The problem with VI is that it is too gimmicky and I am afraid, sometimes that was the case during Franca time too. At first sight, you get an impression that this is a magazine that offers lots of creative variety but at the same time, you can see that they are limited by their choices and it is only self-imposed. You can’t claim to be artistically free if you work with photographers who stick to the same crop/type of models, stylist, aesthetics, etc. It’s like a recycling site. Franca tried to change it at the end with mitigated success but at least during Franca’s time, Meisel shot covers and he had his favourites and his vision which he often executed flawlessly but the magazine also worked with photographers and stylists who really contributed to it with their authentic vision. Nowadays, the works of current ‘masters’ are so inauthentic that it is almost hard to identify who shot what and M&M have championed and supported this trend. Anyway, maybe going back to Meisel isn’t such a bad idea after all. At least we get 1 out of 3-5 issues that give us something beautiful. At least he sticks to what he knows and I prefer Meisel (even when he is boring) to the inauthentic cr*p that we’ve been getting recently.
