the white album

I was tidying up my bookshelves when I came across some of the scrapbooks I keep filled with pages clipped out of magazines. As it turned out, I wasn't much of a collage maker and there is an awful lot that made me wonder what I saw in them in the first place, but there is a significant pattern running through nonetheless. Most of it came from American Vogue, which really defined my style influences - I can't help it; they got me at an impressionable age.

There was a lot devoted to the minimalist look that had such an influence on me when I was a teenager, and continues to be my defining principle for dressing. This editorial shot by Arthur Elgort and styled by an excellent paragon of the look, Tonne Goodman, made a particular impression on me. I love how it looks clean and relaxed, rather than severe and conceptual.

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One of the blurbs reads: "Minimalism is the only look that truly works Monday to Sunday, day or night, year to year." Exactly.

There was also a predilection for anything white - something that still endures til this day. I remember I pinned this shot of Gisele in this sporty chic combo of a striped sweater and shorts on my wall for the longest time.

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(I actually labelled the designers in case I forgot.)

I still love and would love to have every single handbag on this page (from 1999). It's so nice that Lambertson Truex is back designing for Tiffany & Co.

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There was an early obsession with crocodile pumps, something that still tempts me even with my devotion to flats - it's one of those transformative things I believe will turn me into a soignée type. In any case, a classic court shoe in an exotic skin is timeless luxury, and it's so nice to see such fuss-free shoes compared to the foot circuses we keep seeing these days. This is also from 1999.

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It's really the simple things that stick.

Comments

Unknown said…
hear hear!
Aïssa said…
"It's really the simple things that stick " sums it all very well!

On a side note I don't know how old are the US Vogue ed but I couldn't help noticing the "jumping" models! Lol! That's really US Vogue trademark!

Tonne's work always stand out to me because of her aesthetic. It's deceptively simple but always on point and timeless.
yanqin said…
Pret a Porter: There are so many more I wish I kept! I was checking out a thread on TFS abt the Kate Betts years at Bazaar and I realised how much I liked the covers and content.

Aissa: Yes, I notice that whenever I look through old Vogues, even the ones from the late 80s. Tonne Goodman's style is a great counter point to Grace Coddington as well as all the other contributors to Vogue (Marie Amelie Sauve, Camilla Nickerson), I hope she stays on longer!

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