Dressful

My favorite feature from the 6^th issue of I Like My Style magazine. The pieces were selected by Ilikemystyle's fashion director James Valeri and photographed by Benjamin Fredrickson. I doubt the photos are real polaroids (too expensive nowadays! too much hassle with high-quality scanning! etc.), but they ooze that dreamy polaroid charm nevertheless.

Pierre Hardy suede open-toe ankle boot

If you ask me to give favorite shoe brands, Pierre Hardy will be the second or third I'll list, though my admiration of their shoes is still limited to fawning over photos online and in magazines. A few years ago, I found a gorgeous pair of midnight blue velvet Pierre Hardy sandals on sale at a ridiculously low price in Modena, Italy. They were half a size too small.
I will never forget them; I must've printed their photo and stuck it in my school notebooks for inspiration at least 10 times.

Leather boots and paillette cap by Prada / Leather platform boot by Versus

Many women have told me they cannot get used to unusual heel shapes introduced this season.
I am sure the belief is only temporary. Heels need diversity too!

Reed Krakoff handbag, Rick Owens suede and leather fingerless gloves / Bag by Marc Jacobs

Expensive bags and shoes as plant pots?
I've always thought flowers were among the most underrated accessories. If I had fabulous movie star-length hair instead of a coiffure that lays completely flat, I would wear pink, orange and yellow roses ... Without torns.

Heidi Lee Couture hat

Can you resist an umbrella construction hat?
Throw over a plastic overlay -- voila, you're safe and stylish in the rain.

Browsing fashion publications at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport last Saturday, I came across a copy of I Like My Style magazine. I was initially drawn to it because the girl on the cover is wearing all Yohji Yamamoto (à propos Yamamoto's Spring/Summer 2012 collection: this man can do no wrong, and once again I was overcome. Had to state this on the blog as soon as possible ...). I am vary of buying fashion magazines as they take up too much space and I never want to throw them away because they are aesthetic perfection (photography! typography! layout!). However, when I read that I Like My Style is the first user-generated fashion magazine, I knew it had to fly to Ljubljana in my big black bag so I can study it further.

The content of I Like My Style magazine is contributed by members of ilikemystyle.net, a social network where you can upload photos of your outfits and discuss fashion. I Like My Style magazine feels like a crossroads between "traditional" fashion magazines and the democratization (?) of fashion propagated by bloggers and the internet.

Editors-in-chief, Eva Munz and Adriano Sack, understand that today's readers want personal, subjective voices and distinctive, genuine style. They give them just what they like, packed in a magazine that, coincidentally, does not take up much space due to its small format. A big plus since all the cool people, including many contributors to the magazine, live in shoebox apartments in major world cities with sky-high real estate prices.

Notable content includes a hilarious section of cell phone photos taken by ILMS members in dressing rooms of high-end stores, little interviews where apart from other information everyone also gives their Zodiac sign, a comprehensive "school of fashion" with Rodarte, text chats where two members exchange views on issues like plastic surgery and skin whitening in Asia, and an 8-page editorial featuring eye glasses mounted on vegetables.

There are several articles (one of them by Aliona Doletskaya, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Russia) but they are short, written in stream of consciousness mode, and they don't delve deep in the way well-researched articles in "traditional" fashion magazines would. I would have loved to read a longer article or five, but my conclusion is that people today have increasingly less time, attention span and will to read, so it makes sense that I Like My Style magazine is mostly visual.

The biggest value (and potential) of I Like My Style magazine is the fresh, unedited ideas it communicates to an audience larger than just members of ilikemystyle.net. While there has to be a certain amount of control should you want the magazine to be a complete work, I hope I Like My Style will not progress in a more editorially restrictive direction. In the right context, blurry photos, ruined make-up and sometimes slightly off grammar are indispensable.

Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil shot an editorial titled A Renaissance of Style for the October 2010 issue of Vogue Nippon. This is my favorite blogger/magazine collaboration to date; not only do the photos retain Tommy's signature quirks (focusing on accessories, street locations and models walking instead of posing still), he also pushed his style to another creative level appropriate for a major print publication.

The third-to-last photo might be an homage to Anna Dello Russo (well-deserved as she was the one who got Tommy this gig); if memory serves me well, he's photographed her in a similar pose before. It's also kind of endearing that he would have the models look so distant and aloof, as if he still sees himself as a fashion outsider having trouble approaching the beautiful people who fascinate him. Photo number 6 reminds me of stylist Catherine Baba whom Tommy often photographs in humongous coats (great styling). The ideas behind this shoot are so clever and its atmosphere so sophisticated that I truly hope Tommy Ton will continue to collaborate with Vogue in the future.

Styled by Aurora Sansone
Models: Suzanne Diaz, Tatiana Cotliar

Thanks to MAGstyle from The Fashion Spot for the scans.