Thursday, November 18, 2010

Dear Vogue


As I was staring at the wall of magazines in the Supermarket I naturally dove straight for my one true love - Vogue Australia, as I have been an avid reader of the iconic magazine since I was a little girl. Sadly though I was stopped in my tracks, I picked up the magazine and before giving it the loving gaze I would usually greet my old friend with, I dropped it like it was made of molten lava. The image on the front cover was.... how can I put this? Horrendous! Scary even!!

I understand that fashion tends to circulate and trends like the miniskirt or red nail polish come in and out of fashion for various reasons, but I just can't for the life of me understand this new trend. The "Unwashed/Scowly/Gap-Toothed" trend. It's bad enough as a young woman trying to follow fashion trends and aspire to the waif-thin look and ridiculously expensive clothes I will most likely never own, but to push the boundaries to the point where beauty becomes unrecognisable in these women does my head in! I am a firm believer of classic beauty, in saying that I can appreciate a model if she has an interesting look, but I just can't understand how looking half-dead can be attractive. Let me brake down what I observed when I saw the cover of Vogue this month, and why my heart broke.

To me Vogue covers have always been the ones to aspire to, to style a Vogue cover has always been my dream (and still is) as in my opinion they always have the most glamorous, gorgeous, dream-like aesthetic and are always an inspiration to me and ignite a passion within me to continue delving into this hugs world known as "Fashion", and this is exactly why I almost cried looking at this cover.

The first thing I notice is the lipstick, it's a deep red, and to me red lipstick has always conveyed a sexuality about it, but this colour just makes the models skin look even more sallow and her facial features, even more harsh. The next thing I notice is the hair; now I'm an ambassador for the "I just rolled out of bed and didn't do my hair" look, but regrowth + unwashed + tangled and knotty? How is this attractive?

And by now, we're all use to seeing impossibly thin models on the front of our magazines, and we have come to accept it as the norm, but do we really need to be confronted with a "please feed me" facial expression too?

Vogue, I will always love you, but it's the December issue, why couldn't we have someone who at least looks like they're enjoying some kind of holiday cheer, not someone who tends to remind me more of a drug addict than a fashion model.

It's the Christmas issue, where are the smiles, the beach, the happy times, the "I ate too much over the Christmas brake" models? I would have been happy with a jolly Miranda Kerr showing off her Christmas joy, after all isn't Christmas all about the birth of a little miracle?

When I look at this image it doesn't make me want to buy the issue, it doesn't make me even want to have anything to do with the Fashion industry. Please Vogue, make January beautiful, there is nothing more fashionable than a smile, so make it a good one.

Sincerely,

(Still an avid fan)

EC