September Vogue

I've gotten really into fashion lately, and it's weird, because I don't want to wear it, I just like looking at it. You see that word "aspirational" thrown around, and for me, it's not aspirational. Even when I was younger and skinnier I did not have a body made for clothes. I tried when I was younger but I just can't walk in heels and anyway, I have this desire to be comfortable and I've never been that comfortable dressed-up. Maybe some people are... although really, the way people mostly dress down these days sort of gives the lie to that, a bit, doesn't it? Well, anyway, somebody likes fancy fashion because it's out there and people are buying it, but it's sure not me. I'm interested, but not for actual wear.

So it's kind of weird that I've developed this fondness for style.com, to the point that I nearly had an anxiety attack over the weekend over the prospect of all million or so of style.com's fashion-show pictures (literally, it was over a million, so they said) moving to a different site under the auspices of Vogue. There's a new website of voguerunway.com, but all it does is direct you to the runway section of Vogue. Anyway, it all got moved and all seems to be working fine - I'm mostly talking about that to demonstrate how extremely attached I've gotten.

I always did have a fondness for the big fat issues of Vogue that came out every September, though, going back to when I was in college, maybe. Actually, now that I think about it, it may go back even further than that, to reading Seventeen as a younger teenager - that was when I noticed the phenomenon of the "back-to-school" special issue. I graduated to Mademoiselle later (back then it was aimed at sort of a college crowd) and then on to Vogue. I didn't really always understand all the crazy fashions but it was pretty to look at.

So - skipping back to the present - my copy finally arrived, yesterday, and I spent an hour or so communing with my big fat (832 pages! proclaims the cover) magazine earlier today - it's so big I barely got past the table of contents. I took notes, and I don't know if anybody but me is interested but I'll share, anyway.

First of all, Queen Bey is on the cover (here's a link to the pic), and I'm not in love with the dress she's wearing, but anyway, she looks pretty. The cover said something about "fall romance" - which I think is the kind of thing they say about every other year, and it also had a headline about "forces of fashion - the rule-breakers defining the way we dress now." Whatever that means exactly - I'll figure it out when I get further into the book! So the cover was a gatefold and I thought maybe there'd be more pictures of B when you folded it out, but no, it was just a perfume ad - Ralph Lauren Romance, and Midnight Romance. Oh, also, wrapped up with the subscription issue was a loose full-sheet ad on heavy stock, for Black Opium. If it had had a real sample I'd have been happier, but it smells good as far as I could tell. (I adored Opium back when it first came out - I remember having a bottle, I must have gotten my mom to get it for me for Christmas or something.)

Okay, so the front section had a pattern, I was noticing. It was mostly clothes but then it would have a makeup or skincare or perfume ad mixed in occasionally. So behind the front matter that was RL perfume, we had multipage ads for different designers - Prada, Dior, Ralph Lauren clothes, then Estee Lauder lipstick with Kendall Jenner. I had seen something that said most of the designers were using lower-profile models this year, it's a trend for some reason. And I could tell - I recognized a few faces, because I've been spending so much time looking at runway shows, but they weren't the "big" faces, at least not in this front section - those were saved for the makeup ads, and other than Kendall, were mostly actresses. After Lauder there was pages of Gucci and Saint Laurent and then an ad for Lancome perfume (La vie est belle - which I do have a big sample of, I must have gotten it from Sephora and it smells very nice) with Julia Roberts. I can't really imagine Julia having the same taste I do somehow but maybe I'm not doing her justice. On, on, 4 pages of Fendi and then some Lancome Miracle foundation with, I think, Penelope Cruz, Then pages of Burberry and then Lauder again, this time some serum with Eva Mendes as its face. Then Chanel clothing, all in black, Dolce & Gabbana with a happy Italian family scene (and those dresses with the roses that annoy me so much). Then Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu, and then the first jewelry ad, David Yurman. 4 pages on the 3-step Clinique skin system (which I used religiously for years but have about given up on now!), then Celine, Michael Kors bags, 2 pages of Rolexes (watches are back in, after all), Marc Jacobs - with furs if I'm reading my notes right. Then Michael Kors fragrance and Tiffany T collection jewelry - which is very minimalist, really, which is what's been "in" in jewelry for a while now. Then Creme de la Mer, more skincare, and 4 pages of very gothy McQueen fashions - that shouldn't be a surprise. Then Nars mascara, 2 pages of La Perla, another perfume ad - this one is Chanel Chance, then somebody named Sam Edelman who I've only ever heard of in the vaguest way. Is he somebody up-and-coming who I ought to know about? I guess I'll have to look. He had pages and pages, whoever he (or she) is. Then after a Clairins serum ad (serums seem to be big right now) we finally get the first page of the table of contents. on approximately page 105. I was exhausted by the time I got there.

(Added: I hadn't remembered to check about this, but I stumbled across some Sam Edelman shoes on WhoWhatWear - they are not what I would call "inexpensive" but they are certainly much more reasonably-priced than most of the stuff you see in Vogue!)

I did look further than that but I had given up on the notes by then. It was more of the same (we hadn't seen all of the high-profile designers yet, after all), but now we have some one-page ads for the first time, and rather a lot of promos for vogue.com, voguerunway.com, etc. (This is in contrast to the fashion ads which hardly ever deigned to mention a website, although I'm pretty sure they all have them. Maybe because they don't want to seem like they're competing with their own retailers? I don't know.) I got to the end of the table of contents, which seriously was on page-200-something, and that was about as far as I got. For now.


Meanwhile I did redo my nails. No picture yet, I'll get to that tomorrow, hopefully. The Llarowe order came so I'm wearing I Know You Are But What Am I? from Black Cat Lacquer. It's a glittery slightly-darkened red, really pretty, and I mattified it. I like it.