Rail workers, ice cream sellers . . . why ‘real’ models are in Vogue
Latest edition of fashion magazine will feature working women rather than catwalk pros
THE new issue of British Vogue hits newsstands today and comes with a revolutionary premise – its pages are a “model-free zone”. Instead of preternaturally beautiful and willowy professional models, the latest designer clothes will for one month only be showcased by “real” women.
Among them is architectural historian Shumi Bose, who poses in a tailored jumpsuit by Max Mara, and charity director Brita Fernandez Schmidt, wearing a polka dot Michael Kors blouse as she discusses how empowering fashion has been for the underprivileged women she has met around the world.
Alongside them is Kitty Travers, the founder of La Grotta ice cream, in a lemon-sorbet hued Hermès shirt and trousers. Even the women behind London’s Crossrail project are given a starring role in the magazine.
“I feel strongly that women who are in positions of authority or power, or who work in professions should be able to indulge their interest in clothes and fashion without it seeming frivolous or that they don’t care about their jobs enough,” British Vogue’s editor Alexandra Shulman told The Daily Telegraph. “In this country, there is still a stigma attached to clearly enjoying how you look and experimenting with it if you are a woman in the public eye and not in the fashion or entertainment business.” Shulman has gained a reputation for encouraging the industry to become more open-minded about how clothes are shown. In 2009, she penned a letter to all major designers bemoaning the tiny sample sizes they were supplying for photoshoots, saying it was leading to models getting unhealthily thin. She has now repeated her criticism of designers and their representatives, saying: “I was also frustrated by a few designers’ PRs choosing only to lend their clothes if they approve of the appearance of the subject to be photographed rather than what they did.” Realism certainly seems to be in fashion right now. Aside from Vogue’s latest issue, a number of brands have cast “real people” in their campaigns. High street giant H&M signed up 60-year-old Scot Gillean McLeod as the face of its swimwear range this summer, while American retailer J Crew eschewed models at its New York fashion week show last month – instead choosing staff and friends of the brand, aged 13 to 70, to wear its new collection. The movement is perhaps a sign that the fashion world is waking up to the fact that baby boomers are the only ones with any cash to spend on clothes
‘I feel strongly that women who work in professions should be able to indulge their interest in clothes’
right now. And they are more likely to do so if they see themselves represented on the pages of magazines and on the catwalks. “Happily, the fashion industry is becoming more diversified and that is wonderful,” said Shulman.
The British editor’s attitude contrasts the row which erupted this week after her counterparts at American Vogue launched an attack against the self-made bloggers who now sit on the front row at the bi-annual catwalk shows alongside traditional fashion editors. “Rather than a celebration of any actual style, it seems to be all about turning up, looking ridiculous, posing, twitching in your seat as you check your social media feeds, fleeing, changing, repeating …. It’s all pretty embarrassing,” American Vogue’s fashion news editor Alessandra Codinha wrote on its website last week.
This prompted a backlash from bloggers, who argue that their huge social media followings and power to drive sales have helped create a new era of fashion democracy and accessibility.
British Vogue isn’t entirely off the hook, though. The “real” issue’s cover star is Emily Blunt, the British actress who stars in autumn’s big movie release The Girl on the Train. Shulman justifies the cover spot by pointing out that Blunt plays a flawed everywoman.
But with her carefully tousled hair and classic film-star styling, the impression is – at first glance – the same as most other Vogue covers. It’s small steps for fashion’s reality check. See the full shoot in the November issue of Vogue, on sale Thursday.