Magazine covers used to be joyous and stop people in their tracks not gag and regret taking a closer look...Seriously, what is this sh*t?
I rarely even open the VOGUE Japan thread for this very reason....which is so frustrating because NIPPON VOGUE used to blow my mind. It trumped every other edition of VOGUE in every aspect.
When it first launched until the mid 2000s, their art direction was phenomenal with unexpected covers and editorials, they worked with the best photogs and fashion journalists and their page layouts kept you wanting more thanks to the informative and wide range of fashion and beauty features with a fresh mix of nostalgic and current images and inspirations.
I stopped going out of my way to get my hands on it around 2007 cuz it became just as pale imitation of the cutting-edge magazine it used to be and just as predictable as every other edition of VOGUE.
But that's the wonderful thing about Print. You can always flip through those stellar issues and reminisce.