Vogue Italia November 2013 : Ashleigh Good by Steven Meisel

[Deleted member 141523]

Ashleigh was always one step above basic. I never understood her appeal. Although she was shot by Meisel I doubt anyone would be impressed with this story in 2021. I remember I didn't buy this issue because of the cover and story. Looking back though, the content is pretty good. I miss the over the top glamour this magazine used to publish.

Ashleigh and Vanessa had the best covers from that year. It was very special. 2015 started to decline with the non-Meisel issues, but even without Steven, those magazines were beyond amazing. My favorite must be the Lindbergh special in 2016. I didn't liked the Kate Moss cover by Testino, inside was great.

 

[Horizontina]

Interesting how "Desperate Living" can be seen as a prophecy. Ashleigh here is basically present-day Vogue Italia: trying too hard while not trying at all, having vertigo-inducing mood shifts, wearing expensive yet looking cheap, and well, living desperate. Who'd have foreseen, back then.

This cover story is an iceberg: what matters is below. Beneath an understated Meisel narrative lies a complex character, a convoluted plot, enough material to keep the imagination busy for weeks. I feel so honored to have had this issue in my hands. Living under Franca's rule was a learning experience, a mind-shaping process, a privilege.

 

[vogue28]

As much as I rant about the lack of Steven Meisel within the pages of Vogue Italia nowadays and the new low the magazine has reached over recent years, I can vividly recall being underwhelmed by this cover/story as I have always ALWAYS preferred Meisel in the studio.

For me, this was what I used to label a 'filler' issue of Vogue Italia until something more ultra-glamorous came along. Nevertheless, I still bought myself a copy of this issue as Italian Vogue was always a must-have and felt like a collectors item whenever Meisel was shooting covers.

Thanks for the bump and the memories, @[B]ivano[/B]!

 

[Deleted member 141523]

This story came into my mind when the first quarantine started. It was the very same feeling, desperate living in isolation. This was so ahead of its time, who knew that some of this stories will be a reality in some point?! During this week I started to use my computer after long time of using only my phone, and I revisited my Vogue Italia archive, and I fell for every single cover again. There's not a even a bad cover under Franca and Steven. I don't have any of these magazines at all but I started to download every cover story when the VI archive site was launched. It was a magical moment for all of us. Maybe we won't be able to see something so spectacular like this again, but you can go back to these issues and discover something new again.

Thanks to @vogue28 and @Horizontina for the lovely comments. It's a pleasure for my sharing my thoughts about that fabulous time of our lives. Vogue Italia and Vogue Paris usted to be the greatest thing on Earth, ha. It meant everthing to us.

 

[Horizontina]

Thank you, @ivano, for resuming a conversation forever relevant, never truly finished. It's a dialogue that's been going on and on in my head, between me and myself, for years on end. Vogue Sozzani has a chapter in my Bildungsroman, one I'll never write, but that keeps being drafted on my mind nonetheless, as an exploration of who I am and how I have come to be me. This is not a fact that people are open to understand: the brutal impact of fashion magazines on me. They dismiss it as a contradiction, or a flaw in my character, or they simply assume I'm being ironic. For once, I'm not. Some Vogue Italia issues are so moment-defining, vision-shaping for me, that I revisit them with the caution you re-enter your childhood bedroom, knowing you are bound to be overwhelmed by emotions, whether you want it or not. Why Sozzani's (or Roitfeld's) œuvre matters to me so much, for so long, escapes me. Like any art form, it's not purely rational. It's a code that I may never crack, and I'm fine with that. The meaning is in the trying. And on this journey, I couldn't wish for better fellow travelers. Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

Wow, I love, love your deep words @Horizontina! So touching. Also I would love to thanks to everyone involved in this reminder like @phungnam96, @aracic, @tigerrouge and @GivenchyHomme. I would love to start a new thread to discuss again these issues because I will bring back 28 years of threads about Franca while new magazines comes, hahaha, and that's not fair. I don't know, I could be great to sharing and talk about your favorite Vogue Italia moment and what does it mean for you. I almost made a comment in Vanessa's thread (march 2013) and Edie's (april 2013), but I was thinking a lot about this issue. I started to collect these covers that very same month. I remember the bad quality of those pictures! I used to download the covers from Vogue Italia's Facebook, Google images, EBAY and TFS/Bellazon. The hardest to find were March 2001, November 1996, 2001 & 2007, and all the covers before the second half of 1995. I was so pissed that I started to use photoshop, and the rest is history. I saw some of this covers before, watching ANTM (Cycles 15 and 16). They used to show Sasha's cover (may 2009), Katrin Thormann (dec 2008), Guinevere van Seenus (jan 2008), Kristen McMenamy (july 2009), Snejana (august 2005), Kirsi and Daria S. (May 2010) and Gemma Ward (may 2007). I remember it so well, hahaha. But I became a huge fan in that November, with Ashleigh on the cover. It took me 8 years of my life to get them all (not supplements).

Vogue Covers | Stevenmeisel

Steven Meisel Cover Archive: Archive

 

[phungnam96]

I remembered that I was excited to this ed because it was an obvious homage to Edie Beale. Meisel was truly a storyteller and it was miles ahead any editorials produced by the recent Vogue.