Vogue & brie topped blueberries for breakfast

Indulge yourself! Create a ritual around your favourites. On my latest trip back East, these three ingredients made my mornings magical: a bowl full of blueberries, a huge hunk of  brie cheese, and one mammoth September Vogue. Although I’m sure Anna Wintour would smack me upside the head for the size of that piece a’ cheese, I’ve always believed in maximizing the moment. Who says we can’t have it all! Well, at least on vacation~wink.

Bonus Link: Looking for something to wet your appetite? Try Calgary Fashion’s in-depth review of The September Issue

As markets become more and more saturated, it is important to brand yourself as an individual. Emerging new technologies, social media tools, the current job market and reality television are all forces bringing people closer together in a survival of the fittest.

Examples of successful personal branding include pioneers like Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour and Paris Hilton. These people are more than designers, editors and socialites: they are brands. @LakiaGordon explains, “make sure your everyday appearance is reflective of your brand. Promote your passion daily because you never know who you’ll meet.”

It’s also crucial to surround yourself with similar brands and people to help drive your identity. @derville shares her advice, “establish a niche area of specialization. Follow and interact with others in that niche area. Blog and tweet about your area.”

Lastly, give people something tangible like industry news, images, product, or a portfolio of work. @adamstahr shares,  “when branding yourself, don’t underestimate the importance of a body of work. Be a doer, not merely a thinker and talker.”

Incorporating these practices into daily life will create your personal brand and place you in the forefront of your niche. What other ways do you brand yourself?

photos from davidonoue.com, CuteCarry.wordpress.com , Lexposure.net

“I aim to create pieces that have strength and beauty, based around a concept which can be about a number of things – the body, the materials or a particular theme.”

– Chau Har Lee to Dazed Digital

I like clothes more than shoes. But when I come across footwear that’s fantastically spellbinding, I’m quick to want.

When it comes to what you wear, there shouldn’t be any borders; clothes, shoes or otherwise. Screw the conservative society! Many of the greatest fashion innovators – with the exception of US Vogue’s Anna Wintour, and Vogue Paris’s Carine Roitfeld – made their mark in the world by being themselves, no matter how idiosyncratic it seemed. And that’s where London-based cobbler Chau Har Lee fits into my life.

Chau Har Lee is a 29-year-old shoe designer who obtained her long-winded education at UK’s most prestigious: Cordwainer College (London College of Fashion), Royal College of Art and Camberwell College of Art. She’s the recipient of multiple awards including the 2009 Manolo Blahnik prize and International Talent Support competition, she’s been featured in fashion magazines such as British Vogue, Nylon and i-D, and she’s worked with fashion powerhouses Burberry and Nicole Farhi early in her career. A fan for pushing the “shoe envelope,” Ms. Har used  materials such as stainless steel, walnut wood, acrylic and leather to create architectural shoes you could envision completing Maison Martin Margiela’s runway collection.

There’s no word as to when we’ll be able to get our hands on a pair, but she says she’s currently working on her 2010 collection in her East London studio.

If The Financial Times is to be believed, it seems that people- designers, journalists, directors of fashion houses, Hollywood celebrities- are taking fashion bloggers seriously these days.  According to a November 13th article, fashion bloggers like Tavi and Bryanboy have made a dent in the sometimes mystical world of high fashion, taking coveted front-row seats at shows of the likes of Alexander McQueen and D&G.  Even the Queen herself, Ms. Anna Wintour, has sat a few seats down from a fashion blogger and his trusty lap-top as stick figures streamed down the runway, light as the clothes hangers they essentially are.

