The first video I watched is about Louis Todescato, an art director for fashion magazines. In the video, he comprised a series of steps he takes in order to make a successful photo spread. The first thing he does is look at the clothing and critique it from a literary perspective, rather than an artistic perspective. What type of message is the clothing sending? Who would wear it? What's the history behind it? Once he answers all of those questions, he acquires a better understanding of the mood and theme his photos will possess. According to Todescato, the public is becoming more educated and has a more critical eye than in the past, meaning that the images should evoke some outside thought, since fashion is a reflection of society. Finally, I learned that photoshop is key when there's a small budget, which means I'll probably have to get acquainted with it pretty soon.
The second video I watched was actually an HBO documentary, In Vogue-The Editor's Eye, which talks about the creative aspect of being a top editor at Vogue. The video included commentary from Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Hamish Bowels, and other editors who talked about the history of Vogue and where their ideas come from. The first thing they established is the importance of their photo spreads to be unique and unusual, in order to transport the reader to a "fairy tale world". I looked up some of their spreads, including their Alice in Wonderland spread (which is discussed in the video), and decided I want my photo spread to take the same crazy, artistic route because I find it highly aesthetically pleasing. However, unlike Vogue, I already established I'm not going to use high-end clothing, since that doesn't appeal to my target audience. Instead, I will specifically use clothing from the stores GAP, River Island, Top Shop, and H&M, based on findings I discussed in my previous post.
Another theme that was highly emphasized is that both the photo spreads and articles need have a meaning. MEANING MEANING MEANING. The editors all spoke about how every shoot or article they did had to be symbolic towards women, politics, social conflicts, or any relevant issue in the world. Just like Todescato, they think storytelling in the most important factor that makes a magazine successful. Like directors during film making, every choice the editor makes matters and has a purpose behind it and helps the story progress for the audience. It's clearly not only about appearance, but what the magazine is selling to the readers.
Although the video focused a mostly about the history of Vogue, the most important thing I can probably take away is the importance of having a vision. As Phyllis Posnick said, "If I don't have a picture in my mind, it is not going to work.", which totally changed the way I'm going to approach this project. I'm usually a "go with the flow" type of person, that waits to see how things turn out. I now realize I need to do a lot of planning and have to slowly figure out what I want, in order to execute it in the most efficient way possible. Hopefully a lot of my confussion will clear up pretty soon.
Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato (Directors), In Vogue: The Editor's Eye, (2012), HBO Documentaries, Retrieved March18, 2017
U.n. director The Secret of Fashion Editorial Magazines- Fashion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbTHTmRd94E, Retrieved March 18, 2017
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