Magazine Madness: Natalia Vodianova on PORTER Spring 2015

Issue 7 2015 Heroine Chic

While Issue 7 exactly makes PORTER magazine’s one-year anniversary, Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova and the scarlet red tone catches my gazes. After flipping several pages at Stockmann, I found PORTER adapts halftone glossy paper, and the style of photography conveys a touch of TATLER feels. With no doubt I know PORTER is powered by Net-A-Porter, one of the largest luxury brand shopping website, my only concern is that if PORTER would be a too highly commercial catalogue.

Editor-in-Chief Lucy Yeomans’ letter of the season takes up 2 pages, aside from the brief tour of the contents of Issue 7, she also shares in Spring 2015, what’s in her mind is looking forward to, not just only Christopher Kane blouse or Chanel sheer powder, but also the artist John Singer Sargent exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery (tate.org.uk). On contributors’ page, the talents’ brief CV is shown and making readers realizing how a magazine is being produced. PORTER Spring 2015 major theme is ‘Heroine Chic’, therefore, ‘Who is your ultimate heroine?’ is asking around among the contributors, and it’s really intriguing to see how these fashion professionals’ ways of thought.

Russian supermodel Natalia Vadianova’s fairy tale stories on becoming designers’ muse, separated from aristocrat Justin Portman and the relationship with LVMH heir Antoine Arnault, is fairly known. With too many fashion magazine focuses on TV-reality quacks or armature celeb-designers, it’s fresh to read the voices of a professional model/mother/philanthropist, who usually must keep silent during the catwalks.

Among 17 full pages of interview readers know not only what Natalia’s comments toward her life, but memorize the foundation she has been establishing for the support of female education in Russia, Naked Heart. Under photographer Ryan McGinley’s lens, Natalia is same time mysteriously exotic, strongly spirited and girly innocent. Natalia once said “even those who are closest to me now cannot comprehend just what kind of life I lived—even the worst scenarios they can imagine would have been a good reality for me” (Yeomans, 134). We would never know if Natalia’s marriage decision was trying to get a life for herself in a new land after a poverty stricken time in Russia, and among the lines of interview, the quotes from the top designers’ are, no surprisingly, filled with warmly praises, not even a single doubt, still, Natalia, via her smiles and eyes, among so many fashion faces, is one of a few that I would vote/purchase for only judging through the magazine covers.

I am also amazed by Photographer Norman Jean Roy and Fashion Editor Cathy Kasterine’s contribution, ‘Prairie Rose’, which portrait model Toni Garrn in cinched-in silhouettes and fluid fabrics. The dry land, the brown grass, the dying tree and the blue sky reflects a wild romantic landscape of delicate yet strong SS15 fashion. With Nina Ricci white silk blouse, Alberta Ferretti dress or a black cowboy hat, Toni Garrn sometimes looking away on the tree trunk, occasionally glancing back to the readers, or with a close-up portrait. I like how the colour combined and how various angels to capture a female’s nostalgic beauty. PORTER magazine may be highly commercial on at the footnote reminder ‘Shop Porter with the NET-A-PORTER App’ at every single page, and vice versa on its shopping website, but for the production and artistic scales, PORTER’s clean layout, encouraging themes, strong feminism, the choices of models, good balance between advertisements and contents, and most importantly, the very high fashion photography, from those has already erase my concern of buying a commercial catalogue, but more of a fashion art archive to cherish and collect.