After reading the article, which I hope you will as well, I’m left thinking: is this the sort of blogging I want to do?  Ultimately, I think the answer here is, “No.”  While I admire Tavi’s undeniable teen wit (she really is very funny) and the commitment so many bloggers of high fashion have to their craft, I don’t think the world of run-way shows and not actually eating the cake at the after party is for me.  While I fully acknowledge the pivotal role that couture shows and A-list designers play in deciding what is popular and disseminated down to us regulars, I think that I prefer the more organic, random, and personal styles of those around me and not those on the pedestal of six inch heels and stick legs.  I’m excited by the way in which women (and some men) I don’t even know combine inspiration from the street, the museum, the schoolyard, and the big screen to create an amalgamation entirely their own.  That doesn’t discount the relevance of high fashion or the hierarchy of the design world, but it certainly does make it a little less singular in its position and reverses what I think is often imagined as a uni-directional flow from the catwalk to the sidewalk.

What I most dislike about this sudden fashion blogger fame, though, is the implication that those of us who write about clothing are primarily a vehicle for furthering the ends of fashion houses and retail chains.  While we certainly do write about those things and one can’t deny a link between our work and theirs, the point of blogging (for me) is not to drive up the sales of Gucci or Neiman Marcus.  I write about stores, certainly (Anthropologie, anyone?) and am guilty of setting aside my activist notions for a cheap cardigan at Target.  But when my love of art and creativity, of layering three scarves over a slip because it looks cool or reading the blogs of women who dig their awesome outfits out of a bin at the Goodwill, is reduced to being one more cog in the marketing machine, I get a little grumpy.

So, fashion bloggers, rock on, but don’t let’s forget the spirit of what I think is behind so many of my favorite blogs- a love of the creative, a desire to affect a mood or an idea, the attempt to bring a world of excitement and magic to life through layers of fabric.  And that ain’t about getting you richer, Dolce and Gabbana.

So, I got anxious last night and watched The September Issue online… proabbly illegal? I didn’t watch all of it, I swear. And, I am planning on pre-ordering it off of Amazon right after this post. But… OH JEEZE. I want that life soo badly. It’s crazy what those people do. AHHH. I’m jealous. But it will be my life in time to come… remember?

I am in the market for a new camera. Does anyone have any suggestions? It needs to be small (portable. because my sister has this gigantic one that takes really nice pictures, but is hilarious to look at). I am trying to stay away from being too demode (as Karl Lagerfeld would say). Let me know… okay?

Here’s a goal of mine: Be a billionaire by the age of thirty. Yep. I mean, how else will I buy my clothes? I need beautiful clothes. And, in order to do all the things I want to do, I have to have a surplus of cash to get me around. You be my witness, watch me make that goal. Set that as a goal for you, too. Law of Attraction is capable of doing some pretty crazy stuff.

–Autumn Wakefield

I found this kind of funny. Backstage at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Caroline Trentini was quoted saying:

“Everyone just expects me to jump now. I think they just think I jump naturally, like put me in great shoes and I jump … I mean, as long as people ask me to jump, I’ll jump!” [Source]

She’s reffering to her photo shoot for the September issue of Vogue (which the documentary movie The September Issue is based on). During the shoot she was asked to jump in several of the photos, even alonside the cameraman filming the documentary at one point. I guess Trentini has no problem following Anna Wintours orders.

tavi a 13 ans et elle met à l’amende anna wintour

Anna Wintour, un nome sancito nella nostra memoria dopo il Diavolo Veste Prada, come il Presidente della Repubblica, solo che lo Stato di cui stiamo parlando è Vogue.
E sul suo presidenzialismo adesso c’è un documentario, assolutamente non romanzato, una cronaca di 8 mesi, per arrivare a Settembre, per scrivere il vero articolo della costituzione della moda.
Il regista R. J. Cutler, ammesso nella redazione newyorkese di Vogue, è stato autorizzato con la sua camera regia a riprendere gli otto mesi necessari alla realizzazione dell’edizione speciale di settembre 2007, 840 pagine per riscrivere la storia pre crisi economica, un numero guerriglia con munizioni atomiche in termini di pubblicità e di impatto fashion system.
Chi volesse sapere come si realizza il numero di una rivista, può prendere spunto dal vangelo secondo Vogue, buona visione.

