Magazine Madness: ELLE Collection Autumn/Winter 2014

ELLE Collection Autumn/Winter 2014

The brand-spanking ELLE Collections features the edit of the best shows in New York, Paris, London and Milano, with lovely stickers, news, shoots and unrivalled scoops of Fashion industry. A good to read during the long, bleak and dark New Year holidays in Helsinki.

ELLE Collections, inevitably, follows the trend by adapting lemon yellow rosy pink hues, with the hottest model in 2014, Cara Delevingne, who wearing Chanel pinky ragged sporty suit occupying the 1/5 of the front cover of Autumn/Winter 2014. Unfortunately, the oriental faces are still as usual, missing and absent.

The first 32 pages are filled with high-end brand advertisements, while the contents are eventfully satisfying: ‘This is A/W 2014’ introduces the new season snapshots, ‘The Best Shows in the World’ is ELLE Collections’ edit of the most creative design from Chanel to Dolce & Gabbana, ‘Backstage Scrapbook’ brings us all the behind-the-scenes to see how many hands make fashion work, and ‘The World According to Vanessa Friedman’ interviews this fashion criticism’s most influential voices shares her thoughts, while she thinks that ‘fashion is identity politics’, clothes are communication devices, and bloggers are ‘little media business’ but more of enthusiasts rather than critics’ (Lowthorpe, 189). Being also as a fashion-oriented blogger, I couldn’t agree more that having curiosity and ability of removed is the key to provide another perspective of la mode, and this vision needs a plenty of time of build up.

The most exciting content of AW14 ELLE Collections, is that journalist Rebecca Lowthorpe interviews Chanel’s Holy Trinity: Bruno Pavlovsky, Virginie Viard and Karl Lagerfeld. Very luckily, Lowthorpe has the chance to tell us that M Lagerfeld is scared to have become so big because he might turn to be a ‘dangerous monster’, and he is less horrible than he seems, but born to be alone. About the teamwork, like Pavlovsky says, that there “never only five essential people building up Chanel, it is 200!” (177). M Lagerfeld admits, that “I need their strengths, they need my ideas; everybody needs everybody” (179).

For spending 15,90 EUR (or 7£), the backstage working process is decrypted into a lovely illustration, a model casting directors’ duties perform into handwritten charts, snapshots include both haute couture and high street, mixed using papers from glossy and acid-free, glossary of textile plus instagram guide to follow those favourite models, knowledgeable and pleasurable. Unless Cara face continuously appearing on the covers (seriously I found her temperament unbearable; perhaps her piggy nose makes her girl-next-door feel, still she has only youth but 0 elegance), ELLE Collections, I would surely collect you, non-stop, no doubt.

#ELLECOLLECTIONS ELLEUK

Magazine Madness: Lula Issue 19, 2014 Felicity

Felicity! LULA 19 2014

Former Editor-in-Chief Leith Clark left but Lula still stays. While Clark points out via her tumblr post, that ‘Lula has been changing…and I don’t want her to change too much’, Issue 19, featuring British actress Felicity Jones two-thirds of her visage, grey eyes revealing a sense of curiosity and beauty, a layering hue of cover, only printing in white font ‘ISSUE 19’, ‘Lula’ and ‘Felicity’; indeed it changes, but at the same time, it as well preserves the best of Lula.

Issue 19, under Editor-in-Chief Sheila Single and Creative Director Maja Kölqvists’ co-directory, still, Lula carefully chooses the advertising partners, such as A.P.C, Vanessa Bruno and Chanel, which perfectly matches the style of the magazine. Issue 19 inherits Lula’s multi-cover tradition, presenting different young faces—Actress Felicity Jones, blogger Tavi Gavinson and artist Angel Haze—to express its theme: ‘Revolution’. Since I like Jones’ performance at movie director Niall Maccormick’s Albatross, plus the strong graphic design of the cover, I easily choose my personal copy among the three cover girls.

