Delighted to see new posts on this brilliant thread.
It seems to be commonly agreed that VP was "better" under CR.
Is it possible to define why ?
More creativity? Sexier? Less celebrity?
IMO, VP under CR was "better" because it bring back something that people needed at the time: fashion & style, allure and exclusivity.
We sometimes forget it but it was maybe the first time ever that VP had a stylist as an EIC instead of a proper journalist.
VP under JJB wa great but much more journalistic and about an american vision of french fashion. It wasn't really a magazine of style. It was like a french version of US VOGUE with most of the time, head-to-toe looks.
Carine had the ultimate powerhouse team with her. She was the most in-demand stylist in the world and she had the best team ever.
When you think about all the brands Carine, Emmanuelle and MAS were involved with between 2001 & 2011, it's quite astonishing.
Those girls knows how to create an impactful image. It wasn't about market-research and everything. It felt genuine.
They managed to create a real mood and a "club" people wished to be part of. In a way, VP was a bit like Elle and 20 ans.
It was a guide of every fashion aficionado. The girls in the magazine looked like an extansion of the girls who made the magazine.
Suddenly, brands that "fashion lovers" liked a lot started appear regulary in the magazine: Helmut Lang, Balenciaga, Alaia, CDG, Yamamoto, Colonna...etc.
The celebrities they choosed were very chic (Marceau, Deneuve, Gainsbourg, Coppola) and sometimes they were subversive (Hilton, Andre J).
When you looked at their social pages, it wasn't about celebrities. It was about socialites, fashion personalities and designers.
It was just the right magazine, at the right time. Carine started at VP during a very interesting and crucial point for fashion, like Anna & Franca a decade before. It was an iconic era and VP was just the perfect "mainstream" magazine of that era.
Emmanuelle is great at her job but the fashion industry is kinda stuck so no magazine can be inspired by that energy.
We don't have an Hedi Slimane doing a revolution in menswear, American & english designers taking over french fashion houses is almost a non-event now.
Today, no EIC can have the power to be the EIC of a major magazine and at the same time the stylist of many fashion brands.