Andy and Jean-Michel

I like to think that once upon a time at Indochine people like Warhol or Basquiat were sitting in these very same booths, beneath the banana leaf murals and eat the very same delicious entries. (Althought I don’t know if they were really into eating).

It used to be a place for artists, my friend Glenn told me.

Carine, André, and Anna

Then the artists were joined by the Fashion people, but as he pointed out, nowadays, Art and Fashion are more or less the same.

And it’s true that people who think of one at the exclusion of the other are usually not very funny, or much artistic. This works both ways.

Friday night was Indochine 25th anniversary party and I skipped a philosophy lecture to arrive early.

The charming Nadine, orchestrating the guests.

Some people in amazing costumes were already waiting anxiously outside the tent, and then once inside we queued in front of the stairs into the restaurant where most of the action seemed to happen. At irregular intervals the charming Nadine would appeared from behind the curtains, and with the magnaninous power of a blond goddess saved a few human beings by letting them in.

The tenebrous Lady Fag

Once saved, I elbowed my way to the center of the booming crowded room. But most of the guests were too gorgeous –or too tall, as is the case with some of the superstar drag queens – to be pushed on the side, and I finally had to retreat in the basement bar and dance floor, which some insiders refers to as Under-chine and had not seen open for decades.

Todd’s straw hat state of destruction is far more sophisticated than one would thought.

Casey, one of the best dressed men of the night, was wearing a thrift store $10 suit

The elegant and cool Jean-Marc, hero of the party.

The amazing Sophie-Anne, from Paris.

With a moustache, Hamish revealed an entirely different personality.

Gabi and Adi wearing their own extraordinary designs

I’m not so much of a dance person. I would rather read a book, or talk to someone, so I went up to the go-go dancer poles and asked one of the prettiest go-go girls if it would bother her if we had a little chat while she was working. I had  to shout over what I recognized as an old  B52s tune, without the certainty to be heard. She shooked her head, but it was not clear what the answer was.

From Art, or Fashion, I insisted, what do you think is… It seemed she meant go-go dancing is an Art form, like everything else.

For those who missed the party, a commemorative book has just been published by Rizzoli : Indochine, Stories, Shaken and Stirred. The limited edition available at Indochine even comes with a free set of labelled paper napkins and two pairs of chopsticks.

O About de hoje vai dar continuidade na lista das editoras de moda. Hoje vou falar da mais famosa de todas, quem no mundo fashion nunca ouviu falar de Anna Wintour definitivamente pode desistir da carreira. Ela é a atual editora-chefe da edição norte-americana da revista Vogue. E já serviu de inspiração até para filmes. E se Diana Vreeland começou essa onda de super editoras e transformou a Vogue numa publicação de prestígio, Anna não fica muito atrás. Desfiles não começam sem a presença dela. Nicole Kidman virou ícone fashion com seus conselhos.  Obrigou a apresentadora Oprah Winfrey a perder 10 quilos para aparecer na capa da Vogue. Aconselhou Hillary Clinton a abandonar o terninho azul. Futuras tendências da moda são alinhavadas sob o comando dela. Anna  manda e desmanda no mundo fashion. Tudo na moda passa por sua aprovação.

Mas vamos à história. Anna nasceu em 1949 em Londres. Interessou-se por moda ainda na adolescência, quando aos 16 anos trabalhou na boutique londrina Biba. Sua carreira jornalística começou em 1970 como editora-assistente da Harper’s Bazaar, já em Nova York. Depois se tornou editora de moda da revista Viva por dois anos, onde começou sua fama de profissional exigente e temperamental . Logo depois tornou-se editora.

 Sua criatividade na produção das matérias de moda chamaram a atenção. Entrou na Vogue em 1983, no cargo de editora-criativa, ficou lá por dois anos até ser transferida para a Vogue britânica como editora. Anna Wintour mudou radicalmente a revista, demitiu a maior parte da equipe, contratou novos jornalistas, e transformou o conteúdo em algo mais prático. Em 1988 voltou a NY para ser editora da Vogue americana. Ela sofisticou o material, rejuvenesceu as capas e atualizou o estilo. Como sua antecessora Diana Vreeland lançou modelos (entre elas Gisele Budchen!!!), maquiadores, fotográfos, produtores, etc. Consagrou estilistas até então desconhecidos como Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, Tom Ford, Zac Posen e Stella McCartney.