The interior design of the magazine echoes the layering-hue cover, on the introduction page, on the fashion campaign pages of Felicity Jones’ and ‘Lula Likes’ accessories by photographer Arvida Byström. Without any editor’s letter, yet readers can sense the feminine photography and sensual interview within Lula. Note that the bold-font captions between the paragraphs, such as ‘it’s good to do things in life that you’re scared of, you’ve got to be brave’ by Jones (Brandes, 134), or ‘I definitely consider myself a feminist and I have basically since I learned what the word really meant’ by Gavinson (Bumpus, 74), are projecting its core concept of the editorial team.

Viewing page by page, Lula is a beautiful fashion photography album with appropriate amount of writing. Perhaps new Lula will not be able to present the highly literary report such as ‘Shakespeare & Co.’(Lula issue. 15, 2012), still issue 19 includes poetry ‘Delta Aeroplanes in Twilight’ by Greta Bellamacina, a rare act among any female magazine nowadays.

The true reasons for Leith Clark’s abandon of Lula could be various, but from my review of issue 19, the direction of the art, the quality of writing, the use of the papers and the voice from the inner side are not changing that much, continuously very Lula, very dreamy, very girly yet strongly independent. Year by year on purchasing fashion magazine, I prefer choosing less commercial and more sophisticated photography, and Lula is ‘it mag’. Lula Issue 20 will be launched in January-February 2015, and I am looking forward to it already.

For the tumblr post by Leith Clark:

http://ileithclark.tumblr.com

Helsinki Design Market December 7, 2014

At Kaapelitehdas, Ruoholahti

After Helsinki Design Week in September, Kaapelitehdas (Cable Factory in English) again gathers over 70 original Finnish artists, designers, studios and brands to allure design lovers’ vision, inspiration and no doubt, cash cash.

On the South Wall avenue of main building, Finnish artist Teemu Järvi Illustrations on bear, hare, fox and deer by using oriental ink capture my sights. Mainly exhibiting and selling his paintings, but also with cotton tote bags, postcards and tattoo stickers at stall, Teemu combines his love of Finnish nature and sketch skills, alternatively snapshots the black & white silhouette of Finland. Coincidentally, Finnish ethical fur designer Marita Huurinainen’s flagship boutique, parts of the interior design is collaborating with Teemu Järvi Illustrations, in which echo between eco, fashion and design.

 

Japanese animal lover and art craftsman Yasushi Koyama, graduated from Aalto University, now distributes the most cutest panda, doggy, kitty and mushroom collection to make us wow ‘kawaii’. I especially admire the ‘Panda with Pinky Balloon’, alas it is a great pity that budget is budget, still I take mini kitty tote bag and micro doggy statue to express my support. I truly believe these 2 will be extremely lovely adding up the atmosphere of my bedroom deco and photo shooting projects.

Founded in 2002, Designer Ilona Hyötyläinen launched Miun, a Finnish family run design house in 2004. The design in Miun women’s clothing is clean and sleek with romantic touch. After Hyötyläinen giving birth of a baby girl, Miun now owns children’s wear, Mini Miun. Each Miun piece is designed, sewn and knitted ethically either in Finland or Estonia, and the story behind each collection can be seen in the prints as well as the cuts of the garments.

Finnish design never lacks any international market potential. The most designers need to be aware of, is that being so satisfied and extremely positive about ‘Made in Finland’ products is a killing trap stone of its brighter future, Design and Fashion is highly competitive around the world, no matter what kind of nationality you hold on to. Since there are still quite some Finnish women’s wear brands, selling a ‘made in Estonia’ 100% polyester black top at 100 EUR, only being naively proud that the designer is Finnish native, or a design studio is short of appropriate investment, still would like to leap into a category called High Fashion; both above are simply a dangerous child play. By year 2014, Kaapelitehdas Design Market brings up the best, the doubts and somehow highly provocative, no doubt a great chance to observe the future of Finnish design.