Shopping Spree!

A few posts back I put together a list of my basic fall must have's. I am now happy to say that I can check at least some of the items of my list. I went on a very focused, two hour shopping trip to the Galleria, as Canadians are apt to do. You can click here to check out my list, but what it basically comprised of was:

Bootcut Jeans
Fun Shirts
Boots
Duffle Coat
Jean Jacket

It's fine to put a list together and say this is what I need, but it's an entirely different matter to actually go physically shopping and find everything you need at the right price. While shopping I discovered somethings that I didn't know I needed, and others that were on my list, but just not working.

Here is what I bought from my list-

H&M Button Up Shirt

Shirt Pattern

Here are some extras that I didn't know I needed, but are useful to have-

Banana Republic Cardigan

H&M Scarf

*I also bought a "shirtdress" from Tommy Hilfiger that doesn't photograph very well on the hanger.

Here are the summer sale items I bought for next year-

Anthropologie t-shirt

Anthropologie Dress

I still need a lot of clothes for this fall, but I think I got a pretty good haul. 

Which is your favourite item I bought?

P.S. Calling All Shopaholics!

In my next post I will be putting together a list of shopping tips. I would love it if you, my readers, would contribute some of your tips and tricks for shopping. Please leave a comment, or send me an email at fashionanthropology@gmail.com. I can't wait to find out what people have to say.

Fashion 1969

Vogue has been around since 1892, and although I don't have a 1982 edition my Grandmother left one from 1969 when she passed away. I also found a 1969 edition of Glamour magazine. I'm not sure how common old fashion magazines like these are (Vogue is in fairly good condition), but I thought it would be interesting because of my latest posts on fashion magazines.

Vogue January 1, 1969

Observations

The single most striking thing about Vogue then and now has to be the number of ads. Vogue from 1969 had less pages, and less ads, significantly less ads. The price is also significantly less, 75 cents as opposed to six dollars. What I find unfortunately similar about the two editions is the lack of fashion related articles.

Glamour March 1, 1969

Observations

I'm not very familiar with Glamour magazine, and it wasn't one of the magazines I reviewed for my previous posts. Glamour in 1969, however, is probably similar to Glamour 2012. Glamour 1969 edition had an astounding number of ads, and virtually no fashion. I think Glamour would be considered more of a women's lifestyle magazine.

P.S. I found a magazine called Wallpaper* that I really like. It is an arty magazine focusing on fashion design and art. If you feel dissatisfied by regular fashion magazines, and you want something a bit more serious I would recommend this magazine. 

Do you own any vintage magazines?

Treetop Closet

Welcome to my Treetop Closet.

Explore!

Tommy Hilfiger

Cecile's 

Second Hand- Church Fruit Festival

Madeira, London, London

Dakine

Banana Republic Scarf

Ten Thousand Villages

London

India

Cecile's

Winners Slippers

I've been wanting to do this post for awhile now. I have so many beautiful purses that don't get featured in my outfit posts. I had the idea to hang them from a tree, but I needed to find the right tree to do it. My  particular favourite bag that I don't get to wear a lot is the oversized bag from India. It is such a beautiful bag, but the colours and the huge scale make it difficult to find an outfit to wear it with. Some of the purses you can see here in my Rose Coloured Glasses post.

What is your favourite accessory ?

A Fresh New Look

For the past month or so I've been feeling that my blog was in need of a facelift. I put off doing so until now because I was afraid of any code work that would be involved, seeing as I'm not very technologically savvy. Today I decided to mess around a bit with the design, changing the  background, font, and so forth. I realized all I really needed was a new colour scheme and background to wake up my blog!

Inspiration

Yesterday I read an editorial and it had something to do with yellow and grey. I guess that it must have been in my mind subconsciously, because that's what I ended up going for. Yellow and grey is a really sophisticated yet fun colour palette.

Do you like the design more than my old one?

