Thursday 2 August 2007
Deliver us from Celebrities
In a moment of weakness that I have no excuse for I bought a copy of Elle. It was the bag I dropped my guard for a second and I succumbed. Was I seduced? was I back in the fashion fold? No what a dogs dinner of a publication why have a 40++ year old on the cover and then fill the magazine with Janet Street Porters idea of yoof fashion? My biggest and bitterest gripe concerns page 150, Photography's Fresh Talent. I have always had a soft spot for the work of Gilles Bensimon, whilst he will never match the greats (Paolo Roversi, Bruce Webber et all) He has a certain style but what has possessed these people to chose a photograph of someone smoking I work with young people and I am sick of magazines and television programmes iconising people with fags in their hand and yes there is more. Why try to promote Fresh New Talent and bury it on one page, any one of them could have bettered the offerings this month. And why does Elle persist in sticking celebrities from generic photo shoots syndicated across the world so every other edition of Elle has the same photo on there cover, SJP is NOT a style icon she just wears what the stylists tell her too stop dipping your toe in the water do something radical and put a proper fashion photo on your cover using a proper model. For further inspiration find a copy of 19 from 1977, some of the best fashion journalism there ever was i can still taste the inspiration.
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1 comment:
The magazine's international editions often do deals where the star appears on the Brit and US covers simulataneously.
Also reusing images already shot is cheaper rather than setting up another whole shoot (do you know how much it costs?!) Especially in the case of Bensimon's work as he is the mags' international creative director (or some such title) and doesn't incur reusage fees (I'd imagine!).
The magazine's target audience don't want to see models (even supers) or 'lesser known' celebs on the cover. The average reader knows and loves SJP because of Carrie Bradshaw and will instantly pick up the mag and therefore generate sales.
Sad but true! Mrs F x
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