Vogue Paris December 1998/January 1999 : Audrey Marnay by Mario Testino

[vogue28]

SCANNEDFASHIONWORLD.COM

 

[MulletProof]

Wow. I had never seen that.. it could belong in any year after 1999 and still look relevant, but in different ways (probably more ironic now). What's fascinating about this cover is the context imo.. I was still a kid and can't remember it all clearly but after the events of the year before this and the monumental role of the internet (Heaven's Gate mass suicide, which may or may not have received nonstop attention in France but it was all over the news in the US for weeks), there was a slightly spooky association with the internet and the space, cults, the anonymous people one could talk to and easily become prey to or follow blindly or be brainwashed by, the supernatural. That pixelated "galaxy", the pinks and purples, her 'religious force' attire, her too-far-gone stare and the way she's sorted of pasted on that, it's just so... Marshall Applewhite. This was their website (for aesthetic reference), probably hosted on Angelfire lol..

[me.me]

It's such a good cover with commentary on the times.. Audrey was as odd then as she would be if she'd show up now.. she looked so alienesque and at the same time, the kind of model that could've only come out of the late 90s.

I wonder if this cover received any criticism.. maybe someone who was an adult at the time remembers.

 

[Benn98]

I was also a kid when this cover was released, and while I don't recall seeing it until I was much older.....looking back now, it was certainly ahead of its time in terms of theme. It could be that this was supposed to be a nod to that Star Wars film that may have been released sometime in 98? Anyway, later in 1999 a lot of magazines started doing these heavily digital-type 'airbrushed' covers and editorials with a Mars/space type set design which I loved. It was a nice build-up to the 'Millenium', which to most of us back then did indeed sound very 'space age'.
I do recall most of the kids, myself included, believed the internet would shut down the moment the clock would tick to 00:00am 1 January 2000. The reasoning was that computers were invented pre-2000 and therefore wouldn't be able to display any post-00 numerical dates. And we went through what Kendall would today refer to as 'anxiety' because imagine something that you've always been aching to engage in as an adult being taken away just like that? Like telling a 14yo virgin no tipple and sex, ever. Needless to say, I slept through NYE (typical!) unlike everyone else who stayed up to see the technological glitch happen in realtime. Just as well, because nothing actually happened.
Of course the fervently Church of England nutters took it one step further and believed the world would come to an end. LOL. Can't believe how delusional we all were.

This cover is still one of my favourite VP covers, if not the favourite. Not just for the nostalgia, but also the visual style which so perfectly mixes religious fragments with science and space age a la Balenciaga OG.

 

[MulletProof]

^ I completely forgot about the Microsoft drama (LOL) and the world potentially coming to an end.. the rumor was seen as a joke around me, but the nervous 'what if it's true' type of joke.

I just can't believe I had never seen this! I think Audrey Marnay is so underrated.. she wasn't a favorite of mine but she did some stellar work that's emblematic of her time and you never see it anywhere, same for Jodie Kidd.. very different but same malnourished-but-maybe-on-space-ice cream type of models haha..

 

[Benn98]

^ I completely forgot about the Microsoft drama (LOL) and the world potentially coming to an end.. the rumor was seen as a joke around me, but the nervous 'what if it's true' type of joke.

I just can't believe I had never seen this! I think Audrey Marnay is so underrated.. she wasn't a favorite of mine but she did some stellar work that's emblematic of her time and you never see it anywhere, same for Jodie Kidd.. very different but same malnourished-but-maybe-on-space-ice cream type of models haha..

God, I was very gullible, so I completely believed that rumour, lol. Also, when you're that young a rumour like that becomes magnified.

I've always liked Audrey. She's had this ethereal and nymph-like beauty that worked so perfect for storytelling-type edits. Especially this stunning portrait shot by Karl.
Never liked her commercial stuff. I mean, only found out in recent years that she is actually the girl in this cheesy Clinique ad, and at the time it was all over the place.....
The crime, to use Audrey as a filler.



Pinterest/ParfumForum

 

[MissMagAddict]

Joan Juliet Buck talks about this issue in her memoir—The Price of Illusion.
Definitely worth a read.

 

[MulletProof]

God, I was very gullible, so I completely believed that rumour, lol. Also, when you're that young a rumour like that becomes magnified.

oh don't get me wrong, I may have had hope on the world not ending but I was so worried everything would shut down because, how does life just carry on after *gasp* entering a new millennium? it can't possibly be such an ordinary thing as a Wednesday is followed by a Thursday (but it was ).