The Best and Worst of Fashion Magazines

A couple of posts ago I talked about why I find fashion magazines unsatisfactory. For the post I bought and read Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue cover to cover. Focusing so intently on the content and appeal of the magazines gave me an opinion of which, with all of it's flaw's, was the better magazine. This is by no means a comprehensive review of all fashion magazines, but I would consider these to be in the top 10 most read. These are also somewhat (I that is only a somewhat) more focused on fashion that certain other magazines such as cosmopolitan.

Criteria

The things I am looking for in a fashion magazine are mostly the things I criticized in my previous post. I want the magazine to have first and foremost good content, content that is relevant and fashion oriented. Magazines have a lot of fluff, I am trying to discern which one has the most satisfying reviews and articles that really have a meaning behind them. 

The second thing I am looking for tends to be more of a focus when choosing a fashion magazine, image and branding. What I mean by this is the visual appeal and professionalism of the magazine. In an aesthetics focused industry this is particularly important.

If I were to have put together a checklist it would have gone something like this:

-Cover Page Appeal
-Fashion Based Content
-General Content
-Photo Spreads
-Professionalism
-A Sense of Being Established
-Advertisements

Review

Elle

the good

What Elle does well is content. I didn't do any technical research, but while I was reading it I got the sense that there was more to read and look, and subsequently less advertisements. I felt like after I read Elle I had actually achieved something, it didn't leave me as empty feeling as the others. The problem with this content is that it isn't fashion based. A lot of the content that I read could be found in magazines other than ones about fashion. I ended up reading movie reviews, book reviews, etc. etc. So although there was stuff there, it wasn't necessarily what I was looking for.

the not-so-good

In addition to not having enough fashion content, Elle also doesn't have the professional feel that I want if I'm going to pay six dollars for a magazine. With all of the content comes the feel that a lot of it wasn't selected carefully enough. Also, generally speaking most fashion magazines of the same kind of curb appeal when it comes to their cover, but to me Elle has always felt a bit sloppier when a look at the front page. Everything seems to be cramped, with too many words. All of this lends to the unprofessional feel of the magazine.

Vogue

the good

Oh Vogue, THE fashion magazine to end all fashion magazines, the one that can make or break an entire design career. Vogue certainly has the most pomp and ceremony surrounding it, and there are a few things that set it apart from the rest. The first thing that would make me want to pick up Vogue as opposed to any other fashion magazine would have to be the sense of history. Vogue wasn't started yesterday, and throughout the decades it has managed to maintain its elite status. I find that professionalism and a sense of history go hand in hand when it comes to Vogue. There is something very selective feeling about Vogue, Anna Wintour does have certain standards. The one other thing that I love about Vogue, the photo shoots. In no other magazine will you find such beautiful and inspirational photo shoots, which is something blogs can't offer in the same way.

the not-so-good

I can also, however, criticize Vogue for its fashion photo shoots. Besides being an established powerhouse in the fashion world, the photo shoots are pretty much all Vogue has to recommend itself content wise. There are only two photo shoots in the particular edition of Vogue that I have, and I think that's pretty much typical. Not every magazine has a Grace Coddington, and I think Vogue would be wise to use their best asset more frequently. My biggest criticism of Vogue has to be that it's not a fashion magazine it just pretends to be. What Vogue is actually selling is a lifestyle. Articles on fashion were pretty much non-existent, the photo shoots are the only cover up. Vogue is the biggest of the three fashion magazines, and yet has the least content. I would say that because it is the biggest it seems to also have the most ads, and the fewest articles, almost none of which relate to fashion.

