US Harper's Bazaar October 2022 : Charlize Theron by Josh Olins

[matheus_s]

Reminds me the HB Brasil March 2000. Same mood, same colors. Source: HBB website

 

[KoV]

While the differences aren’t huge, somehow this photo, printed a few pages into the issue, feels far superior to me than the one chosen for the cover.

 

[MrsJackDaniels]

Reminds me the HB Brasil March 2000. Same mood, same colors. Source: HBB website

View attachment 1217601

WOW! I actually love that!!

 

[NYLA22]

I miss Glenda. I miss Laura Brown. I want some memorable images.

I'll go one further and say I miss Liz Tilberis. I was in high school during her time, but her covers were stunners. I go on eBay and get back issues to remember how great fashion magazines could be.

 

[MrsJackDaniels]

I'll go one further and say I miss Liz Tilberis. I was in high school during her time, but her covers were stunners. I go on eBay and get back issues to remember how great fashion magazines could be.

Yes! I was a teenager when Liz Tilberis was in charge and I was mad about Harper's Bazaar because of her. The May 1994 issue with Madonna on the cover was the first fashion magazine I ever bought, and I continued to buy it every month (ok, occasionally I shoplifted it) until my 20s. I found a blog dedicated to her, well worth checking out (it is NOT mine! )

HARPER'S BAZAAR - The Tilberis Years 1992-1999

 

[tigerrouge]

To further the praise for Liz Tilberis, she went from being the editor of UK Vogue to being at US Bazaar - and didn't repeat herself on the pages of that magazine. A lot of editors would have tried to impose the same template that worked for them before, but the American magazine represented an entirely different sort of vision overseen by the same person.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

I was at a bookstore today and, as usual, browsing the magazine section and longing for better days. I saw a woman pick this issue up, take one look, and put it back on the shelf in disgust.

 

[Phuel]

There will never be another publication again as effortlessly supreme as Liz x Fabien’s Bazaar. Just like there will never be such a superior standard in fashiondom as visionary as that of the 90s: That was the Camelot era of the fashion industry. Those of us privileged enough o have come of age during that most spectacular of an era, and blessed enough to have experienced the Golden Age of fashion that was the 2000s, will likely never live to see another Second Coming again: The stars, the heavens, the Fates aligned so perfectly during that era to produce such immaculate talents— we mere mortals were truly blessed. And to hold the lessers to the highest of such standards nowadays almost seems unfair— especially in such times when attitudes are so basic, so conservative, so reserved, so overly-sensitive and standards are at such pedestrian lows as it’s never been before. Anything that challenges such mediocrity of these days is immediately cancelled.

Bazaar was already at the point of no return under Glenda’s lead. Samira didn’t bring Bazaar back to any glory/glamour/greatness by any stretch of the imagination, but she did possess some potential in bringing a fresh sensibility that is relevant to these fashion times (for better or for worse). And at least washed away Glenda’s tacky plague. Of course, the results are absolutely abysmal, and I’ve likened Samira's current direction to a fashion depression. Can’t reiterate enough how with a strong team of photographers, strong fashion team and a CD and AD that understands how to creatively transcend her very plain and simple sensibility for women with a dynamic aesthetic that’s worthy of the printed page. Even the layout looks like it’s done by someone who couldn’t care less for fashion and comes from a corporate annual report experience. It's so cheap.

Someone like Fernando Rubaclava would do wonders for this depressed rag.

 

[NYLA22]

Yes! I was a teenager when Liz Tilberis was in charge and I was mad about Harper's Bazaar because of her. The May 1994 issue with Madonna on the cover was the first fashion magazine I ever bought, and I continued to buy it every month (ok, occasionally I shoplifted it) until my 20s. I found a blog dedicated to her, well worth checking out (it is NOT mine! )

HARPER'S BAZAAR - The Tilberis Years 1992-1999

OMG thank you for this! I had no idea it existed, and will check it out. I also want to read her memoir, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[NYLA22]

There will never be another publication again as effortlessly supreme as Liz x Fabien’s Bazaar. Just like there will never be such a superior standard in fashiondom as visionary as that of the 90s: That was the Camelot era of the fashion industry. Those of us privileged enough o have come of age during that most spectacular of an era, and blessed enough to have experienced the Golden Age of fashion that was the 2000s, will likely never live to see another Second Coming again: The stars, the heavens, the Fates aligned so perfectly during that era to produce such immaculate talents— we mere mortals were truly blessed. And to hold the lessers to the highest of such standards nowadays almost seems unfair— especially in such times when attitudes are so basic, so conservative, so reserved, so overly-sensitive and standards are at such pedestrian lows as it’s never been before. Anything that challenges such mediocrity of these days is immediately cancelled.

