FQ Summer 11/12 Cover

FQ Summer 2011/12. Image - Steven Chee/Fashion Quarterly

2011 was the year that fashion magazines across the globe fell in love with the animal cover. Another, Numero and Cosmopolitan gave it go. Elle seemed obsessed with the concept, and tried it no less than six times. Closer to home, New Zealand's preeminent fashion-forward title Fashion Quarterly (FQ) jumped onto the bandwagon for its Summer 2011 issue.

A magazine cover should be striking, glamourous and immediately desirable, but the FQ Summer 2011 cover shot in Italy, photographed by Steven Chee, styled by Marina Didovich, featuring Mariana Braga at Premier, is anything but.

Part of the problem with this cover is the odd brown colour treatment applied to its image. I have no inherent issue with the colour brown, or beautifully tanned skin, but in this instance it alludes to a sense of dirtiness and poverty. It reeks of Tevye from Fiddler On The Roof - a poor, downtrodden commoner. International model Braga, who usually looks tanned and healthy, seems to be suffering from a terrible case of jaundice.

Adding to the questionable colour treatment, is the choice of cover co-star. Fashion magazines live in an idealised world full of rare, beautiful, or dangerous animals - horses, leopards, snakes. A donkey is a symbol of the working class, and tough manual labour completed in the scorching sun. A donkey is a dimwitted sidekick voiced by Eddie Murphy. A donkey is not a worthy fashion magazine cover star.

I certainly applaud the creative risk FQ took with this cover, and it's wonderful that they broke from their usual cover formula. However, an aspirational fashion magazine like FQ lives in a revered, utopian world. It is not a place for dirt. Or donkey.

FQ editor Fiona Hawtin does deserve some recognition this issue for doing away with the usual cover text, bar the issue title "White Heat". It presents a cleaner, more dramatic finish. It's a direction that most international fashion magazines have already headed in, and instantly elevates FQ from generic local title to international contender. It's just a shame that there isn't a stronger image underneath.

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Side note.

For more international coverage on the year of the animal cover, see here care of Fashionista.

Olivia O'Driscoll By Derek Henderson

Image - Pilot Magazine/Derek Henderson

Pilot is an incredibly good looking magazine.

Produced in New Zealand by Andy Pickering (once editor of Remix Magazine), with a focus upon exceptional design and layout, it seems logical that Pilot would also focus the same exceptional aesthetic standards upon their homegrown fashion editorials. In the past they have done so brilliantly, but it seems their recent issue has left a little to be desired.

Issue #6 of Pilot contains only one New Zealand produced fashion editorial, styled by industry novice Emma Gleason, and shot by Derek Henderson.

While drafting up and coming contributors usually displays an encouragement of fledgeling talent, in this instance it seems to display a lack of imagination from editor Andy Pickering. For a magazine which usually features several locally crafted fashion editorials, produced by some of the countries best names, to suddenly have just one, is an oversight.

I could be wrong, but I'd pick that Gleason was chosen because of her close ties/tweets with Murray Bevan of Showroom 22, her blogosphere fame, and self-promoted dabblings as an assistant to the respected Dan Ahwa. Rather than her own proven styling ability.

The shoot itself does indeed display a certain degree of polish expected from such a preeminent title, but this is undoubtedly due to the photographer and model, rather than the stylist. The styling is lackluster, and is an expected exercise in the pseudo-androgynous style Gleason herself is known for. Ill fitting menswear garments appear out of place alongside their more feminine counterparts. Accessories seem forced, and chosen only for their inherent brilliance, rather than a cohesiveness with the rest of the shoot. Fit and style are awkwardly transient throughout.

Apparently giving Gleason complete stylistic freedom, this shoot could have been her opportunity to shine in a discipline she is, thus far, not know for. Instead it was a largely directionless mash-up - Twiggy meets Mad Men meets Pretty Woman. It displayed none of the heightened creativity expected of a fashion editorial.

The addition of other content, from New Zealand's more experienced fashion industry personnel, would have added a credibility that this issue of Pilot lacks.

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Side Note.

The Pilot cover image of David Dallas, also styled by Gleason, is breathtaking. It is the best of all the summer covers from New Zealand's lifestyle, culture and fashion titles. Slick, polished and entirely unexpected.

Barkers

The goal of almost every fashion student is to start their own label. To create incredible clothing that makes the wearer look and feel amazing, while displaying the designers unique point of view. Failing that, they want to work for the cutting edge design houses, they want to contribute to dressing the sartorial elite.

But why?

Fashion affects everyone. By a huge majority, most people buy their clothing from ever present chainstores. Barkers, Dotti, Glassons, Hallensteins, Postie and Wild Pair. Surely it's more affecting to work for one of these low-cost chainstores, and change the way people dress from the grassroots up.

Barkers are doing incredible things at the moment. After booting out almost every single member of their creative and managerial staff in April 2010, Barkers avoided their expected path towards Hallensteins mediocracy. Taking a cue from the success of international mega-brands H&M, Topshop and Zara, Barkers went to work reinvigorating their brand. Emphasising design quality without inflating price, the idea was to create a boutique fashion feel, while still catering to their reliable mainstream consumer.

A prime example of Barkers revamped direction is their new in house magazine, 1972. It nurtures a brand loyalty that every retailer desires to create. It enriches the purchasing experience, and further connects Barkers with their customer. Rather than spending thousands of highly distributed advertising dollars, which will most often reach anything but their target market, the magazine showcases the Barkers product and attitude directly to their customer - those who have, and will, spend money instore.

Well done Barkers. If every retailer took a page from your book, we would be a much better dressed nation.