Friday, August 21, 2009

South Africa's devil has no Prada!

My mornings are characterised by a dose of fashion blogs. The New York Times’ has some of my most favourite, as does The Telegraph and Financial Times.
Today, as I was reading one of these blogs, which was generally about “The September Issue”- a movie about Vogue magazine that is essentially about Anna Wintour, or so I hear- I began to start thinking about the state of fashion journalism in our country. How alive is it? Is there one publication or writer or even editor that we can pin-point as the “powerhouse” of fashion in South Africa?
I doubt it. Yes, I love ELLE (and the increasingly innovation-starved GQ) and I’d like nothing more than to believe that Jackie wields such powers, but the fact of the matter is she just doesn’t.
Jacquie Myburgh, the former ELLE editor and Dion Chang might seem like the closest thing we have to an Anna Wintour, but I’m struggling to decipher how much influence they, too, wield in the local fashion scene. Maybe they have no desires to be the “lawmakers” of fashion because from where I stand they could be- quite easily. Everyone respects their opinions, don’t we?
Speaking of influence and blogs, Jacquie’s column in the Times every Thursday is a must read for anyone is genuinely into fashion, not just clothes. Do check it out.
As for a South African “September Issue”… I don’t see it coming for decades. If it comes any sooner ‘sbound to be a disastrous effort.
One blog I read this morning said “The September Issue” failed to give or teach anything new about Vogue and I bet there’s very little to learn about putting together a South African fashion title.
Call me the cynical critic…but I know you know you know it.

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