Vogue Italia August 2003 : Daria Werbowy by Steven Meisel

[mikel]

Oh to be 18 again. 2003 was the year I started to buy Italian Vogue. I will cherish those issues from 2003 forever

 

[MulletProof]

The decent quality here just highlights the importance of supporting independent design and publications. 2003 was such a wonderful year in fashion because it wasn't just Vogue alone lazily doing what they know best: commercial fashion, but plenty of magazines, such as Dutch and A, raising the bar in terms of creativity and efforts to constantly uncover and support emerging talents, truly pushing the envelope in terms of visuals... the Vogue EICs couldn't help but try to keep up. It was so high that when you compare what was being produced and published left and right to the type of stories featured here, it's not really that remarkable because the amount of energy and talent was just pouring.

Obviously there are factors that had little to do with the decisions taken by CEOs and consumers, such as the crisis 5 years later, but after that, aided too by social media and reality show culture, a shift took place.. it was partly a brutal business one ('let's house every promising talent under a big conglomerate or turn our backs on them' ) but also a cultural shift in which people want it all right at this minute and easy and the efforts to scrutinize imagery have little to do with understanding its layers or to educate themselves on fashion and symbolisms if there are any at all, but.. more than political correctness, it's a 'pretension scan', anything too charged, too intellectually demanding is quickly dismissed and discarded, hell even a discussion on fashion is hater or ~pretentious talk~. It seems the most enthusiastic people about fashion these days want their fashion at the snap of a finger, then complain that it's too basic but simultaneously never search for anything past Vogue and the big fashion houses (which are the ones responsible for debilitating independent talent and publications). It's like someone had a gourmet dinner once but now just sits at McDonalds complaining about the quality but so intoxicated by that junk that.. what an effort to even find the way back to the decent meal they once had. May not work as an analogy but you get my drift..

Anyway, I really wish we could go back in time and get more of Louise Pedersen.. such an underrated model, so Miu Miu in the days when Miu Miu was far more interesting than Prada, I mean, look at that pleated skirt and green knitted gloves (and that gorgeous Rochas next to it!). Her Romeo + Juliet story that year is still one of my favorites (whatever happened to that magazine...). Really miss Koto's work as well, it's still being published somewhere, it was just so good back then and receiving enough support.

 

[Phuel]

Fabulous! Absolutely fabulous.

Of course, the Meisel editorial is to die for, but as everyone else has mentioned, the rest is just fantastic, too.

Karen Elson looks incredible, and the Thomas Schenk editorial is perfection. I so miss that kind of editorial. The girls were so strong then.

Absolutely. Strength of personality and individuality shone through with their presence, charisma and aura. They were fascinating to look at by sheer force of presence-- and how a skilled eye would capture their best moments for that presence.

Nowadays, we’re told how strong/brave/revolutionary the new models are, and we’re told how important they are for representation of POC/womanhood/gender/activism etc etc, all the while they lack any presence of the high standards that makes high fashion high fashion. (Rinse and repeat for designers/editors/photographers.) Not that representation isn’t important in other areas— just it really has no place in the rarified world of HF, where only the highest of standards need apply. Of course, more MOC would have been a welcome back then admittedly— but not just for the sake of representation; But because they’re all equally as gorgeous/charismatic/alluring.

 

[VogueGirl8910]

Stunning August issue, the cover story with Daria is flawless when Meisel made an amazing fashion spreads then & also i enjoyed the whole issue with great edits.

Thank you @aracic