Harper’s Bazaar

the good

Harper’s Bazaar seems to have a lot of what Vogue has when it comes to professionalism and a sense of history. Harper’s Bazaar hasn’t been able maintain the same sort of presence as Vogue over the years, but I think it makes it try harder, whereas Vogue seems to rest on its laurels. To me Harper’s Bazaar has the most appealing front cover just because it has a simpler, less cluttered look to it. Harper’s Bazaar has the same amount of content as Elle, yet the professional, elitist feel of Vogue. Harper’s Bazaar seemed to have the most fashion based content of all three magazines. Harper's Bazaar also isn't as ad ladened feeling as Vogue, or even Elle.

the not-so-good

As much as Harper's Bazaar had the fashion content, it also had a lot of other content that seemed like it was stuck there to fill the pages. Things like horoscopes which don't belong in high end, high fashion magazines.

Conclusion

None of these are up to the standard they should be, none of them quite live up to their name, but least of all Vogue. Vogue was the biggest disappointment because it has the most hype surrounding it. For all of the talk about Vogue being the "fashion Bible", that's really all there is. What makes someone reach for a copy of Vogue today is the same thing that makes someone reach for a bottle of Perrier instead of Club Soda, it's all about the image. What's inside has very little to do with one's estimation of the value. 

If I had too read one of these three magazines again I would most likely choose Harper's Bazaar. It is by no means perfect, or even close to perfect, but  it take the good of both Vogue and Elle, and puts it into one magazine. 

I am a fierce critic of "fashion magazines", not even to mention the world of fashion editor's etc. This review allowed me to understand what makes a good fashion magazine, and to be on the look out for it somewhere in the future.

Do you agree with my analysis? Does Vogue live up to it' name?

Under the Big Top

I had an amazing day yesterday in Toronto. It was my sister's birthday this week, and as her big present we went to see Cavalia's Odysseo. I also went to see the special Picasso exhibition at the AGO before the show. I was very excited to see the exhibit because, ironically enough, when I was in Paris this past winter the Picasso exhibit was closed for renovation. I was also excited because I knew the AGO had this great gallery space, perfect for a photo shoot.

I wanted to emulate the feel of Cavalia by dressing in this circus-esque type outfit. This is actually a top and skirt combination that just happened to match perfectly. The top is from Anthropologie, and the skirt is from Benton. I couldn't believe it when the two colour of blue matched up perfectly, it's as if they are from the same bolt of fabric. This top is an absolute favourite of mine, the silhouette is so beautiful, and the back is actually a corset type construction. 

This is one of my favourite bracelets. I own a lot of blue it would seem, so I end up wearing it a lot. What I like about it is the combination of beads, there are glass, plastic, painted, and even ones with fabric on them. I was so happy when someone complimented me on it.

Cavalia was an amazing show. It had such a good reception that it was held over twice, luckily for us. I love looking at all the amazing outfits. I have never been to a circus, but this is how I would imagine the outfits would look like. Some of the most impressive ones are in the photo pictured above. What I love about these ones, is that the back of the dress covered the horse, it's the closest they were going to get to dressing the horses. The colours were amazing, and all of the outfits were a multicolored spectacle.

5 Problems with "Fashion" Magazines

Fashion blogs have been something of a revelation for me. I've always thirsted to know more about fashion, but somehow it always felt like it was a world reserved especially for the for the fashion elite, editor's, models, and so forth. I had no real idea of what to expect from the world of fashion blogging when I signed up. What I found opened a new world, it was as if what I had been looking for for years in fashion  magazines, was finally there. No more looking through countless pages of advertisements in order to find one small article, with a few small pictures of the latest runway show. I was finally able to get real objective opinions on what was coming out of fashion week, and what was trending on the streets. What I realized from this was how fashion magazines, even the most elite of them, are just a lump of paper.

I've never subscribed to a fashion magazine before, sometimes I'll find one lying around the house, so I'll pick it up and flip through it for a couple of minutes. The headlines on the front cover always seem so promising, latest fall trends, what designers are saying about this season's looks, but it always falls short. Not only is the table of contents spread out over three pages in the middle of the magazine, but there often isn't any article even remotely like the one advertised on the front cover. I never feel satisfied after reading a fashion magazine, there is no substance, it's all fluff.