Apesar de temida por todos que convivem ou não com ela, devido a seu temperamento,  é por outro lado venerada por seu extremo bom gosto, criatividade e disposição de trabalho. Seu mérito vai além disso,  Anna trouxe de volta a revista Vogue à posição em que foi colocada no passado por Diana Vreeland, e  lançou novos títulos como Tenn Vogue, Men’s Vogue e Vogue Living. Sob seu comando, a revista atingiu uma circulação de 1,2 milhão de exemplares. O número de anúncios aumentou 200%.

Sua influência é tão grande que o estilista Marc Jacobs, americano que renovou a Louis Vuitton, confessa que seu design é influenciado por Anna. ”Sempre comento minhas idéias e ouço sua opinião. Mas sei de alguns estilistas que mandam seus desenhos por fax para ela aprovar”.  E obviamente que por essa e outras que, segundo a revista Forbes em 2009, Anna Wintour é a editora de moda mais influente do mundo.

Quer saber  mais sobre Anna Wintour? Jerry Oppenheimer lançou a biografia: Front Row – Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue’s Editor in Chief.

E para finalizar o About da semana, algumas frases ditas por Anna.

I want this haircut. Now.

During the end of last week and the beginning of this one I spent some time in the waiting room of a much esteemed doctor of psychology. Not for the reason you would normally think. This delightful fellow and his staff perform thorough evaluations of children with issues and Il Duce was there for his full battery of tests. As he floated in on his manufactured angel wings and put on his halo to confuse and charm the entire staff, I had spare hours to spend in the highly uncomfortable waiting room catching up on my magazine reading. I cannot tell you the last time I indulged in a fashion magazine. They always seemed so superficial after I had three kids, I mean, I barely had time to find a semi clean tee-shirt and new underwear. Who has time for all those rules, quick changes in style, heavy baubles and shoes that hurt?

Naturally, the first shiny fashion mag I picked up was Vogue, clearly deferring to the all-knowing genius that is Anna Wintour. While I HATE the number of annoying ads in her publication, I do like her photo spreads and cutting edge ensemble choices. I also think lightning shoots from her eyes and fingertips when she becomes enraged, but that’s another story entirely.

Vogue took me about an hour to page through and then I cleansed my palette with several gossip rags that I’m addicted to. Next in line was ELLE with Katie Holmes Cruise on the cover. First let me say that aside from her clearly dead eyes and half-smile, she looks fabulous. The orange dress, the statuesque figure and finally that KILLER haircut. This is coming with me the next hair appointment I have and I am demanding this adorable style.

This is something I will not be investing in. Nice idea though.

Now I can’t say that I felt entirely good about myself after all that eye candy and mind-blowing dress up fun but I did feel as though it was time to start moving toward the quantum leap that was going to be necessary to get me to where I could measure up to the average gal on the street. My own personal fashion apocalypse you might call it.

Proenza Schouler, I can get behind this WITHOUT the sock.

First I need to work on amassing the small fortune that is clearly needed for such an undertaking, but I am willing to settle for the baby steps . A much-needed cut and color ( to rid myself of unsightly grey) takes precedence over all other things and then we can talk about leaps and bounds.

Style bloggers take centre stage

By Nicola Copping

It’s Milan fashion week and the seats for Dolce & Gabbana’s spring/summer 2010 ready-to-wear show for its D&G line are filling up with the industry’s most influential figures. On the front row, legs crossed, watching from behind customary dark glasses, sits Anna Wintour, celebrated editor of US Vogue magazine. One row back – a small step for man, a giant leap for fashionkind – is Burt Tansky, chief executive of US department store Neiman Marcus.

