French Vogue-s VS. American Vogue

By Arushi Khosla November 11, 2009

Ah, the epic debate. Since as far as I can remember, style savvy women have been arguing over which of the two Bibles of Fashion versions is superior to the other. I, for one, am Team Europe but I’m positive many would disagree.
Let’s investigate.

Of course, it comes down to the editors and the styling at large, doesn’t it? Carine Rotfield and Emmanuelle Alt as opposed to Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington. I have always maintained that an American version cannot beat the European kind. Why? Well, I hail from India and have come to the realization that only in India and the States is there an obsession so massive with Hollywood/Bollywood that it takes over all creative spheres. And magazines are evidently no exception. While the French Vogue clientèle is the hardcore fashion-obsessed, American Vogue is, well, Hollywood. While Paris Vogue will have Anja Rubik as it’s covergirl, American Vogue will have Reese Witherspoon. Paris Vogue has Irvin Penn and Bruce Webber and American Vogue has Patrick Demachelier and Mario Testino.

The cover shots are more innovative, the styling is more unique and there is a blatant, pleasant lack of an “elitist” feeling while reading Paris Vogue. American Vogue has displayed some pretty awful covers with despicable photography (October 2009, anyone?), barely impressive styling, and repetitive editorials (they were accused of stealing W magazine’s ideas). The cover girls go in this order: Sienna Miller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwyneth Paltrow. The overly airbrushed, poorly styled and barely creative issues are bringing back bad reviews since more than a year. The utter cluelessness that seems to have set in in the minds of the editors is baffling. And Anna just can’t seem to let go of the past. Of the time when 1 out of 6 women owned a Balenciaga and wore True Religion jeans. But in this time of economic trauma, one has to adapt and accept. Anna, on the other hand, is pushing herself to create a fantasy land on the pages of her magazine. One which not many would appreciate. The magazine has been accused of being condescending to the middle class and women who do not wear Chanel to buy groceries. This doesn’t sit well with a large proportion of the erstwhile readers and naturally does not bring surplus subscriptions.

Emmanuelle Alt is considered one of the most talented, creative and gifted stylists of our time. She is no less a fashion icon herself, appearing on street style blogs like The Sartorialist and Garance Dore every alternate day. Grace Coddington, in comparison is definitely more averse to the spotlight.

And yet. And yet, Anna Wintour is Anna Wintour. She is more of a brand than the editor-in-chief of the most successful fashion magazine in the world. French Vogue may be stellar but the team is negligible and so are the readers in comparison to it’s American counterpart (139,000 French, 1 million American). Anna Wintour is definitely more of a public figure than Carine Rotfield. Fashion’s Night Out? The Vogue/CFDA Fund? Teen Vogue?
Her contribution to making industry stars out of young, talented American designers who dare to think outside the box is commendable. Thakoon, Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, Vena Cava…the list is endless and vast. And as much as people may call her an Ice Queen or say, a Cyborg, she gets more press attention than any other member of any other edition of Vogue, anywhere in the world.

So the question remains why American Vogue is veering of to the “Snore Zone”. Why it’s getting so crazily predictable, the element of couture spectacle is diminishing.Why there are more of actresses and less of models.

Sadly, I don’t have the answers to this question. If I did, maybe I wouldn’t have had to cancel my subscription after reading it religiously since I was a kid.

Only time will tell whether it’s the end of the Anna Wintour era.

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Submitted on November 11, 2009 in Industry News.

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