James Scholar Blog #1- Vogue

Vogue:

For the past couple of weeks, Vogue fashion feature and editorial writers have been focusing on the trends coming up for this spring 2010 as well as international fashion weeks that have been coming to a close. This Friday was the last day of Italy’s Fashion Week; big name designers from Alberta Ferretti to Jil Sander were highlighted by fashion writer, editor, and features director Sally Singer.

While reading numerous articles in this month’s Vogue, I noticed the emphasis on the working woman’s ensembles. The depth of coverage appears as a way to target women that are independent professionals who make a fairly large salary. Singer flattered her readers by offering that Alberta’s Ferretti’s new nude chiffon dress provides a combination of “demure and sexy” to the runway (Off to Italy: Notes From Milan Fashion Week). These descriptions imply that women who buy this dress can embody this look through their purchases. On the other hand, Singer succeeded in informing the reader of the new looks for spring 2010 including “terrific sexy pants” which have been sold out in Phoebe Philo’s line due to high demand (Milan Day by Day: Botegga Veneta, Gucci, and Pucci).

Overall, this article gave a limited amount of detail about Italy’s Fashion Week. Only a couple designers were listed and no sources were provided. Many features in Vogue tend to leave me wanting more, much like this one. How can I, as a non-professional adult woman, receive more looks targeted to my student budget? Although a college student, I read this magazine out of my sincere admiration of the fashion industry; I desire more coverage of the fashion shows that I cannot attend (this being almost all of them).

This question led me to search for more young-adult directed articles. This left me with more failure than success. Instead of stumbling across any articles with more-affordable looks, I found reporting on the new movie Remember Me. Yes, it is great that Vogue has taken the time to diversify the content of their pieces to movies, interior decorating, and art museums, but I want to read about affordable looks for my age group, too. The article by John Powers offered younger readers a chance to learn more about the teen heart throb Robert Patterson. Thanks Vogue, but I want to learn about pants that aren’t 465 dollars, not about Robert Patterson’s strategies of avoiding his crazed fans.

Articles I especially enjoyed: “Sharp” coverage by Francois Halard, “London Fall Fashion Week” coverage by Mark Holgate

Suggestions for Improvement for Sally Singer’s articles and Vogue’s more recent direction: expand articles about fashion for readers with limited funds.