Image of rapture creep into me slower as you’re going to me head.
July 9th, 2008
I am really amazed at how quickly Elle is losing any respectability they ever had. They’ve almost gotten rid of Gilles Bensimon and they have brought in Joe Zee. Joe and the new photo editor, Brett Ramey, have brought in new, young photographers and stylist, but the spreads in the magazine are just not good. The photo editing is bad and the styling is messy and it’s not really on target for any one particular audience. Its all just very scattered.
And mostly, if you are trying to compete with American Vogue you do not put Mariah Carey on your cover. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Mariah, but nothing about her really screams FASHION at all and almost directly copying the cover and spread from the last issue of i-D doesn’t really look great either.
2 Responses to “Image of rapture creep into me slower as you’re going to me head.”
By Owen on Jul 9, 2008
Personally, I think the phasing out of Bensimon and the bringing in of Joe Zee is the best thing Elle has done.
Joe is one of the top selling stylists in the industry - he knows what sells and what appeals to \"the people\", as is very clear by his respectable list of clients including Banana Republic, Gap, Zara, Jordache, DKNY, Kenneth Cole and the estimable Tiffany&Co.
Bensimon had dated himself by not keeping up with the direction of fashion photography in this day and age, and his celebrity shoots were getting stale, as he\’d pull the same shot from his repertoire and use it again and again.
These shots of Mariah aren\’t bad; she looks good, she\’s recognizable, the hair and makeup is flattering. She is one of the top selling recording artists of all time, hence very popular among the populous, especially Americans. The styling is most likely controlled by her publicist and PR whore, and the digital tech would have had a prying eye over his/her shoulder as her team makes the selects, and criticize every shot as it appeared on the screen.
By Andre on Jul 21, 2008
I agree with Owen. Joe Zee is hugely respected in the fashion industry and has done so many credible images over the years that have become iconic.
i think its incorrect to say it was wrong of Elle to bring him on. If anything, I haven’t looked at an issue of Elle for over 10 years until Joe Zee got there and I think the idea of young photographers and stylists is groundbreaking. Thank you to someone who recognizes young talent.
And Mariah is an international star. I wouldn’t worry about Elle having to compete with Vogue. I just read in WWD or something that Elle is whooping their ass in advertising and newstand sales, so I don’t think Joe Zee and his crew is too worried about going up against Anna Wintour.
Maybe Anna should think more about people like Mariah than the other way around.