Yeah, I think Audrey shined in solo stuff.. she was bound to look like a filler or as an uninvited presence anywhere else (like her Victoria's Secret fashion show appearance, so inexplicable to me for years but likely Betak-associated). It didn't help that she came way after Kate Moss and at the beginning of the Brazilian boom, you had these powerful, Amazonian-looking models (Ana Claudia, Gisele, Fernanda) and she just looked so... frail and underdeveloped (even her teeth), even the quiet way she spoke was for me like 'next!'. I've only come to appreciate her and the mythological creature touch that came with her presence in stories carried only by herself now that that I'm older..

 

[YohjiAddict]

It seems that we have a strange conection MulletProof just yesterday I was compelled to look through Audrey's body of work, I saw a picture of one of her first shows Yohji S/S 96, she was smiling and looked so sweet. To me she represents the french ideal of beauty and others probably saw that too since she's been an Air muse, the image of Air France and Clinique as well. She has a cheesy US Vogue couture edit (where she eats a croissant, subtle) and she looks like the textbook definiton of french.

She was always so frail looking very much like her namesake Audrey Hepburn, she has very small shoulders and a very childlike face but weirdly enough she could also look very mature depending on the styling, this cover is a good example and so is her Star Wars Irving Penn edit.

Also I would have expected her to be older but she's only 40 this october, she was practically a child when she started, like many models back then. Long live la Marnay.

On another note I've always wanted to read Joan Juliet Buck's memoir, loved the previews I've read: she talks about how she knew Carine wasn't happy as her subordinate since she was after the EIC position from the get go. Also the fact that the french staff instantly thought "sex" when she proposed a "love" themed issue.

 

[MulletProof]

^ she started so little! she had to be 15 if not younger in that Yohji show. I saw an interview with her, she’s only 16 and already talking about the objectification in modeling and not being seen as a human being. I’m not sure if that was common.. I was way too young to understand commentary on fashion, let alone actively look for criticism (in other words, I’d just look at the graphics hah), I sometimes feel like it was mostly around 2006 when the standards became so so constrained, unhealthy, boring and untouchable... making any conversation seem woke 10 years later.

What I loved about models like her and later as a teenager helped me completely dive into the Belgian wave (Delfine, Ann Oost, Anouck) is that for all the reputation that fashion makes everyone develop major insecurities, these women actually showed that it was okay to have features that were ‘questionably’ feminine..

 

[JPineapple]

I received the issue yesterday and is... delightful! So, I want to share the photos I took of the fashion content. Enjoy it.

The cover photo was styled by Carine Roitfeld. There's no editorial inside of it.

 

[JPineapple]

LES GRANDES ÉTAPES I, II, III & IV
Photo: Michael Thompson
Realization: Delphine Tréanton



Source: my own.

 

[JPineapple]

LA VIE
Photo: Herb Ritts
Realization: Marcus Von Ackermann



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

LES NOMBRES
Photo: Blaise Reuterswärd
Realization: Caroline Van Der Voort



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

L'ILLUSION PARFAITE
Photo: Michael Thompson
Realization: Delphine Tréanton



Source: My own

 

[JPineapple]

CLONAGE
Photo: Ruven Afanador
Realization: Caroline Van Der Voort



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

LES GRANDES ÉTAPES V
Photo: Raymond Meiert
Realization: Caroline Van Der Voot



ÉLECTRONS LIBRES
Photo: Éric Traoré
Realization: Delphine Tréanton



L'ESSENCE DE L'HUMANITÉ
Photo: Éric Traoré
Realization: Delphine Tréanton



ENERGIES
Photo: Éric Traoré
Realization: Delphine Tréanton



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

PARTICULES DU SOIR
Photo: Marcus Mâm
Realization: Sandrine Boury-Heyler



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

LE TEMPS SUSPENDU
Photo: Armin Behrend
Realization: Franceline Prat



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

LES GRANDES ÉTAPES VI
Photo: Satoshi Saikusa
Realization: Marie-Amélie Sauvé



Source: my own

 

[JPineapple]

L'ESPACE TEMPS
Photo: Daniel Jouanneau
Realization: Franceline Prat



Source: my own