clean cut

Photographer: Mario Testino
Magazine: Vogue US February 1999
Model: Angela Lindvall
Fashion editor: Carine Roitfeld

I love how these pictures don't look 11 years old. In fact, even Angela Lindvall looks pretty much the same - models age so damn well don't they?

I have the first picture torn out and stuck in one of my scrapbooks, which prompted me to do an Internet search for the rest of the editorial. As usual, I got lucky with TFS. The lesson I have learnt from all this is to never throw away a magazine again.

The designers I like aren't always American but I'm always aware of how much an influence American sportswear and its classic functional style have on me - I love how it always looks modern and timeless and right. It's the best style for my body type, so I admit it's partly personal reasons, but it's also just really good design that stands the test of time.

Also, I was struck by how much of the eds I liked were shot by Mario Testino. He is perfect for the sort of natural looks photos that were so common in US Vogue in the late-90s and early '00s - which were pretty much my formative years for fashion. I can never get into hyper-sharp, hyper-saturated that you see so much of these days. His pictures now are all cleaned up beyond recognition, but in the past, you could the pores and creases on his subject's skin, and the light always seemed natural and clear. It was perfect for the no-fuss clothing of those years before fashion revved up into crazier times.

I don't like to be the sort alwasys banging on about how great things were "back then" but looking at the past is part of becoming modern.

Pictures from tfs