It's a shame that the least interesting part of this issue got the cover. Although the inside pictures are somewhat better, my first thought seeing the cover really went straight to US
Vogue (if, strangely enough, not
Vanity Fair) and their recent, deathly boring
Nine cover. Penélope Cruz, to me, is mostly unspectacular in every way, and therefore putting her on a pedestal like this in
Vogue Paris of all publications feels not only undeserved, but also rather contrived. It's as if they hadn't quite done their homework and just went to Yahoo!Answers for this one -- I know I did when I had to whip up something in high school 20 minutes before deadline. I don't see anything out of the ordinary in yet another batch of pretty, black-and-white portraiture featuring only popular, familiar and "safe" faces. And ooh, let's not forget to place the women against a fan!
How very mediocre,
VP.
(Also, I just want to add how endlessly annoyed I am at the whole (RED) aspect of this. I have nothing against celebrities advocating causes whenever and wherever per se, but in this context it somehow just adds to the dishonest air about this feature. 
)
Some of the editorial content seems to make up for the main feature, though. Although Karl Lagerfeld doesn't excite me as a photographer overall, I love his use of Vanessa Paradis in her ed, as I do the styling. The military touch isn't underscored, as it all too often is in general, and for once I guess Karl hasn't had an underling point and shoot the camera while he's adjusting his sunnies, because the pictures are great. Or what do I know, perhaps that's precisely what he did for a change.
Surprisingly, I'm also just a little intrigued by Daria and Francesco's gropefest. Somehow, the sterility of the styling, colors, settings, not to mention Mario Testino's style of photography, as contrasted to Daria and Francesco's "passion" works for me here, unremarkable though it is as a "package". I was going to say how tired I was growing of seeing Daria in
VP time after time, but hey, why ditch a working concept?… I guess.
Sorrenti-wise, I was expecting something entirely different than his ed with Natasha Poly. That said, it's a nice, refreshing surprise coming from him, though the campy elements of the shoot feel rather shopworn by now, even when used intentionally as amusing, upfront clichés as they have been here.
Pretty simple stuff overall, everything feels rather disappointingly familiar. Perhaps the next issue will be more inspired...
