Vogue Paris December 2008/January 2009 : Stéphanie de Monaco by Mert & Marcus

[pipoca]

I loved the Calendar! All models are great in it and I love Terry Richardson's work.

 

[liberty33r1b]

i love the Iris Strubegger editorial, looks gorgeous!

 

[rip_ian curtis]

you can smack suvi as much as you want for her walk, but once again she proves she can do no wrong when it comes to editorials!

 

[helmut.newton]

The calendar is cool but some of the girls are not sexy enough.

Like Ali? I feel uncomfortable with her presence in this calendar.

I expected something more raw and provocative of the calendar. Anna J is the only one whos turns me on out of all those shots!

I like the cover though. Very strong and simple and so loaded with subtext. I love the way shes obscured by her own pose.

I'll buy this. I buy the guest edited issues of Vogue Paris each year. They're the most interesting and directional.

 

[tigerrouge]

The calendar looks very similar to a 'pin-ups' one I had, illustrations from yesteryear, paintings of women in see-through underwear - and the Richardson calendar copies it right down to identical poses and props. I like that he's made it real.

The idea that Stephanie looks too tired to show her face on the cover defeats the purpose of selecting her as a cover girl. If you can't show her face, then she's "not fit for purpose". Though now that I have been given the forewarning that she looks tired, when I see the editorial, she will probably not look as bad as I imagine.

But a cover without eye-contact loses a lot of its appeal - it's harder for the cover shot to form a connection with the viewer. We could intellectualise it, but at the same time, the cover is supposed to act as an instant advert for why to buy the issue, and having to appreciate the cover intellectually shows that it hasn't achieved its main aim.

It's not an awful cover and it's different to what we've seen so far this year, but it doesn't fire me up and I don't think I'd treasure it for two days, never mind two months. It's not Lara's cover, it's not Anna's cover, it's not even a Kate Moss cover. Those covers connected with me (even if the latter served to irritate me more than anything, thanks to her ubiquity).

 

[BerlinRocks]

The idea that Stephanie looks too tired to show her face on the cover defeats the purpose of selecting her as a cover girl. If you can't show her face, then she's "not fit for purpose". Though now that I have been given the forewarning that she looks tired, when I see the editorial, she will probably not look as bad as I imagine.

But a cover without eye-contact loses a lot of its appeal - it's harder for the cover shot to form a connection with the viewer. We could intellectualise it, but at the same time, the cover is supposed to act as an instant advert for why to buy the issue, and having to appreciate the cover intellectually shows that it hasn't achieved its main aim.

i don't want everyone to take this reason I did give as an argument ...
that's my opinion of this choice for the cover ... that's it ! don't make it look as the real argument ! i would feel bad !

the M&M serie is "full" of face-frontal portraits (3/4 portrait and so on) and the one that graces the cover is the only profile (and Stéphanie bent down!!) shot in the serie ... so i don't know ... why would they choose this one ?

perhaps we shouldn't "intellectualize" the cover (though i hardly think we are doing this here ... ) but as you said a cover is supposed to "form a connection with the viewer" ... so how would you explain this choice of a profile (without the argument i gave, please) ?! ... isn't that a thoughtfull choice ?! then aren't we supposed to argue about this cover ?! And why would it lose its appeal ?!
I mean it's a very strong cover IMO ... And that's exactly because for once the cover doesn't capture the viewer's eye that it's strong and that you want to get into it .... sometimes an evasive look is more interesting than a frontal look ....

je te fuis, tu me suis ... as we say in love affairs ... and that could really stick to Stéphanie's personnality ... IMO (again !)

 

[kezme44]

april definitely looks the best

 

[kuli_trendy]

Many thanx to berlin and diorette for ur scans again.

I like iris's eds too, very good styling with those dolce stuff, and her weird pose really good and suvi just great for the beauty section loves how they come with those different hairs.

 

[tigerrouge]

Personally speaking, I don't like covers that don't have "eye contact". It's like trying to have a conversation with someone who won't look at you. The eyes are the part of the face that convey the life and soul of someone, and if I don't see them, I have to work harder to figure out what the person's 'mood' is. And I want to buy covers that connect with me, that speak to me of emotion or seduction.

That said, US Elle in the 80's/early 90's knew how to create covers without eye contact that still worked wonderfully, they opted for facial shots and dynamically simple text. Though I attach an image of a 1991 cover where Elaine Irwin seems to have more important things to look at, than you (source: Iconography). You're like, "hey, I'm the person who's about to buy you! Look at me!" But no, she's seen something more important...

 

[testinofan]

I think are similar the cover

ebay

 

[Tinsley V]

I honestly think we are picking apart such a beautiful cover...
I'm bored of the direct face, eyes looking towards camera poses anyways ...
this photo conveys so much more emotion and mood than ones in which we can see the model's eyes...

 

[tigerrouge]

That's the pleasure of discussion - something that's a deal-breaker for me in a cover, is something that can be appreciated by someone else.

 

[RachelleChar]

i m still deciding if i like the calendar, but i def like the cover!

 

[iluvjeisa]

Not impressed with the cover. It's not bad, but...well, it's boring. And the calendar is just awful overall. One or two decent shots.

 

[cato.]

I love that trashy & OTT calendar. I'm just too much of a perv.

Thanks for the scans!

 

[Grunged]

i love the calendar but i can't get it because i live in America. wish Lara was in it though. the cover is good as well but i was expecting something more exciting or interesting.

 

[XavierRaphael]

I live in Canada and when you buy the magazine its packaged with the Calender..

 

[delacrazy]

damn when is this going to hit US shelves?

 

[cato.]

^ Xavier I'm living in Canada for the moment, where do you buy it at?

 

[Sugarmama]

The cover is boring to me. I think Georgina, Anna J, and Jourdan look the best in the calender, Aline just looks strange.