Also on the front row, nestled between the cashmere-draped shoulders of Sally Singer, US Vogue’s fashion news/features director, and Michael Roberts, Vanity Fair’s fashion and style director, sits a slender, less familiar figure dressed in grey T-shirt, jewelled necklace and tuxedo jacket. Meet Bryan Grey-Yambao, known as Bryanboy to the 215,000 unique users who visit his eponymous blog each day (British Vogue magazine, by comparison, sells just over 200,000 copies a month.)

From the small bedroom in Manila that he describes as “a cocoon”, Bryanboy, 23, has distilled his thoughts, on everything from models’ cellulite to Lady Gaga wearing Alexander McQueen’s latest designs, into a colourful and, for many, compulsive online diary that mixes chatty show commentary with blurred photos of himself in eccentric outfits and select snapshots of the exclusive world of fashion. One recent shot shows British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman plonked on a concrete floor, legs outstretched, head in a good book as a fashion show refuses to start on time. Beneath the picture, Bryanboy writes: “I smiled when I found this photo. She looks so calm reading a book or, perhaps, her notes? ”

Staring at the lens of a camera trained on his front row seat, Bryanboy knows that his thoughts on the catwalk spectacle about to unfold in front of him will make it on to his website before any of his front row neighbours even make it to the next show. His up-to-the-minute commentary is why his readers log on. It is why the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana invited him. Yet, as he sits squished between industry veterans, his expression seems to ask: “Should I really be here?”

The answer is, of course, yes: fashion bloggers, like the cool kids in school, have become a kind of elite band. Readers catching up with them in offices, bedrooms and internet cafés across the globe look to them for humour, catty criticisms and accessible entertainment that costs them nothing but the energy required to click mouse with forefinger.

Moreover, the best and most popular, such as the Sartorialist, Scott Schuman’s photographic chronicle of what the well-dressed person on the street is wearing (visited by 225,000 people a day), are viewed as tastemakers in much the same way as powerful style journalists such as Wintour and Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune. Brands invite Schuman to consult for them. American Apparel, Net-a-Porter and Hogan advertise on the Sartorialist, and other websites, such as Condé Nast’s Style.com, host a pocket-sized version of his site.

“I speak to you as I speak to any of my other friends,” is how Schuman explains his appeal. “I’m not shackled by advertising or an editor. I shoot men on intuition and I shoot women on absolute experience; the quality of what I shoot is so strong that people really don’t have to ask why.” At one recent signing session for Schuman’s first book, also called The Sartorialist, fans waited in line at Liberty in London for four hours.

Full article:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/89f8c07c-cfe0-11de-a36d-00144feabdc0.html

‘Can I help you out with that trash?’

I heard a voice over my shoulder and, sure enough, when I looked up it was Gwyneth Paltrow on a break from up-dating her website, GOOP.

I knew very well she was being ironic. Certainly, she seemed quite tickled by the notion of it. So I left my chore and invited her into my mouse house.

After I’d washed my hands I got some fish fingers out of the fridge. They can defrost together, I thought as I welcomed her warmly.

Gwynnie is a piece of alabaster perfection and she can do long and short hair, as she showed us in Sliding Doors. I asked for some beauty tips, which she surrendered gracefully.

Nevertheless, she roundly dismissed my offer to paint her nails, with a snort through her elegant nose.

‘Do you prefer Luke or Owen Wilson?’ I asked, referring to her roles in the Wes Anderson films.

‘Oh, I couldn’t possibly choose between them,’ she replied coyly.

‘I could,’ I revealed. ‘Owen. More chamomile tea?’

We went for a walk around Ravenscourt Park so she could get some air. She seemed to relax a little but I have to admit I was quite annoyed because she was wearing sunglasses so no-one knew who she was.

She told me about how she thinks shampoo gives children cancer and how she bounces on a trampoline to sculpt the fabulous skyscraper heel legs that tell the world she’s sexy even though she’s the mother of Moses and a piece of fruit.

