Daria Werbowy looks like a cupcake for the latest Vogue Japan
TFS

Pastel colours are most definitely in this season! So much so, in fact, that Vogue Japan is very much channeling delicious sugary pastel cupcakes on their July cover starring Daria Werbowy. The Canadian beauty is wearing a pink Prada skirt embroidered with yellow roses and paired with a Prada top, and the brand's famous jewellery from the SS12 collection.

Vogue Japan hasn't had that many hit covers this season apart from the Bianca Balti in Dolce & Gabbana issue back in March. So I am happy to see that they have recreated something as good as the August 2011 cover with Daphne Groenveld in Miu Miu (of course).

I like this cover so much that I am not even bothered by the heaps of text they've featured in it. It feels less heavy because of the soft font colours that work brilliantly with the cover photo by Inez & Vinoodh.

How do you like the cover?

Dolce & Gabbana cover face off: Vogue Japan vs. Vogue Turkey
FashionGoneRogue, Style.com

I have mentioned a few times over the last few weeks how I could see all the upcoming magazine covers being plastered in the amazing Prada SS12 collection. So far there has indeed been a lot of it but there have been those who have wanted to change things up a bit on their new covers. This is the case of the February's Vogue Turkey and Vogue Japan's March issue. What are the chances of going for exactly the same piece?! Both Bianca Balti (styled by Anna dello Russo) and Karolina Kurkova (by Daniela Paudice) don the same sext bejewelled number from Dolce & Gabbana's SS12 collection. I instantly recognised the ultra-mini dress as I still remember being in awe of how Magdalena Frackowiak wore it on the runway.
I can't really decide which cover I like better, which is unlike me. I like how Karolina's look is quite simple and only accessorised with Prada (ha!) earrings but I also like Bianca's 'Italiana' cover and the genius "Latin Lover" headline.

Vogue Japan takes Shala Monroque on a tropical holiday
TFS

Looking at this story from the January issue of Vogue Japan many stylists must be kicking themselves in the head for not thinking of it first. The truth is this is one of those ideas that seems so obvious to be good but it is, in fact, great!
Shala Monroque, shot by Tommy Ton and styled by Aurora Sansone (woop!), travels to a tropical island to showcase the latest from the Cruise 2012 collections. And I am in love. Shala is one of the best dressed and most elegant-looking women I have ever seen. I briefly met her during the last LFW and was taken aback by her poise –being in her presence feels a bit like being underdressed or unprepared for a meeting.
I struggled putting together the collage because there wasn't one shot of her in the entire editorial that I didn't want to include in it. I really love how Aurora played with ethnic elements from the resort collections in a way that they also made sense back in the 'real world'.
For me, what really makes the shoot work is the fact that none of the looks feel overdone or unwearable because Shala would actually wear any of these outfits to a fashion show, an intimate dinner or just out in New York City.

Happy Sunday!

TFS

I don't quite understand how the timing of Vogue Japan works. I remember having a copy of the September issue in my hands at the beginning of August and now that all the September issues are coming out they release their October cover? Confusing.

In any case, Florence Welch in Ralph Lauren on the cover is genius. As it is the fact that Karl Lagerfeld shot it. He should do a lot more editorial work because he's such a good photographer. In fact, I am more keen on his photography than I am on his Chanel collections sometimes.
Their August cover was excellent but their September one was a bit of a disaster –I hated the styling and the pose– so it's great to see them back in shape.
Just as they did with the Vogue Paris cover, people have been complaining about having a celebrity as the face of the issue. The way I see it, if you do mostly models and you pick your celebs because you really want them on the cover, what's the problem? Despite even the crowded text, this is a brilliant cover!

TFS, Zimbio

The August cover of Vogue Japan is already out! I don't know if releasing magazine covers and stories earlier and earlier every month contributes to selling more magazines because it creates anticipation or if we're left a sort of apathy towards the printed copies when they arrive because someone has created an anxiety to see something else, newer.

Discussion aside, I haven't been this much into a Vogue Japan (haven't noticed until now it's not called Nippon anymore) cover since Sasha Pivovarova's in Balenciaga back in September 2007.

The choice of ultra-white background and the blue and pink pastel font feels really modern and also super clean and fresh. There is way too much writing everywhere, though, but I can forgive it because the colours work so well.

Daphne Groenveld's eyebrows remind me a lot of Balenciaga's f/w10, which I loved. And her hair style helps give even more emphasis to her famous lips.

The Miu Miu f/w11 dress worn by Daphne on the picture is such a stunning fit and I love the fact that they've already managed to add in a bit of fur in August to not give next season's biggest trend a rest.

The main feature in the mag, 'Simple Pleasure', seems like such an unlikely for Anna dello Russo to preach. But the fact is that during the menswear shows in Milan she is has been practising it herself in several uncomplicated numbers. The perfect example is the look that preceded the one on the cover at the Miu Miu show and that, funnily enough, was modelled by Daphne.

Style.com

Collage Sunday, 07.11.10

I have realised how our Collage Sunday has gradually and organically become more about fashion individuals than trends. Something that is quite significative of where some of the trends are forged these days. Today's collage centres around a lady I've loved from the very first moment I laid eyes on her. Viviana Volpicella  is one of the Assistant Fashion Editors of Vogue Nippon and, hence, part of AdR's fantastic team. Her olive skin, brown hair and radiant smile are the perfect accessories to any Marni, Prada or Zara item. Pair these up with her signature degradé Way Farers, her Italian know-how and her innate effortlessness and you'll get the perfect recipe for a natural personal style. My only hope is to ever be able to say this in person. Next LFW maybe? —Buona domenica!

I'm off.

[Pictures: The Sartorialist, Garande Doré, shoothebreeze.blogspot.com, TFS]

Enough is not enough

I have no words to describe this shoot. Alessandra Ambrosio styled by Anna dello Russo for the latest issue of Vogue Nippon. If there was still anyone who doubted dello Russo's skills this should do it. She has done the same kind of over-the-top glamour she drenches herself in every day of her life on a supermodel. The result is one of the most flamboyant yet simple editorials I have ever seen.

"Never Enough"

Photographer: Giampaolo Sgura

Stylist: Anna dello Russo

I'm off.

[Credit: Vogue.co.jp]

In the Age of Myth

I'm sorry, there'll be no Collage Sunday today. My sister's still in town and I just haven't had the time to get it ready... Instead, I want to share this amazing editorial. I know a lot of people won't find it that original but I am pretty old school when it comes to fashion photography. Get me a bunch of simple dresses and a scenery with doric columns and Greek sculptures and I am in love. And I love it even more because it's from Vogue Nippon (Dello Russo's baby) and styled by my idol George Cortina. Shot by Cedric Buchet.

I'm off.

[Pictures: TheFashionSpot.com]

golden boy

Just like everything Tom Ford touches, Nicholas Hoult has become gold (no pun intended, it's Tom we're talking about). He has the two things that editors always look for in guy models: a boy's face and a man's body. I love the fact that the styling goes back and forth in time and space so you can't really figure out when or where the pictures are supposed to inspire. The genius of Grace...

Happy Friday!

I'm off.

[Pictures: FashionGoneRogue.com]

harvest time

No one ever captured someone so stunning in such a beautiful way.
"Girl of the Golden Field" from Vogue Nippon
Daria Werbowy styled by George Cortina and shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

I'm off.