Don’t get me wrong, some publications are of no interest to me. I’m never going to buy Allure. Okay, wait. If Ashley Olson is on the cover of Allure, maybe.
I used to buy W years ago. But with less money to spare these days, and for how little I enjoyed W compared with its Conde Nast siblings, I stopped reading it.
A couple days ago I walked in the newsstand, and as I was paying for Elle (for the record, the Drew Barrymore interview is a real downer) the clerk asked, “You want to see the new W?”
As I began muttering my usual, “No, come on, you know I don’t —,” it was handed to me, and I did a full-body swoon at the August 2010 cover.
Jon Hamm – the Mad Men star who is going to drive us crazy all over again when the new season premiers on the 25th of this month – and Rebecca Hall look stunning. Did you know they are starring in Ben Affleck’s new film, The Town? I can’t predict how the movie will be, but Nathaniel Goldberg’s photographs of the pair are out of this world. The hats – Lola and Patricia Underwood – look so good on Ms. Hall, it might just bring boho back for good.
Just when I thought I’d had enough of gap-toothed long-gammed models – okay, I’ll probably never be sick of them – I came across Alasdair McLellan’s shoot, “Sweet & Vicious.”
The pictures are outrageous, and whether consciously or not, they are much more inspiration than look-book, which is something that used to turn me off about W. I don’t always want a story line; sometimes I want the clothes to wear the model, not the other way around.
I’m having a hard time handling Coppi Barbieri’s photographs of Fall purses. Ever since Phoebe Philo took over Celine, I’ve been in agony over her brown leather satchels and monotoned-leather shoulder bags. The gem in this spread is red – python, to be exact.
I did a little snooping around the magazine world, connecting-the-dots to get to the bottom of W’s sudden excellence.
Something about Stefano Tonchi taking over as Editor-in-Chief in July – he used to be Editor of the very prestigious T: The New York Times Style Magazine – is working. He brought Terry Richardson back after a 14-year W ban, for starters!
At $13 per annual subscription, I subscribed to W. I don’t need it warm off the press, but having it arrive in my mail box will do.
