Vogue Italia October 2019 : Jaden & Willow Smith by Hugo Comte

[jjjmmm]

art-school student pretentiousness.

the title done with painting... please...

 

[grimm]

Nope, just means that fashion photography standards are so low they've reached the core of the Earth if Hugo "walking 90s Vogue Italia encyclopedia" Comte is considered such a great thing.

Couldn't agree more. Also he is so shameless in his direct reference to all those 90s shoots he loves it's painful. What's gonna happen when he needs to do a different light? Is he even capable?

 

[dior_couture1245]

Couldn't agree more. Also he is so shameless in his direct reference to all those 90s shoots he loves it's painful. What's gonna happen when he needs to do a different light? Is he even capable?

Here’s my thinking on Hugo:

Yes. He is very referential. But he is also very young. I believe that given the quality of his work at this stage, I hope that as he continues to work he is able to grow as a photographer. At this point, I do think he has an eye for color, lighting, movement, staging and stylization. It’s no mystery where his influences are coming from, but I will give him credit that his photographs are instantly recognizably as his. That’s a rare feat in this era where I don’t think if you showed me a picture from any editorial from any magazine I could tell you who shot it.

Like I said, my hope is that his references become less literal as he progresses and he’s able to define something really unique for himself.

Let’s not forget that Saint Meisel has relied heavily on the work Avedon, Penn, di Corcia, Newton, and many, many others over the years...all while maintaining a signature of his own.

 

[GERGIN]

Couldn't agree more. Also he is so shameless in his direct reference to all those 90s shoots he loves it's painful. What's gonna happen when he needs to do a different light? Is he even capable?

But didn’t Steven Meisel reference photographers in his past work? I will give him credit he has produced some good original photography but cut Hugo some slack! Judging by his earlier work he’s definitely adaptable as a photographer I’m just assuming the clientele are wanting this particular vision of his for the moment.

 

[MagFan]

Nope, just means that fashion photography standards are so low they've reached the core of the Earth if Hugo "walking 90s Vogue Italia encyclopedia" Comte is considered such a great thing.

With Luigi and Iango and Sgura booking Vogue covers left and right, fashion photography standards are at the bottom long ago

 

[ellastica]

My mind too instantly goes to late 90s Meisel, McDean, Saikusa, Constantine etc, whenever I come across Hugo's work but there's also a subtle, sophisticated warmth matched with eeriness which draws me in.

I def prefer Hugo's stylized, somber style (mood lighting on angsty pretty young things needing a reason to smile) over say the grittier, anti-fashion, Teller rip offs, of our time, snapping walking ennui, swimming in oversized, ill-fitting designer rags.

I'm excited to watch where Hugo's stylistic evolution takes him as a photographer!

 

[FashionMuseDior]

Im pleasantly surprised with these two because they look decent enough (very good dare I say) and Hugo made magic with both of them

 

[Joromana]

Nope, just means that fashion photography standards are so low they've reached the core of the Earth if Hugo "walking 90s Vogue Italia encyclopedia" Comte is considered such a great thing.

Is this a joke?

Do you understand that Meisel himself, the '90s Vogue Italia rulebook, is the epitome of references? He will literally hold an aged, vintage Avedon book and say to his team "recreate this look, faded yellow and everything." His lighting, his crops, his retouching ALL reference previous photographers as well; Avedon, Scavullo, Winogrand, I mean... it's insane how long the list is.

Mert & Marcus with Guy Bourdin, Luigi & Iango with Mert & Marcus, everyone with Jamie Hawkesworth and Harley Weir... they ALL reference each other.

Hugo Comte is a decent enough photographer but he isn't doing anything differently than other fashion photographers have been doing for the last 30-40 years.

 

[aracic]

There's going to be a ''book'' supplement tribute to Peter. It reminds me of that Naomi by Peter Lindbergh supplement back in Franca's era. Although the layout is questionable this seems like a must have, cause who would want to miss out on his beautiful photographs in high quality?! Can't wait to see inside.

 

[MON]

What a disingenuous tribute. The art direction says it all.

The issue is dedicated to someone who just died, but they managed to make the cover look like a children's art book. Dumb.



Ps, the creative director needs to snap out of his bubble. Imagine he is paid to cut and paste sh*t? What an insult to true creative people out there. And its not as if his work inside the magazine is a redeeming factor. He uses the vilest font I have seen in my entire life. The font he uses should come with a trigger warning, because I swear that variant weight and italization is trigger inducing.

 

[MissMagAddict]

 

[MagFan]

it is 48 pages. and they posted a lot from it on vogue.it today

 

[aracic]

Ew it's so thin! And they call it a book... But damn, those photographs are too beautiful to miss out on.

 

[Melancholybaby]

Is this a joke?

Do you understand that Meisel himself, the '90s Vogue Italia rulebook, is the epitome of references? He will literally hold an aged, vintage Avedon book and say to his team "recreate this look, faded yellow and everything." His lighting, his crops, his retouching ALL reference previous photographers as well; Avedon, Scavullo, Winogrand, I mean... it's insane how long the list is.

No I don't, you're the only person blessed with this knowledge here.

The difference is these people also copied and managed to produce good work, not mediocre crap wrapped in faux political statements.

 

[loyeling]

 

[AD011620]

Regarding Hugo, I think he is good for a young talent. Let’s not forget Meisel himself was accused of “referencing” Avedons and Penns... I think it’s normal.

As Lindbergh’s fan, I feel offended by their offering. So sketchy.

 

[Benn98]

As much as I'm rooting for Hugo, I also must agree with others that the industry is at such lows that mere textbook reiterations are now applauded. For me though, I only like his work because it's so refreshingly different from the sea of cold and pretentiously lifeless style of photography doing the rounds EVERYWHERE right now? The covers and accompanying shoot in this issue is the first time Hugo is trying to depart from his 90s style photography. Maybe he'll eventually find his feet just like Meisel did? I hope these same editors who are giving him all these covers will also give him the freedom to explore differrent concepts. Because his fastrack from shooting Vogue Codes (a filler edit in VI's front section reserved for unknown/new photographers) just two months ago to shooting the main cover is shockingly incredible.
Speaking of Meisel, there's also a piece on Mary Howard, the responsible for the set design behind most of his iconic shoots for VI. There's also an interview with McDean about his new coffeetable book, JP Goude, Alexander Wang on his Bulgari collab, and Valli's H&M capsule along with the actual H&M campaign which looks like it was shot by M&M.
Farneti's strength really lies with assimilating written content for the front section as opposed to fashion. Even though everything is in Italian, I probably spent the chunk of my time going through those short features and interviews. The variety between fashion, arts and culture is near perfect. He's probably second only after Vogue Australia when it comes to an engaging front section.

Fashion edits starts with the Comte story, which is the 5 double page shots only. It looks more and more like a Klein rip-off instead of a Meisel one imo. The fact that Patti Wilson is involved makes it more apparent. Still, it's passable for this new VI Jaden is still an eyesore and Willow looks like a goddess in all her shots.
The rest of the main edits are a clear indication why so many are jumping on the Comte bandwagon. There's the Vanderperre edit styled by Rizzo (obviously!), showing a uniform-inspired fashion in a moody setting. The only saving grace is that it's in colour and on location, otherwise it's your typical group of models, all with the same vacant deadpan expression. Looks like it was shot in the Netherlands, but it's oddly enough Paris.
Anna Ewers by Johnny Dufort and styled by Lotta Volkova. I may have tolerated this, but right now the Teller fatique is just too much to fully appreciate this. The theme appears to be Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorfs and the opening shot of her in an ivory coat and strappy heels looks great.
THE Twiggy in an OG edit where Andrea Ventura mainly created artwork based on sittings with her. There's only two photographs, the rest are all artwork. Styled by Tom Guinnes.
Shanelle Nyasiase and Sarah Berger by Tim Elkaïm.....painfully unimpressive, should've been a filler in the front section.
There's no beauty edit, but a jewellery one instead titled Sad Beauty - styled by Charlotte Collect and shot by Charlotte Wales. Probably the only worthwhile fashion edit in this issue other than the cover one.
Back section includes interviews with I&V and Willow and Jaden. It's again, yet another lacklustre issue filled with main edits which seem to be completely unrelated. That's fine, but the problem is that Farneti sells his VI as 'thematic.'

The issue is 316 pages, comes with a Casa Vogue supplement but no Lindbergh one. There is however a preview of 3 L'uomo covers which will be released next week. A bunch of fishermen on a barge (groan), Timothee Chalamet by Sadli (double groan!), and an unnamed model with a high top fade which looks remotely interesting, shot by Alasdair.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ The “Compulsion” story by Johnny Dufort is the best offering in this issue. I don’t mind that it’s part Helmut Newton and part Juergen teller, it’s a visually interesting shoot thanks to Lotta. Was hoping there would be more to fill out the Smiths’ story. Because as much as it’s more cluelessly meandering and theatre-kids playing dress up than richly reverential, it still looks decent enough if there were more than what’s already posted here. And because these two are gorgeous and I will suffer their pretentious roleplaying as long as they’re shot beautifully (like the Interview Magazine story). My verdict is that Emanuele and the creative director is clueless to storytelling. Under his lead, the fashions stories lack flow and simply... a story. Franca understood storytelling so well that she effortlessly stitched different styles of fashion photography together in such a seamless statement for every single issue of her Vogue. This guy doesn’t seem to get it.

One good thing to come out of this issue is the underlying art direction looks clean again. Although the title-pages with their juvenile day-camp DIY title cards are still obnoxious ad totally inappropriate for a Vogue, at least the remainder of the pages are no longer so tryhard and flow so more better. So glad to be rid of that Giovanni person.

 

[vogue28]

Hugo Comte's work has certainly caught my attention over recent months, love his distinctive aesthetic and how it sets him apart from everyone else right now. However, I am not in the slightest bit motivated to buy an issue of Vogue Italia with Jaden and Willow Smith on the cover. A hard pass!

 

[russianelf]

That shot of Willow with the chalice is especially very Meisel's Versace f/w '98. Also it would make a far better cover than the one we are stuck with.