JANUARY 2012 VOGUE

SEEMS LIKE I'VE HAD QUITE THE HIATUS? Sorry about the minor blog post vaca. Sometimes life gets in the way and the blog suffers. But I'm back with a writing vengeance! 

THIS WEEK, will be an all VOGUE MAGAZINE REVIEW week! I pay attention to you guys, and what you seem to respond to the most. A lot of you seem to "enjoy" when I post reviews of the magazines. I've been planning on posting about the magazines but favored more outfit posts recently. So it's an all VOGUE week! I'll be reviewing the first four months of magazines so far, with hopes of staying current in the future.

VOGUE MAGAZINE - JANUARY 2012

ARTICLES:

"A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS"

Holy crap. An article about MARC JACOBS. First of all, if you just glance at the cover of this magazine, you might miss the fact that they have an article about MARC JACOBS even in the magazine since it seems it's less than the focus. With all due respect to MERYL STREEP, and ANNA WINTOUR, maybe  VOGUE should start having "COVER MEN". I think this issue would have been a good start, having MARC JACOBS on the cover. I know a lot of women who would like to read about how MARC JACOBS got his start in fashion and changed the way people view fashion.

"FASHION ISN'T NECESSITY. IT PULLS AT YOUR HEART. IT'S A WHIM. YOU DON'T NEED IT. YOU WANT IT."

It was honestly impossible not to be fascinated with an article about a man who has three separate fashion houses and lines that he creates four times a year. To read about how he single handedly created a name for himself by re-imagining a brand, LOUIS VUITTON, and creating a need for women to sport the now famous print on everything. How could that not be inspiring? To hear of his struggle with addiction and with his personal life. It's nice to get to know the person you idolize, realizing that they're really just as human as you are.

BUT as much as I love the romance in the quote I highlighted from the article, I really want to challenge it. Fashion IS necessity, on so many levels. Fashion is how you present yourself to the world. It says things about you that you may or may not want it to. But when you manipulate it, when you pay attention to it, you control what people may think about you. We have always lived in a world where our peers makes snap judgements about us, just by looking at our appearance. It's an unfortunate practice, but it reigns, and so long as it does, fashion will always be necessary.

You can go ahead and challenge that. Challenge the idea that the person who wears sweatpants and sneakers is different than the person that wears suits. The person who wears sweatpants "doesn't care" about fashion, and therefore they are saying about themselves that comfort is the most important priority. The bottom line is that is says something, whether we like it or not.

"FORCE OF NATURE"

I WANTED TO WRITE THAT HIS WAS AN "ENLIGHTENMENT ISSUE". I was enlightened by MARC JACOBS and more importantly about MERYL STREEP. I have always loved and respected MISS STREEP. She is in one of my all-time favorite movies, and she is such a babe:

BUT NOW I HAVE REASON TO RESPECT & LOVE HER EVEN MORE. If you read my blog here you know I'm a self proclaimed femmy. Turns out that MERYL is working hard to educate all women about the women's history we were never taught. She's fronted the money to purchase land to create the National Women's History Museum in Washington. 

DISCUSSING MERYL'S commitment to fight for the recognition of women in history seems perfect for an article focused on her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Despite Thatcher's beliefs on what women should do and be, like Queen Victoria, these women still became the most powerful women in the world and should be recognized for that achievement alone.

EDITORIALS:

"ALWAYS A WOMAN"

THIS EDITORIAL DOES A GREAT JOB of showing all of the "notable" spring collections, and how they are all highly feminine silhouettes and colors.

"DARE TO FLARE"

YOU'VE PROBABLY ALREADY BEEN INFILTRATED BY PEPLUM ENOUGH ALREADY, since most fashion bloggers thought Spring started a month ago. I love this editorial because it takes an overtly feminine silhouette, (come on, the peplum is all about accentuating those hips) and juxtaposes it with an androgynously styled model. I guess that means that wearing peplum skirts and jackets are just for the girly-girl.

"FACE VALUE"

OKAY, so this isn't really an editorial but more so a highly provocative picture to describe what VOGUE writer CATHERINE PIERCY believes to be the beauty trends for this season. I mean this photo is just down right gorgeous but also a bit unsettling. Just glad I gave up make up so I'm not conforming to some "china doll" look.

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Happy Spring!


RB