Harper’s Bazaar UK May 2014
On the way to take spring holiday, my eyes
are hovering around the magazine racks. On the train, my gazes already engage
with Kirsten Dunst and spring flowers blooming every page turn on Harper’s
Bazaar UK, May 2014 issue.
From the cover, the right-angle triangle composition portraits Kirsten Dunst’s relaxed and romantic attitude, surrounded by full spring blossom. The colours of cover are in dark pink, ivory white, lime green and light fuchsia hues. Dunst, with bright blond curly hair, wears a baby blue Miu Miu dress, right hand cups her cheek, bare left arm centers on the 1/4 of cover, and her eyes looks at the lens slightly downward, fresh and lovely. The whole cover reveals a touch of Romantic School art composition, which also conveys the coherent theme to its interesting editorial works of this issue.
Under the catch of David Slijper, by using soft
focus technique, the flowery garden background does not distract Burberry Prorsum
silk crepe or Miu Miu silk and wool mix coat. Styling by former Lula
Editor-in-Chief Leith Clark (Violet magazine has launched this year), Dunst’s
smiles toward the right side, while the light comes from the back. Meanwhile,
the background on white dahlia with green leaves, perfectly contrasts with Dunst’s
wearing Mary Katrantzou silk, polyester and cotton suit, carefully sewn beaded white
rhinestone and lime petals. Dunst also talks about growing up in a household of
strong females, acting together with Viggo Mortensen and the setback time of
her acting career.
Aside from the cover girl campaign pages, I
especially like how Harper’s Bazaar uses individual photoshop editorial work to
divide the thematic pages (Style, Accessories, Couture, Talking Points, Bazaar,
Beauty); each individual page is echoing the cover topic: flora. This logically
consistence makes May 2014 issue more like a fashion book rather than a
commercial magazine. At the crucial moment of paper magazine’s survival, the
heaviness of the paper, the image of the cover face, the high quality of photography,
the wisely written contents, the well chosen of presents, the careful planned
of the themes are more essentials than pleasing the advisors. Well done, team Harper’s
Bazaar, you surely makes my train trip a more pleasant journey.
Photography & Works Cited:
