Vogue Paris Covers: 1920 – 2009

Remember last autumn when giant prints of Vogue Paris covers could be seen decorating the landscape in Paris? If you missed the celebration, you can console yourself with a copy of Vogue Paris Covers: 1920 – 2009, a gorgeous hardcover book that collects ninety years of VP covers selected by editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld. By turns amusing, dreamy, eccentric, nonconformist, cinematic, nostalgic, these iconic images are not simply photographs of a model looking into the camera. Often involving famous artists and film directors, the Vogue Paris covers of the past evoke the era in which each was created and document the stylistic development of the fashion world. Among the distinguished creators that have graced the cover of Vogue Paris are illustrators like Eduardo Garcia Benito, René Gruau, and Georges Lepape and photographers such as Guy Bourdin, Man Ray, and Mario Testino. This is a book you will find yourself referencing constantly, lingering over inspring ideas and making old trends new again. C'est classique.

Vogue Paris Covers: 1920 – 2009 cover image courtesy of Amazon

The Roitfelds In Exterieur/Nuit - YSL

We get only a glimpse of Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld and her daughter Julia in this video titled Extérieur/Nuit - YSL from Nast Magazine but it is worth it just to see their gorgeous smiles in tandem. I realized how seldom Julia is photographed with her teeth exposed, hmmmm. I like the use of black and white here, it adds a crisp noir feeling as people come and go at the most recent Yves Saint Laurent show in Paris. The parade of Parisian chaussures is an amusing end to the short piece.

Carine Roitfeld and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld image stills © 2010 NAST. All Rights Reserved.

More Humor Chic Starring Roitfeld

aleXsandro Palombo of Humor Chic has done it again, portraying with wit the recent controversy surrounding Carine Roitfeld and Balenciaga. I love how he captures Carine's signature crossed legs, très amusant. Check out his blog for brilliant illustrations of other luminaries of the fashion world, such as his wonderful renderings of Karl Lagerfeld.

Carine Roitfeld illustration © 2010 aleXsandro Palombo. All Rights Reserved.

Vogue Paris Translation: Editorial, March 2010

Here is my translation from French to English of Carine Roitfeld's editorial for the March issue of Vogue Paris which features Rose Cordero and the headline Spécial Mode Coup d'éclat militaire:

La mode s'inspire de tout, formidable machine à lifter le passe, digérer l'air du temps et répercuter sur les podiums les sautes d'humeur de la société. Effet crise oblige, flambée des doutes, perception soudaine de la vie comme un combat : il n'en fallait pas plus pour que la saison encense le kaki, les épaulettes d'officier, les vêtements lacérés comme après un tour au front, et que les créateurs, de Jean Paul Gaultier à Balmain, s'emparent de l'esprit militaire. Une tendance délicate s'il en est — il n'est pas question de ressembler à une Che-guevarette premier degré — que ce numéro de Vogue a choisi de décoder en misant sur les mélanges et l'intemporalite. Également au sommaire de ce numéro, un escadron de femmes dans l'actualité, d'Emmanuelle Seigner à Phoebe Philo, le nouveau capitaine de Céline, en passant par l'Anglaise Antonia Fraser qui publie ce mois-ci un livre inspiré de ses journaux intimes, de ses trente-trois ans de vie aux côtés du prix Nobel Harold Pinter. Une confession émouvante, les brillantes coulisses d'un couple soudé par l'esprit qu'Antonia Fraser ne peut mieux résumer qu'en disant : "Vivre ensemble était merveilleux." Rien de tel pour oublier les tourments du monde.

Fashion inspires all, a formidable machine that puts spin on the passage, absorbs the spirit of the times and reflects on the podiums the mood of society. Crisis requires action, flames the doubts, the sudden perception of life as combat: it was not enough for the season to praise khaki, the officer's epaulets, the clothing lacerated after a tour of duty, and creators from Jean Paul Gaultier to Balmain, seized the military spirit. It is a tricky trend — there is no question of a resemblance to a Che-guevarette in the first degree — that this issue of Vogue has chosen to decode by focusing on the blends and the timelessness. Also summarized in this issue, a squadron of women in the news, from Emmanuelle Seigner to Phoebe Philo, the new captain of Céline, and passing by Brit Antonia Fraser who publishes this month a book inspired by her intimate diaries, of her thirty-three years of life at the side of Nobel laureate Harold Pinter [titled Must You Go?]. A moving confession, the brilliant scenes of a couple welded by the spirit which Antonia Fraser can best summarize by saying: "To live together was marvelous." Nothing like it to forget the torments of the world.

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2010 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Pretty Poly, Natty Noureiev

Two sexy outtakes from the most recent publications of Carine Roitfeld are pictured here. First we see Natasha Poly traveling by camel across Morocco garbed in a mix of Cavalli, Kenzo, and Pucci against the shimmering sand and sky. The editorial is styled by Emmanuelle Alt and photographed by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for the April issue of Vogue Paris.

Next we have Vladimir Ivanov also clad in a panoply of pattern as he reclines in his den of iniquity. He actually looks better in a turban, étrange... Is it bad that I want to go lie down with him? Clearly styled by the inimitable Carine Roitfeld and shot by Patrick Demarchelier for the Vogue Hommes International Spring/Summer issue, the editorial is titled "Noureiev" but who needs names...

Vogue Paris April 2010 editorial image © 2010 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.
Vogue Hommes International Spring/Summer editorial image © 2010 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.