‘And Chris- well, he’s so talented. He takes his music very seriously,’ she opened up.

‘Do you think he takes quite a lot of stuff seriously?’ I asked, trying to widen my eyes.

‘No, not at all,’ she replied very seriously. ‘Chris has got a fantastic sense of humour. Just this morning over breakfast he was saying something really funny… Now what was that?’

I let her flail around like a weighted puppy for what seemed like an eternity before blowing the whistle and diving in with a basic bacon and egg gag, at which she laughed so hard I began to wonder if she really does find Chris a bit of a card.

I could tell right from the get-go that she wasn’t going to dish the dirt- she’s not desperate enough, having been born into fame and privilege.

So I took the liberty of switching off and playing ’shag, marry, cliff’, teaming her up with Jennifer and Angelina, seeing as they all like a bit of Brad Pitt.

It was a no-brainer she was ‘marry’- hell, I’d already managed to spend a few hours in her company without really listening. The other two were easy as well: ’shag’ Jen and ‘cliff’ Angelina (playing the rules by my original understanding of them, whereby ‘cliff’ is the person you are so crazy about you would be willing to jump off one with them).

When I came round, Gwynnie was talking about Anna Wintour and I regretted not paying attention. She said Anna started inviting her to lunches with John Galliano after her Oscar win and reckoned it was because the Queen of Vogue admired her work.

I let it slide. But it got me thinking about Shakespeare in Love.

‘Joseph Fiennes is quite intense but don’t you think his eyes are too close together?’ I asked, hungry for her professional opinion.

‘I was so blessed to work with Jo. He’s a giant of an actor,’ she replied.

‘Wow. Taller than Tim Robbins?’ I asked.

I think I got the wrong end of the stick but I knew she was relieved I didn’t allude to her acceptance speech debacle.

Instead, I praised her English accent and told her she was much better than Renee Zellweger, who sounds like she’s being goosed by the President but can’t let on.

Gwynnie found this remark distasteful. Angelina had warned me that she was a cut above but did I listen? No.

‘Have some of my Mum’s fruit cake with a thin layer of Lurpak butter on it,’ I suggested as she gathered her mobile phones to leave.

In reply to which- and oh, please God, may I never feel so wrong again- she gave me a look that still sends shivers down my spine.

‘I’m not sure I get you, Sophie,’ she said eventually, as she let two bodyguards help her on with her trainers. ‘But probing characters is my vocation so I’m going to take you to bed with me for a few nights to see what I can figure out.’

O.K, I thought.

As long as you don’t mind Jennifer Aniston joining us.

Etsy store, House of Mouse, has the gifts for your obsessive fashinista this winter (or should we say, WINTOUR?).

I can’t stock smiling at these. I’ve set them as my computer background!

Each House of Mouse mouse is hand made. Anna Wintour Mouse was hand sewn using felt, silks, ribbon, beads, fake fur, wool, and other goodies, and is 2.5 inches of adorable bitchiness!

Currently, the website reports that Anna Wintour Mouse is “reserved for trendinistas”, but they’ll make one for you upon request.

Can’t wait for the custom order? How about Karl Lagermouse?? LOVE IT!? This perfect gift for the girl who has everything retails for $40 at House of Mouse.

You go to watch The September Issue because you want to look at the gorgon. Sure, you might be fascinated by fashion, you might be the sort of magazine obsessive who geeks out on sneaking a look at other people’s flatplans (I am both) – but ultimately, what you want to know is whether American Vogue editor Anna Wintour is as monstrously frosty as her reputation claims.

Wintour won’t haunt your nightmares after you watch this movie, which charts the assembly of Vogue’s critical September Issue (the one which sets all the trends for the following year). That’s not because she comes over as especially pleasant, though. In fact, she has a way of crushing an inferior with a twitch of her lip so devastating, you can watch her victim’s heart break on screen in front of you. (Inferiors, by the way, include office interns who get in her way, junior editors who can’t fight for their photo shoot, and top-of-the-pile designers seeking US Vogue approval for their collections. “She’s the Pope”, explains one Wintour employee.)

