I have a confession to make: I don't know very much about modern fashion. I feel like I "ought to", because I have this little blog here, but let's face it-- there's a reason I am into vintage clothing. It's the same reason that makes me like old houses, old films, old hairstyles, and old music: I am a little let down by the modern world, and all of its artless design. In that I am not alone, but some people seem to have learned the language and symbology of current fashion trends very well, and be finding some great material for inspiration there-- while to me it remains a language in which I feel I can barely say "hello".
I have some friends who help me out, sending me pictures from runways shows, turning me onto the coolest and most innovative things going on in this world. When I look at runway shows by myself, I am overwhelmed and turned off: I don't like the models, who look like they are all victims of natural disasters, and I don't like the supermarket-aisle aesthetics of the runway. My brain just can't pick out the good from the bad, and I give up.
What I have discovered is that I love a great photo shoot in a nice, big, magazine that I can hold in my two hands. Ultimately, I realized that I am a huge fan of fashion photography, if not the details of the fashion itself. Telling myself "this is for my business", I indulged myself last week in not one but TWO imported magazines from a specialty magazine store in Sacramento. I felt by turns guilty and elated bringing these pricey mags up to the register, and I swore that as penance (yup, raised Catholic) I would immediately scan some of my favorite pics and share them with you.
You, who, I hope, are not expecting much of a "fashion blogger" commentary here. I did waffle and consider not doing this post, for fear of exposing myself as a fraud (so many vintage sellers on Etsy do such nice, well-versed forays into modern collections in their blogs!), but then I reminded myself of all the lovely people that I actually know who read this blog from time to time, and none of them really care about "fashion" per se. Like me, you are probably curious what is inside those fancy non-American magazines! And if you want a proper fashion blog, my god, has there ever been a better time in all of history for you to go out and find one? Ten year olds write them now, in case you didn't hear!
Okay, I am getting verrrry wordy here, so let's get to the fun stuff: this is a photo shoot from the Australian magazine "Yen". Their tagline warmed my heart: "Thank Goodness It's Not Just Fashion". I loved their articles about music, meditation, and social issues. And I loved this photo shoot! It's called "Tell me the truth, is it love or just Paris?"
Especially those lace pants! Ha ha!
I can't go into which designer did each element of these outfits without boring myself to tears, but I can look it up if you ask me! To sum up, there is a lot of Louis Vitton, Sonia Rykiel, Jean Paul Gautier, Chanel, and J Dauphin here. These are obviously huge names, and maybe this stuff crossed the runways at some point in time, but I never appreciated it til it was put in this context. I just love a great character and a little "story"- aren't I old fashioned?
Photography: Phillipe Auger (philipauger.com)
Styling: Melanie Perego
Model: Queeny Van Der Zande
*I hope you enjoyed this- more pics to come soon! Thanks for exploring this mysterious world of modern fashion with me.*
