Discussion: What do you think of Vogue?

Mr-Dale

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I was just wondering how many Vogues there exactly are actually. But while I was wondering that, another question came to mind. Why do some countries do have a Vogue and others don't, saying that Vogue is still the leading fashion magazine. Well... is it still the leading fashion magazine? What countries would you like to see getting a Vogue? Which do you like best and why?

So basically, what's your opinion on Vogue?

And to get back on the initial question, I can think of:

US
UK
Paris
Italy
Germany
Nippon
Korea
Taiwan
Greece
Brazil
Spain
Russia
China
Australia

What am I missing?
 
I guess it just takes a lot of money to make Vogues, so they can't have them for small countries because they would not get a good return.

Portugal Vogue you forgot

and Taiwan Vogue

yes Hong Kong vogue too like person below says, maybe it was merged with China Vogue though?
 
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huh? The cover of mexican vogue with Rachel Weiz was on British Vogue earlier this year :shock: What is happening! I feel....violated :yuk:
 
^There was a Vogue Mexico at one point...but I believe it's called Latin Vogue or something like that. Someone else is going to have to verify this for us.

I can give an honest opinion on US Vogue, as it's the edition I read the most (living most of the year in the US, of course).

It can be quit drab, but then there are issues that can be surprisingly interesting (like this month's age issue). I don't believe most Americans have been generally in tune with fashion since the supermodel days. However, I think with the advent of all these shows on tv of recent days, the attitude in the states might be changing. A model on the August issue might be a sure sign that good things are on the way. I say might because for all we know, this could very well be a passing trend or a fluke.

I would love to see US Vogue change from a more celebrity-oriented magazine to more model-oriented. However, that depends on Americans who buy Vogue. I've said this time and again...it's all about making the profit margin. If Americans don't take an interest in models again, then we're likely to see celebs for the foreseeable future.

I will add that Vogue China is very edgy, when they aren't using reprints from other editions of Vogue. The interest in fashion is evident in the major cities, especially Shanghai.
 
I think there may be a few too many Vogues already. They, of course, change as time goes by depending on the times and on the editors. Often, Vogues are good in the beginning and then they slack off. Like German Vogue was great in the early 80s but when downhill fast. But the worst Vogues I've ever seen were 70s Australian Vogues - they really were so bad one just wants to cry....

Anyway, I think that American Vogue could do with a revamp at this point. It's too perfectionistic and clinical - perhaps a more inspired typography would do them some good, or at least separate them clearly from their increasingly vile ads (Walmart...you know?!?). As far as celebs go - oh people loved their celebs back in the 70s as well, but they still didn't mess up the covers more than occasionally. I think the reason for celeb covers is that the publicity machine has changed somewhat. People don't know what they want - and they should be educated/inspired. as for its history - contrary to all the other editions, American Vogue has never been completely worthless, although 2002/3 was close to such a state.

British Vogue is one of the "youngest" Vogues - it has some good features, but it's not really in its haydays (amazing mags in the 60s though). At least they do have a sort of unity for their editorials.

Italian Vogue is obviously, since the 90s, Steven Meisel's playground and is very dependent on his inspiration of the moment. Before that Italian Vogue was great until 1982 or so and then took a terrible nosedive until Meisel saved it. Sometimes spot on, sometimes just kind of off, but always skilled of course. Photographically more consistent than British Vogue, but still a bit obscure.

Vogue Paris is IMO the best current flavor. It has a unique typography, great paper quality, unified editorials, great photography and presents some of Lindbergh's and Demarchelier's most inspired work ever. Even the ads appear to be thoughtfully selected and placed - and the last three issues have been pure pleasures. The covers are still their weak point, though. As for its history...the 70s were the best, just astonishing issues all through the 70s really, and then in the late 80s this gem of a magazine just became more boring than a phone book.....until it was revived in 2002 or so by Carine Roitfeld. A lot of people criticize her, but they must be in denial...

Vogue Nippon - exquisite paper quality and printing, experimental and attractive photography. Never a complete waste of money. The covers or often not so very intriguing, despite model presence, but nonetheless better than average.

German Vogue - was great during its first few years but have since slipped. It's not atrocious and better than most Elles, but at this point it's not too inspired.

Brazilian Vogue - has its moments but tends to be rather T&A oriented, no surprises there.

