For January, this isn't a bad issue.
The cover was awful and for once it's not because of the over-airbrushing of the subject or the cluttering texts but because the blouse (Dries' first in recent history, if not ever) is plain ugly. For all the heat that US Vogue's casting of models and cover girls has generated, I'm amused that what turns me off about this issue is fashion itself. Hudson is a professed Dries lover, but I don't know if anyone's grandmother would want that pattern as table linen.
The Trentini and Zimmermann shoot was okay. Would've been unbearably boring if anyone but McDean (or Demarchelier) shot it. The only thing that separates this editorial from a Spiegel's catalogue is the outrageous hair and makeup. That's US Vogue's only way of making something conservative (cardigan + shift dress) seem hip.
I can appreciate the thoughts that went into the composition in the Meisel and Natalia ed but would like it better if her skin doesn't look so icy and untouchable. Meisel tries so hard to achieve the porcelain effect we see in classic portraits that his models look about as lively as well-preserved corpses.
It's obviously a milestone for Chanel's burgeoning career, but sorry to say that the edit looks like an Allure outtake.
What I really like about the issue is the layout of the Best Dressed spread. For all its ambition at being grandiose and all, what US Vogue does particularly well, in my opinion, is a juicy section that's thrown in the back like an afterthought called Vogue Index. The Best Dressed spread borrowed some elements from Vogue Index (the collarge format) and the levity of that made these twenty or so pages a delight to flip through.
I love people that are passionate about fashion and its always a pleasure to discuss,and hear other opinons on matters like this.Thank god for TFS,where else could i rant about HB and Vogue like this!?!
i really enjoyed reading this and agree with everything you said here.
That's not terribly realistic, I suppose. The take reminds me of the socialite pages of Vogue Paris, at least from what it sounds like, I haven't had these issues of American Vogue in my hands because the editorials are simply too sub par. Maybe VP still has them, but I only recall looking at those from the 70s and 80s mags.
