Vogue Magazine

[foxfair]

I've been reading Vogue for less than 10 years and less than 5 in a 'thorough' way but I think it mostly sucks. I get the feeling it (Vogue) likes to think of itself as an alternative to the trendy-trendy thing but in fact it's just a super high-end/expensive version of the same. There's never anything truly edgy or risky in Vogue and I am SO sick of their photoshoots of models with crimped-and-backcombed-into-poufy-frizzy-masses hairdos and then photographed in mid-leap or mid pose. So. Old.

Italian Vogue did a photo editorial last month (?) in 'paparazzi' style - all the photos of the models were taken as if they were stars being stalked...it was actually pretty good.

I will say that I *loved* the 'Alice in Wonderland' pictorial that was done sometime last year, I think. That's one of the best things I've ever seen in that hackfest.

Jeffrey Steingarten's food column is always enjoyable, and he doesn't come off as an ice-cold snob like Wintour or Andre the Giant (I had to).

I also like Vogue whenever they use Natalia Vodianova cuz she is fascinatingly beautiful.

[lemons]

When I was younger I used to love to flip through the pages of Vogue and see all the products that I couldn't afford. You should go to the library and see the older copies when Pantene was in glass bottles, Babe was the mass market perfume with Margaux Hemingway as the spokesmodel, and decor chic was very mod. I haven't read it in a long, long time. I think the last time I picked it up was in 1997 for an article I wanted.

[foxfair]

/OT Pantene used to come in glass bottles?! That sounds dangerous...you could take an eye out!

Vogue also has good plastic/cosmetic surgery/procedure info, which is nice cuz I hope to emulate ScarJo and become a surgery maven if I start to get wrinkly...

[chameleon]

I've been reading it for - gosh - probably 20 years? Oy am I old. One of the things I really miss here in Brussels is getting Vogue, since they don't ship the same version as in the US - they delete most of the ads. I love the ads!! Such a bummer.

Andre Leon Talley bugs the shit out of me; I rue the day they gave him a column. And I will never forgive them for putting Squinty McBitchface Renee Zellweger on covers and crowning her a style goddess. It was bad enough with the Spice Girls. Wintour is such a starfucker.

[foxfair]

Word, Chameleon - crowning Renee f***ing Zellweger as some kind of fashion/beauty icon - well that there is the shark-jumping proof. Also concur on your Andre-annoyance. There's something about him - his tone and his manner - that is intensely irritating. He's so...fussy.

[genevieve]

You have to search for the occasionally interesting article. Jeffrey Steingarten is probably one of my favorite writers. He covers food so well and he is kind of a refreshing voice admist all the silliness. I do think it is time for Madame Wintour to step down and do something else. The age of the celebrity cover is over and is over-done.

I would love to see Daria on the cover in an over-the-top outfit and big makeup.

I have seen a few spreads that I have enjoyed. But I need more.

[foxfair]

One little thing I really loved about the most recent issue is the picture of Cary Grant and Suzy Parker on pg 196. It's a great photo - both of them are fabulously good looking.

genevieve you should check out one of Steingarten's books - I've got 'The Man Who Ate Everything' - he's great.

[genevieve]

Foxfair I have read both of his books and they made me love him more.

He is one of the best writers they have.

Plum Sykes writes for Vogue on occasion and I often just want to shake her like a baby.

[bbug]

I love the food column too. You can tell that Steingarten is passionate about the subject, which is nice, because in many cases it seems like Vogue writers feel their subject matter is beneath them or get needlessly angsty about it. It's like, just do the acupuncture/injections/whatever for your wrinkles! Don't worry so much about your curly hair, and for god's sake stop lying to your family about your grooming. I remember reading one article where the author said, just as a throwaway, something like: "I love my twin sister but I get nervous that people will see us together, because she looks like I should look and everyone will know I'm vain!" Those pieces read like they're written by insecure 16 year olds, and I hate them.

[Deleted]

I've been reading Vogue for 25 years and am trying to stop. It just feels so wrong? to not read it anymore but it really has become a boring magazine.

I, too, am a huge Jeffrey Steingarten fan - my favorite part of the magazine. The fashion, however, is getting so hard to really see as they either shoot the pictures through a muddy lake or with poor lighting...