Vogue China - I liked the first few issues, but I was turned off by my most recent purchase which did not have very satisfactory binding. The cover came off immediately...

As for countries that should have Vogue issues? It might be interesting with a Persian version, or something along those lines. And sometime later an African version. I heard that there might be a Vogue India at some point?
 
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^nice reviews!

Does anyone know how to subscribe to Paris Vogue if you are in the UK?

I saw amazon.com offers subscriptions for various vogues, but they wont offer these to people outside the USA :doh:
 
Vogue Mexico is very strange. Sometimes it's called Vogue Espanol,

sometimes, Vogue Mexico, sometimes I see Vogue Latino. I think they are one and same mag but the name changes. Am I wrong? And lot of people confuse those with Vogue Espana. Oh, and there's Vogue Brazil. Was that mentioned at the top?
 
bringbacksupers said:
sometimes, Vogue Mexico, sometimes I see Vogue Latino. I think they are one and same mag but the name changes. Am I wrong? And lot of people confuse those with Vogue Espana. Oh, and there's Vogue Brazil. Was that mentioned at the top?

Gosh, thank you for sorting that out! I knew there was something strange there :flower:
 
iluvjeisa karma for your fantastic reviews :flower:

I'll make a review of
Vogue Korea: almost exquisite paper quality and printing, but their fashion editors sort of lacks knowledge of fashion and style, and the same with their fashion photographers, who rarely (not never) take photos that "look good." Their articles are trying too hard to be witty, and they are witty in some ways but almost nothing informative. Their editorials are worse because photographers often take "unoriginal" photographs, and sometimes exactly the same with other photos appeared in other magazines.
 
sethii said:
^nice reviews!

Does anyone know how to subscribe to Paris Vogue if you are in the UK?

I saw amazon.com offers subscriptions for various vogues, but they wont offer these to people outside the USA :doh:

i think you can order a subscription directly, from vogue.fr - they also offer international subscriptions there, as far as i know....:flower:
 
there's also Vogue Poland? (I'm not entirely sure though)
 
Wow thanks for the reviews you guys!

I think my favourite Vogue is Vogue Italia. Especially because of it's covers. The eds I mostly like, but sometimes they are a bit too obscure, like the strange ed with Coco Rocha and Ana Mihajlovic in the April issue. I agree with the points on Vogue Italia and Paris made by iluvjeisa, but still I put Italia above Paris. I buy Italia the most as well.

Recently, I bought Vogue Russia for the first time and well, I have no idea what the stories are about because I can't read Russian, but I must say that the eds inside were pretty original and good! When I 'investigated' I found out that Russian Vogue has some very nice covers as well. All model covers and none stolen.

Also, I would like to see a Vogue Netherlands, just because I live there and I believe that Holland is ,fashionwise, worthy to get one. In the past few years many many new mags have been released in Holland, which flunked and went out of production after a few months. So it would be a risky enterprise. But who knows, with a wellknown name already, it might be a success. But perhaps I only want this, because I want my Doutzen, Dewi, Yfke, Anne-Marie, Kim, Bette, Sophie cover a la Sept 04 US or Sept 05 China :P
 
If I'm not mistaken there's a Vogue Singapore as well, but from what I've more or less gleaned from the covers and a little bit of browsing through, I doubt there's anything very fashionable about it. Perhaps it occasionally prints eds from previous issues of other Vogue magazines or has some features on international fashion here and there, but most of it is just stuff that's more about women's lifestyle (including very clichéd things like "How to Gratify Him in <insert absurdly short amount of time here>..." and so on and so forth, all of which I'd rather not talk about) instead of fashion.

Better on the scale of fashionability would probably be Harper's Bazaar Singapore, which has a much better focus on fashion (and a lot of gorgeous eds too, including locally-taken ones).
 
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Wait a sec, I remembered seeing this list of Conde Nast productions in the back of one of my Vogues. So I checked and it turns out that there is a Vogue en Espanol in the Americas (quoted terms) and not a Polish Vogue, but a Polish Glamour. There is nothing mentioned on a Singapore or Hong Kong Vogue, though.
 
Australian Vogue isn't the greatest-occasionally there are good issues like the Gemma issue where she was guest editor but a lot of times it's recycled covers, editorials, interviews, etc. It's quite stale.
 

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