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This is probably an easy question - just a general one regarding InStyle - I know it's a celebrity-based magazine.
In regard to the fashion editorials, are these always shot with celebrities or are "real models" ever featured? And whichever the answer, has it been this way from the beginning days of the magazine?
Under Foxman real models hardly ever featured in the magazine, less than5 times year would be much. And with Laura, even though they feature with every issue, she'll treat them like celebrities. Meaning the edit is styled with the 'safeness' and accesibility of celebrity profiles than the 'fashion editorial' as we know it. Plus there's very often a blurb or interview about/with the model which comes with the edit.
I don't have launch year issues in my collection, but I recall leafing through a few some time back and from the outset this magazine was filled with celebrities from front to back. It is their concept after all. Back then you'd find more models in Self or Allure than in InStyle.
Thanks for the reply. I'm been looking for a particular photo (that I used to have) for about a year and there are only a few possibilities left as far as the magazine goes. I've eliminated 8 possibilities and have 3 left (Marie Claire, Glamour and Elle UK). The only other one that I might add is InStyle (almost positive the photo is between 1996-2000 with 1999 being my best guess).
I'm pretty sure what I'm looking for was a straight fashion editorial. If it was a fashion editorial with a celebrity, is there always a written story to go along with it? Because I'm almost positive there was no story along with the photo I'm looking for.
The other thing that might narrow it down for me is I remember the particular issue was not thick, maybe 200 or so pages. And I've been looking on eBay and it seems that InStyle seems to have 300 up to 700 pages most of the time, so I may be able to rule a lot of issues out either way.
You said you leafed through a few of the older issues - where did you come across them?
From what I've discerned, there are only two sources of these early issues: people selling them on eBay or the Library of Congress. I sent an e-mail to the Library of Congress asking if they would go into their stacks and tell me how many pages are in each issue from 1996-2000. That's not a huge task so I'm hoping they can do that for me.
And you don't know who was in the edit? Also, you're clearly referring to the US edition? Crikey, good luck finding it. You need to at least have some clue - who the celeb was, or the photographer, or what the image depicted. Otherwise it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
And that is a huge task for the library to give you the page count of every issue - 96' to 00', lol. They can't give you access and let you do it yourself?
The front section would often feature celebs, and no, there wouldn't be any copy with those - just the intro. Gradually that edit got shifted to the main content section.
I saw a pile of the US launch year issues at a local bric-a-brac store in Birmingham. People can sort of return old, unwanted issues and the store would then sell it at a pittance just to shift them. But even then I wasn't interested because the sides were terribly yellowed and the glue slightly cracked meaning the pages could easily come apart.
Most likely I will hear back from the National Library of Wales overnight, telling me they've looked through Elle UK for 2000 and haven't found my photo - then there will only be three possibilities left (all US issues).
The one thing I can do is describe the photo very well (well enough that the photo is extremely unlikely to be missed, so anyone can look for it). All the hard work has been done - I only recently realized the photo almost certainly is in the 1996-2000 period - I've spent the last year looking from 1988-2001!
But, needle in a haystack, it's definitely that (I've got a lot of posts on the vintage scan thread starting last September running to the present as I've moved through the search process). Probably 1300 or 1400 magazines have been looked at so far (really more because I've looked at some more than once).
Not really a big task for the library to get me the page count (it should take an hour at the most) - I'd go myself but that's a long and expensive round-trip from Tucson to Washington (plus I'd likely have to stay overnight). If I did go, I'd use the Table of Contents as a guide and then just flip through all of the magazines looking for my photo.
I've already flown to Los Angeles twice, looking through Elle, Mademoiselle and Mirabella. At this point, I'm trying to avoid taking any more trips unless that's the only alternative. There are a lot of alternatives though (I go through these in the vintage scan thread).
When you say there would only be an intro with the spreads, you mean just three or four sentences - like that? Regardless, the celebrity would always be clearly named though, right?
I hope you're a photographer or stylist trying to recreate the image for a well-heeled client because otherwise this exercise is turning out rather expensive, not to mention time-consuming. But then again, this is coming from someone who attempted going through KPM's library of 30k film and TV scores stretching from the 70s to look for a specific tune (I gave up at 700, lol.)
So to your last question, yes. The intro would read something to the effect of 'Felicity's Keri Russell shines in fall's richest colours.' Maybe longer, but the star would always be mentioned.
WHATS THE IMAGE? we can all help you find it.