I am starting to resent the September Issues for monopolizing so much of my brain space. I get it: September is a big ad month, fashion glossies pull out all the stops to increase newsstand sales and impress advertisers and competitors; we are a fashion blog which covers many fashion things, including but not limited to what happens when models and actresses are draped in finery by established industry professionals and then photographed for mass public consumption. Most of the time, this is fine, because if a cover isn’t intrinsically interesting, we don’t have to cover it — end of story. But in September, every cover is a big cover, one that needs to be opined on and picked apart. Except it gets boring. When you break it down, it’s just pretty ladies being photographed wearing pretty things, an activity which has been occurring with increasing regularity since AT LEAST the 1860s. And yes, sometimes the end result is more successful or less successful or hilarious or whatever, but it’s still just one picture, of all the millions or billions of pictures taken each day. Without variety, our brains turn to mush and the September Issues are sameness disguised as variety — or else secretly just a plot to destroy me from the inside.
All that being said, Cara Delevingne looks fantastic for W Magazine‘s all-important September Issue, photographed by photo duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, but she looks even more fantastic in a boob-revealing photo in the accompanying editorial. People are expressing a lot of hatred for her and the cover in the issue’s dedicated forum thread, which … okay. As I said, I like the cover but I’m okay with being wrong in this case. Or in any case. If this is wrong, I don’t want to be right, etc. The only thing that needs to be said is HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARA!!
And then there’s Saskia de Brauw on the September 2013 cover of Vogue Paris, also photographed by Mert & Marcus — are you starting to see my point about how various September Issues are essentially identical and that poring over their distinctions is a recipe for brain mush?
Brain mush redux: The dominant cover line here translates to “The sublime grunge fever.” Considering the fact that it’s been plaguing us for the past two decades, I’d categorize it more as a chronic condition.
A favorite of editor Emmanuelle Alt, the Dutch model was previously featured in an editorial photographed by David Sims in last month’s issue.
Related:
