September-issue reviews: Covers of fashion mags dissected

September 8, 2010 10:54 AM

Sarah Nicole Prickett, who, as an interesting fashion writer, is something of a rarity, reviews the covers of September fashion issues for Toronto’s Eye Weekly (Part 1; Part 2). It is, on the whole, a sorry lot. Just for instance: “The September issue of British Vogue stars Kate Moss, for no other reason than six months have passed and she is still not dead or, worse, fat.... The level of fail can’t be expressed even in Caps Lock.”
posted by joeclark (14 comments total)

Leopard Crisis is the name of my hair metal band.
posted by carsonb at 11:01 AM on September 8, 2010

There had to have been something special about Kate Moss for her, at 5' 7", to have had any kind of modeling career at all. And she must have something especially special in order to still be so successful in such a notoriously fickle industry. Given this longevity, it seems likely that she'll be considered the most important of the 90s glamazons. If there was a modeling Hall of Fame, clearly she'd get in on the first ballot.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:04 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

metafilter: The level of fail can't be expressed, even in Caps Lock.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:05 AM on September 8, 2010

Maybe Ms. Prickett doesn't realize that Kate Moss is a model?
posted by muddgirl at 11:15 AM on September 8, 2010

No wait, I'm RTFA and someone Moss "doesn't count". Weird.
posted by muddgirl at 11:16 AM on September 8, 2010

Kate Moss must still sell issues, I think. Magazines don't really care who is on the cover as long as they sell issues or generate buzz. There was a trend away from models for a long time but she stuck it out so there's that.

On the other hand, I really like this writer. Critical fashion bloggers are pretty rare, most just parrot how wonderful it all is or base their opinions on the names.
posted by shinybaum at 11:24 AM on September 8, 2010

Yeah, I like this writer too. I just got hung up on the Kate Moss thing because it was in the OP.
posted by muddgirl at 11:26 AM on September 8, 2010

When she was young, Kate Moss had a freckled, innocent face and a kiss that gamboled at the corners of her mouth tempting but forever unattainable because the moment you moved it would simply run away. She was youthful indiscretion, idle dalliance and something vaguely illegal all at once. Unfortunately, the kiss is long gone, as is the youthfulness and any temptations of dalliance. Mostly she just looks winsome now, which is okay but not what folks signed up for. It doesn't help that they keep photographing her with that same filter 5 look that was awesome when everyone was going hyper colour but now reads more like, "oh so you got a license to Silver eFX too, huh?"

... and just like the linked article, that was fun to write and kind of painful to read.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:44 PM on September 8, 2010

It reads like a cross between Tom & Lorenzo and the Go Fug Yourself Fug the Cover tag, which can only be a good thing.
posted by immlass at 1:19 PM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

The cheeky insouciance (like a lot of the breathless writing for British and Canadian mags and tabloids -- I'm looking at you, dear Guardian) is a bit fun in small doses and then completely exhausting.
posted by blucevalo at 1:24 PM on September 8, 2010

She is well named . . . she's a bit of a prick-ette.
posted by bearwife at 1:26 PM on September 8, 2010

All I'm saying is I've had a completely shitty day and was in a terrible mood and then I read this brilliant sentence: "I’m also saying don’t ever buy a dress that screeches Dolchaaay and Gabbahhhhhna like this leopard crisis," and I immediately brightened. Thank you thank you thank you Miss Prickett.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:39 PM on September 8, 2010

Okay, for those who didn't "get" it, TFA doesn't call Moss herself "fail". She refers to the fact that 28 editors at a major fashion magazine picked the single most obvious choice of model, the same autostereotype-of-a-cover that 28 random people totally ignorant of the fashion world (ie, me, or Prickett's example, coal miners) would likely have picked. As in, "A cover model? Um, let's see, I don't really know many of those, um, well how 'bout that Kate Moss? Real doll, y'know, and I haven't seen her in a while".

As for the rest... I like the tone, but can't help see it as a wee bit hypocritical in its hypercritical tone. Prickett clearly knows the world of fashion intimately, far better than I do, and derives at least part of her income from writing about it. And as much as I enjoy a good mockery of institutions I consider repugnant, it still amounts to "watch me bite this hand as it feeds me!"

Still, better to read mockery of it than someone actually taking all that BS seriously, so thanks, joeclark, I got a good chuckle out of this. :)
posted by pla at 3:35 AM on September 9, 2010

The commentary was meh, but, that W cover...if you don't mind, I'll be stepping out for a moment....
posted by QIbHom at 6:50 AM on September 9, 2010