Yet with the mixture of intimacy and remove afforded by film, though, there’s something arresting about Wintour’s combination of brutal decisiveness and evident frailty. Wintour is near-60 and very thin: the camera is not cruel or intrusive, but however glossy her bob and toned her arms, Wintour’s voice and skin are whispering her age. Gawker speculated that Wintour collaborated with The September Issue’s makers as part of a campaign to reinvent herself as likeable. I doubt it: she doesn’t approach the camera as someone looking to be loved, but as someone who knows that power is her trade and imperiousness her greatest asset.

If it was a charm contest, then Wintour certainly lost it to creative director Grace Coddington. Where Wintour is sleek business, Coddington is expansive art – her spectacular, dreamy combinations of garments and settings make up captivating spreads which define both the magazine’s aesthetic and the idea of fashion. Witty, appealing and determined, she even offers advice to her colleagues on standing up to Anna.

But it’s a mistake to see their relationship as purely competitive. At one point, Coddington reflects on the magazines move toward celebrity culture. She doesn’t like it, but she applauds Wintour for identifying the trend early and building it into the magazine. After all, Coddington explains, if the magazine doesn’t sell, she won’t have a job – and if she doesn’t have a job, there will be no venue for her work.

You get the impression that, while Coddington adores clothes and fashion and the magazine she works for, she sees the industry as more of a platform than an end in itself – whereas as Wintour is involved in every part of the chain, even acting as an ambassador for negotiations between stores and designers. For Coddington, fashion is only a part of the world. “We can’t all be perfect”, she expounds, forcefully: “It’s enough that the models are perfect.” In the aggressively perfect world of Wintour’s Vogue, where too-big cover fonts are dismissed as “large and pretentious, like it’s for blind people”, Coddington’s exuberance feels like the true soul of the magazine.

Text © Sarah Ditum, 2009

photo: mark peterson via nymag.com

Recently I left my full-time job at the world’s best food magazine, and am now working from home. My husband and I are debating whether or not we turn the guest room into an office—easy enough—or really go to town and convert the garage into a workspace, which would involve big-time construction. While we weigh the pros and cons, I’ve started thinking about office design. It’s no accident that Ana Wintour’s is so chic. Ditto for Mary Randolph Carter’s of Ralph Lauren (below). How could you not be inspired in one of these spaces?

photo via theselby.com

To that end I’m relying on my surroundings to imbue creativity. I would kill to have the George Nelson Roll Top Desk that graced my office at the Los Angeles Times Magazine many moons ago (not to mention the Eames management guest chairs—it’s nuts that that stuff was just kicking around the newspaper).

In doing a little research, buying a vintage one is going to run anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000. Something tells me Santa Baby isn’t thinking I’ve been that good this year. I’m also in love with this George Nelson Rectangular Work Table, which is equally dreamy and offers plenty of work space.

I’m thinking it will look great with an antique dark red persian rug I appropriated from my parents years ago. When it comes to chairs, I’m really torn—by price more than anything else. Of course, the fantasy has always been the Eames Aluminum Management Chair in Powder Blue leather. It’s also so chic in tan.

Or, until that ship comes in, what about the Setu Chair, also from Herman Miller? Similar lines, ergonomic design and a third the price:

Next up: bookshelves. And lighting.

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Vogue, bring back the Supermodels! Keep your collector's editions.

So true Candy-Pratts Price.  Last night, I took in an evening show of The September Issue, a behind-the-scenes documentary which provides a glimpse into the creation of the most influential edition in the year and the struggle between creative goddess, Fashion Editor Grace Coddington and the magazine’s astute and powerful Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour.  With her icy demeanor and demanding industry perfectionism, she is known as the basis for the title character in The Devil Wears Prada. 

Such is the fashion business, shrouded in fantasy and glamour, sprinkled with stories of catty behaviour and flights of primadonna.  For any hardcore fashionistah, the film is a MUST to see the reality of the industry – the editors watching couture shows in Paris, previewing collections with designers to wielding their stake with major retailers.  While the movie shows both the light (creating beautiful imagery, supporting fresh design talent) to the dark (editors slamming collections before they are shown or stressful last minute re-shoots two days before closing the issue), it also highlights the individual passion and poignancy of the stories which led these creators to their ultimate destiny at Vogue.  

Anna Wintour is judging you in her Chanel boucle jacket.

From Brooklyn to Brazil to Bombay, the fashion industry is already buzzing on the news that this year’s globe-spanning, night-crawling staggeringly successful shopping extravaganza is back!
The very first Fashion’s Night Out, led by Vogue and the CFDA, was set up this year to celebrate fashion and boost the industry’s economy.

Vogue, New York & Company and the CFDA have announced a change of date for next year’s Fashion’s Night Out which is now due to be held on Friday, 10th September 2010. Initially scheduled for Thursday 9th, the decision was made to maximise local customer and tourist participation by holding the shopping event on a weekend.

I can’t wait for the special events and celebrity guests!

Photo: Ze Takahashi

It seems that Anna has new job herself. But do not worry !!! The edictatrix is not leaving Vogue.

The president Barack Obama has invited Anna Wintour to join the President’s Committee of Arts and Humanities. The committee will advise the president on how to expand the role of arts in American society and  give incentive to young artists. It might not seem a big move seen that Anna is one of the most powerful women in America, but it is a big step for the fashion history.

Usually seen as frivolous industry, contrary to what many think, fashion is actually the second industry to turn money around alone, creating millions of employments and generating billions of  dollars around the world. Nevertheless fashion is form of art and an expression of the society. It reflects our cultural and social moment in history.

To be included on a Committee of Arts, gives the fashion industry the respect and place it deserves. Let’s hope it is not only a glamorous nomination but it actually means something substancial.

Rosane Ribeiro

Ela super fez isso de propósito! Hahahah. Não?

Hi, Anna!

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Would you pay SGD12.90 for a fashion magazine?

Let’s put things in perspective here: with the same amount of money, one would be able to purchase three penguin classics, one copy of the National Geographic or finance half of your monthly newspaper subscription. But what if that particular magazine happened to be Vogue’s (US) September issue? Well, that changes a lot of things for some people, especially those people who were fortunate enough to watch R.J Cutler’s ‘The September Issue’ – the latest documentary about American Vogue and its acid-tongued chief editor Anna Wintour.

The film in itself was great; Cutler did an awesome job balancing the gloss and grime of the flashy fashion industry. You leave the cinema having more respect for the magazine and the fashion industry as a whole and all of a sudden, fashion makes so much more sense to you than ever before. Late August arrives and you find yourself glancing at every magazine stand you pass by, hoping to see if the Bible of fashion has arrived. You finally get your copy (it’s as thick as a phonebook, another thing it is famous for) and you read Wintour’s opening sermon and gush at her brilliance. Then you flip the pages oh-so-carefully, like it’s the scrolls from the Dead Sea. Then you realise that half of the magazine are made up of bloody advertisements. What a buy.

It took me quite a while before I reached the photo spreads and editorials. The photoshoots by Grace Coddington (Vogue’s creative director) were spectacular. The attention given to detail in the 1940s inspired photoshoot were incredible. And what better way to say ‘Red is the new Black’ than with a reconstructed story of a very sexy Lil’ Red Riding Hood and a pack of wolves. The editorials were just so-so.

The 150 pages of advertising aside, I liked Coddington’s gumption,imagination and sense of style, but I may be biased because she is the only person in the entire office that eats and talks like a regular human being. And like me, she doesn’t comb her hair.

Would I buy this again? Not until they start removing the countless ads. The weight of it just makes it so unpractical for an easy read. Better to spend the money on something else and pray that you’ll be able to steal a copy from your doctor’s office.

Contributed by: DC