    2. So interesting re the free subscription! I've always found subscriptions in the US very cheap compared to the Australian mags as they are obviously more about circulation numbers over your side of the world, compared to here where they are concerned about cost of production. I had US vogue, cancelled it after the ridiculous Kim Kardashian cover (hard work from here), and then they offered me a free 6 months to change my mind. Fine, but I didn't! After a few more celebrity covers it just cemented it for me

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    3. Funny you should mention Vanity Fair because that's another one that started arriving in my mail box. However, unlike Vogue, I'm rather chuffed to be receiving it. For now at least.

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    4. And in Australia, my work keeps getting free magazines including Vogue, Belle, inside out & also mags like No Idea etc regularly. In a major case of Serendipity, i had stopped subscriptions to all magazines at the same time they started being delivered at work. Can't say they are essential browsing. Showed my teen (13 year old girl) the Miss Vogue section and she said "put it away mum". Nuff said. Den xxx

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    5. So interesting Den! I like how we have seen there's a campaign to dole out free mags hoping we might get addicted!! Hehe xx

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    6. OK, I've come back for yet another magazine update. Only yesterday, I received... wait for it... ROLLING STONE! So, that is three mags for me and (wait for it) one for hubby. He just started receiving SHAPE. We are both having a laugh over this and wonder when the madness will stop.

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    7. Plot thickens!!! That is hilarious. But I'm jealous about the shape magazine.

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  8. Hi Naomi, another hilarious roundup. I do seriously love French Vogue's jewelry pages, they are the only ones who do it well! The rest of the pictures are so bad and I hate the boho prints, they are just so ugly and uninspiring. I have given up on American Vogue, and honestly, I don't miss it. The way things are going with French Vogue, I will only be looking at it while at Barnes & Noble to see the jewelry pages and then will probably put it right back since it's about 16 US dollars! PS Some AMAZING VCA pieces going to auction on 9/16 and 9/17 in Chicago, including a VCA pooch brooch. Makes me think of your tousled lion brooch! If I had a spare 5K laying around I would so bid on it. I put a picture of it in my latest post, it's the last photo. Let me know what you think of it. xx

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    1. Yes their editor is kept busy schlepping the jewels back and forth to the shoots. Will def have a look xx

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  9. OK. From an American viewpoint, this issue of French Vogue is seriously hideous, except for the bijoux.
    I hated the magazine when Carine Roitfeld was the Editor as I thought it much too provocative. I thought E.A. would be so much more refined. I see she is not. Not for me, I'm afraid. I absolutely love the cleanliness, sleekness & elegance of American style. And, Bob Dylan would drop dead if he heard about THAT concept!!!!

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    1. There's a difference in cultures because French women for instance would never match their manicures to their pedicures for instance but the advertising is very behind the scenes. But there is more fashion related matters than another Hollywood interview. Carine has a bad reputation but people still do worship mme Alt. I don't really enjoy the fashion mags so much anymore but it's fun to know what's going on in that crazy world!!

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  10. So that's what's happening in the fashion circles. Just don't get the white shoes or the bare boobs. I think a photo shoot at our local Wal Mart would be waaayyyy more interesting :)

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    1. But how about white shoes and boobs? Double negative hehe? But nothing new or pretty...they should go to Walmart for some inspiration...

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  11. Thanks Naomi.
    I know little about haute couture and you have filled me in on the rest :)

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  12. Very funny! Maybe people will start subscribing to Vogue for viewing cats, jewels and knitting. I have not subscribed to the magazone for years and have no future plans.
    Susan

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    1. The way social media works - you will see in someone's posts or blogs anyway. Yes I think there is definitely a niche in cats, jewels and knitting Susan!

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  13. The Chloe ads are so random! You had me giggling at the lesbian lover concept!

    I ended my US subscription after Kim K was cover girl...that was the clear end for me though it had been going downhill for so long and was simply boring!

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    1. So random, I would have loved to be in the brainstorm meeting for those ads!!

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  14. Haha I love this roundup! Vogue has become so boring and laborious that I rarely bother. Much prefer your thoughts. I kinda like the crotch shot with the line of the dress. Wonder if she'd sit in a restaurant like that to maintain the visual effect. I, too, love the sweater, feline, jewel combination.
    Enjoyed more grapefruit g&ts this weekend! So thanks again!

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    1. Thanks Stephen! No wind fan for the crotch photo shoot. I am glad the grapefruit GT's are working out too :)

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  15. YOU ARE SPOT ON!THE AMERICAN VOQUE had the same CHLOE ADS.I remember I thought to myself what are they selling here.............even if they are in the Tuileres Gardens!

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  16. You are funny Naomi. I must admit the only time I Vogue now is when i come to your blog and read the roundup. yes that Dior coat is quite something or maybe it's just how she is holding it! I'm curious........would you wear and pose in it the same way the model suggests - I would if I had those boots hee hee xx

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    1. you cheeky little thing! Ha - i can't even get into boots like that with my thighs ;P xx

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  17. Hilarious Naomi! No wonder they're having to GIVE subscriptions away! Yes, the only relatable item for me was the knitting, cats and jewels one. PS I want those rings! All of them! Pammie xxx

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    1. They need to stop being so bland and hiring proper writers and journalists because there's plenty of bland out there and they need to lead the way and not pander to the public. Yes you have a ring and I'll grab a bracelet! Xxx

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  18. I totally LOVE the jewelry spread just like you. Wow..one of the best I've seen for really showcasing the colors of the stones especially.
    I used to subscribe to Town and Country just to see the jewelry, but their layouts were so darn busy that you could not see the gemstones or jewelry very well. Here in Vogue it is really well done...and not too much crammed into the layout either.
    Thanks Naomi for your post. Really love your comments.

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    1. I liked when T&C did that too but I know what you mean by their styling of it. Thanks Anon.

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  19. I'm with you, love the jewelry feature too.
    Thanks for the low down on the rest of the issue too.

    SSG xxx

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    1. Just fun to see the fashion zeitgeist elsewhere eh? x

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  20. Thank you for the update. I do love that cat and knitting editorial. Very soothing. Makes me want to buy a bauble (then again, most things do that!)

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