Some people will argue that certain magazines are better than others, and that is true, up to a certain extent. For the purposes of this post I bought the latest copy of Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and then sourced out a Vogue from a couple of months back that I had. I've read each one of them, cover to cover, to figure out what the problem is with the traditional fashion magazine.

Irrelevant Articles

Irrelevant articles are something else I've found very unsatisfactory when it comes to fashion magazines. For instance, while reading Harper's Bazaar, I came across an article on vegans. I have to honestly say that when I buy a fashion magazine, it's not to read about veganism, it's to read about fashion. Another example is a story in Vogue on antidepressants, this has to do with clothing how? I would say that Vogue is the worst when it comes to irrelevant articles. On the April cover, of the six headlines, only one has even mentions anything fashion related. I'm not saying I want every single article to be devoted to what's in style, but the majority should be.

Celebrity "Interviews"

 (Gossip)

Celebrities have a huge impact on what we wear and what the designers create. For instance, Audrey Hepburn was a muse for Givenchy, and now more recently people like Kate Middleton and Lady Gaga are having there own influence in the fashion world. Fashion magazines capitalize on rich and famous people by writing about them. What ends up happening however, is that fashion gets sidestepped, and instead the articles focus around their life. An example would be in Elle, there was a questions and answers interview with Tom Hardy. Not a single question had even the remotest allusion to anything fashion, instead it played on how much of a romantic he is. Another example would be in Harper's Bazaar, with an article on the Ecclestone heiresses. I felt like this story was much better suited to a Vanity Fair type magazine. The main focus on the article was to explain to people that, just because they are rich, doesn't mean they just sit around all day.

Beauty&Lifestyle, Not Fashion

The beauty and fashion industry are very closely associated; however, in my mind, they are still two separate entities. Fashion magazines, on the other hand, seem to treat them as interchangeable. I find that too much emphasis is put onto the beauty side of things in a fashion magazine. Almost half of the articles in fashion magazines put their emphasis on beauty and/or lifestyle. In Harper's Bazaar there were five different interviews with women called Beauty Diaries which included diet, fitness, skincare, makeup, hair, and body. Like I've said before I'm not completely adverse to having a little bit of everything, but I still think fashion should be the bigger focus. There are already plenty of  magazines focusing on beauty etc. Another example is on the cover of my Vogue magazine. Of the six different cover stories, three are focused on beauty and lifestyle, with only one about fashion. 

Cover Story&Women

There are a selected few in the world with a truly unique sense of personal style, but that's not to say they don't exist. The women who grace the cover of fashion magazines are all too often the generic celebrity. Celebrities are fortunate enough to have enough money to dress in the latest designer clothes, it doesn't mean that they necessarily have the greatest sense of style. Celebrities on the cover of magazines are there to sell the magazine, editors cash in on their popularity. Because theses women don't have particularly interesting styles, they end up writing about their careers, their love life etc. Like the rest of the  magazine the cover stories tend to be just a lot of fluff and not a lot of fashion.

Advertisements

I would say the obvious problem is too many ads. I started counting the number of ads in the Vogue magazine, but stopped after it reached over 100, and I hadn't even gotten half way through the magazine. Of course I understand the purpose of ads, multimillion dollar corporations have to make money somehow. What I object to are some of the kind of ads. It's fine in a fashion magazine to advertise clothes, but what I don't want are dozens of Botox and anti wrinkle cream ads. Unlike a lot of people, I don't agree that beauty and fashion are in the same industry. Ads for Armani, or gucci are O.K. because they actually show CLOTHES, something not often found in fashion magazines otherwise.

Fashion magazines are overrated, and don't deserve all of the hype they receive. The majority of the content found in these magazines would be just as suited to a celebrity magazine such as Vanity Fair. I don't want to have to work to find fashion in a so called fashion magazine, especially now that I've found the world of fashion blogs.


What do you think of the traditional fashion magazine? Do you prefer reading fashion blogs to magazines?