Vogue walks fime line between
the sublime and the profane

From page 17

character, says Peggy Northrop,
senior features editor at Vogue, in
Vancouver recently for the
Western Magazine Awards, We
look to magazines to express not
just our personalities but different
sides of ourselves, just as various
friends appeal to different sides.

Readers turn to Glamour as
they would a trusted friend —
“maybe she’s a little politically
correct but you would trust her
opinion. She does her homework;
she’s sincere, she really cares
about women's rights’? — while
Cosmo girls, the majority of
whom are married, enjoy
Cosmopolitan magazine ‘‘just as
if they were hanging out with
some single, maybe sex-obsessed,
friend,’’ she says.

Vogue, on the other hand, ‘‘is
like your accomplished, indepen-
dent, arty friend you really want
to have at a dinner party to liven
things up.”

It’s an image that is often false-
ly associated with the editors
themselves. Northrop, speaking at
the Hotel Vancouver to a packed
room of editors and writers, tells
of a focus group of regular
teaders who, when asked what
they thought a Vogue editor's
lifestyle was like, had this to say:

“She lives on the Upper East

side of Manhattan in a townhouse |

filled with art and antiques. She's
tall, thin and blond and she wears
designer clothes —- mostly black.
She goes out to dinner every night
with movie stars and artists,

“She has a house in the Hamp-
tons or maybe Connecticut. She’s
not married but she has a lot of
men who are interested in her and
take her out to expensive restau-
rants and she travels a jot —-
mostly to Europe.

In reality, says the tall, thin —
not blond — Northrop:

“T live in Brooklyn in a rented
apartment, have a porch nota
country house. The clothes I have
in my closet are indeed mostly
black but that’s because I ride the

_—.

subway and they get filthy.

“My husband, thank God, is a
wonderful cook because he’s a
freelance writer ... and we can’t
really afford to cat out. And
Vancouver is the most exotic place
I’ve been in three years.”’

However misguided the percep-
tion, says Northrop, what this il-
lustrates is that Vogue has the im-
age of a ‘confident, fearless,
well-heeled, sought-after woman
who moves easily through life.”

In recent years, Vogue has
pushed the fimits, walked a fine
line between the sublime and the
profane, and blurred the distinc-
tion between fantasy and reality.

In the late '80s, when its
publishers perceived the magazine
to be moving in the wrong direc-
tion, longtime editor Grace
Mirabella was sacked and Anna
Wintour of British Vogueand HG
magazine was brought in to give
the century-old first lady of fash-
ion a facelift.

Her first cover, November 1988,
rocked the fashion establishment.
By pairing an outrageously expen-
sive Christian Lacroix jewelled

jacket with faded jeans, Wintour
melded couture and streetwear to
bring Vogue back in touch with its
younger readers.

Most recently, Vogue has
tempered its controversial fashion
pages with serious features, politi-
cal essays, and in-depth health
coverage.

** Vogue has in the past dipped
its toe into what we would think
of as real hard-nosed reporting in
journalism, and is now at least up
to its ankle,”’ says Northrop of
Vogue's current direction.

And while the juxtaposition of
scrious journalism and suggestive-
ly clad models may send mixed
messages to some, Vogue’s readers
are assumed to be sophisticated
and mature enough — dreamy
12-year-olds aside — not tu take
the fashion as prescription.

“These days I refuse to hang
my head in shame because we
don't have a coherent view of the
world,’’ says Northrop in defence
of Vogue's editorial risk-taking.
“Coherence is narrow-mindedness
dressed up.”’

What’s up, Doc?

THE PHENOMENALLY - suc-
cessful Dr. Martens footwear firm
is now designing a full selection of
clothes for a total Doc look.

British-based Dr. Martens
claims to have designed clothing
with similar characteristics 1o the
shoes including durability, style,
quality and affordability. The
company is featuring two fashion
lines, simply called Dr. Martens
Useful Clothing and Dr. Martens
Gents Clothing.

The first line, geared toward
young men and women, is a
“street-level’? look inspired by
British workwear with influences
fro:n all aspects of today's music
and youth culture.

Doc’s famous yellow stitching is

Introducing a new name

Sul
Qe

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\)

visible in the entire collection. It
boasts a harder, more industrial
edge than many of its American
competitors including labels such
as Chevignon, Chipie and Diesel.

The second fine is higher quality
and geared to men in a slightly
older age group (from 25 to 45),

The designs will focus on fine
fabrics in very British styles for
the ‘real man.’’ The no-nonsense
clothes include ‘‘core garments in
a man's wardrobe that are easy to
wear and with functional detail-
ing.”’

Menswear stores will carry both
lines of clothing. Look for the
first collection, for fall °93, in
stores this summer.

Sunday, June 20, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 24

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