Bazaar was already at the point of no return under Glenda’s lead. Samira didn’t bring Bazaar back to any glory/glamour/greatness by any stretch of the imagination, but she did possess some potential in bringing a fresh sensibility that is relevant to these fashion times (for better or for worse). And at least washed away Glenda’s tacky plague. Of course, the results are absolutely abysmal, and I’ve likened Samira's current direction to a fashion depression. Can’t reiterate enough how with a strong team of photographers, strong fashion team and a CD and AD that understands how to creatively transcend her very plain and simple sensibility for women with a dynamic aesthetic that’s worthy of the printed page. Even the layout looks like it’s done by someone who couldn’t care less for fashion and comes from a corporate annual report experience. It's so cheap.

Someone like Fernando Rubaclava would do wonders for this depressed rag.

I think money is a big part of the problem these days -- magazine pay for EICs has been cut in half, even from the last decade, as have budgets. (Damn big tech for eating up all of the advertising money...). But also, as you say, we are currently caught in a cultural prison, where no one wants to get canceled and therefore results in boring, mediocre content.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Are these name brand EICs not immune to salary cuts…??? I have no insight to this most elite of disclosures, and wonder if even someone like Samira— who carries a certain level of clout, wouldn't be immune to the slashed salaries.

I can confirm that the lower-end of the art department: AD, graphic designers, photographers etc etc, are definitely seeing slashed rates that are even lower than industry standards of 12 years ago.That, and the hires that either have no interest in fashion aesthetic nor the skills and talent for it, are hired on the cheap. Hence the abysmally cheap and juvenile art sensibility that plagues these rags’ layouts.

 

[NYLA22]

^^^ Are these name brand EICs not immune to salary cuts…??? I have no insight to this most elite of disclosures, and wonder if even someone like Samira— who carries a certain level of clout, wouldn't be immune to the slashed salaries.

I can confirm that the lower-end of the art department: AD, graphic designers, photographers etc etc, are definitely seeing slashed rates that are even lower than industry standards of 12 years ago.That, and the hires that either have no interest in fashion aesthetic nor the skills and talent for it, are hired on the cheap. Hence the abysmally cheap and juvenile art sensibility that plagues these rags’ layouts.

I don't have the actual numbers, of course, but I've been in the magazine industry for about 15 years, and I can guess with 90% certainty that Samira is probably making half of what Glenda made. At some titles, it's even more extreme. I think Radhika Jones at Vanity Fair is most likely making 1/3 or even 1/4 of Graydon Carter's compensation, especially when you factor in expenses.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Interesting. I wonder though— if Samira’s salary was already on the lower end compared to Glenda’s, when she first accepted her role… And if it was further renegotiated since her holding the position…???

And deep budget slashes have been a mainstay for a while now; these sorts of extravagant spendings have passed into legend at this point. And when American Vogue has spiralled to resemble an indie desktop-publishing pamphlet, the reality of the times is a bitter sting. But this doesn’t cancel out creative vision. Some of the best campaigns, fashions stories and covers where the simplest concepts concocted into a masterclass of pure fashion vision driven by pure talent: Those Glenn Luchford Prada campaigns come to mind. The very simple imagery of Amber peeking into a keyhole launched the richest fashion story that remains potent even all these years later.

Keeping with Samira’s stripped down, candid and grownup sensibility of women, talents like Annemarieke Van Drimmelen, Michael Jansson, Koto Bolofo and Melodie McDaniel would more than bring Samira’s ideals to superior results (and even Collier Schorr is tolerable in small doses). And again, Fernando Rubaclava would be that talent to pull everything tog ether into such supreme layouts. These are talents that can spin straw into pure glistening gold. Whether they’re appreciated in these dire fashion days, is another story.

 

[tigerrouge]

The simplest change I would like to see is some COLOUR in the issue, some life and vibrancy. If you're flicking through something, and two editorials are low-energy but the third one has something compelling about it, that can lift the mood and save the issue. When editorials are in contrast to each other, it takes you on a journey.

That said, if each issue contains an uninterrupted series of depressive scenarios, it might be a more accurate representation of the times than we think.