The only viable excuse for a 3 month break in blog posts is the promise of following, collecting and hoarding ideas and information for new ones… At least that’s the one I’m going to use!
So to break the silence, it seems appropriate to revert back to the safety of the holy grail of fashion magazines, Vogue. Except with a difference- Chinese Vogue. Who, with their September issue this year celebrated their 5th Anniversary. The whopping 622 page, golden-spined special edition didn’t do much to help my excessive-weight baggage problem, but boy was it worth it!
Although I couldn’t understand a word, the editorials were enough to make lugging this small piece of fashion history 6000 miles back from Beijing. The reason being that it was here that the difference between this version of Vogue, and that of the UK or USA was most prominant. Each page striking in its use of Chinese models; to be expected one might say, however it’s visual impact is nonetheless powerful. The exotic racial difference being juxtaposed by the familiarity of the Autumn/Winter 2010 collections.
Perhaps I’m looking too much into it, but to me, the stamp of individuality on what is normally considered a Western phenomenon (that being the fast-paced, consumer-driven world of fashion and its press) was nothing short of inspirational.
Meeting At The Number 10 
