Boooo to WHSmiths and my newsagents not stocking the Elle Collections.
Yay for the new issue arriving at my desk this morning. I know it's been out for a couple of weeks but seeing as Borders'
closure has slowed down my magazine intake, it's taken me this long to
get it.

Why the post on a catwalk round-up publication that's been around for a good number of seasons? Let's see... I had it on my desk for a couple of hours and at least five people came by and touched it asking "Wow, what's that?" thinking it was something entirely different even though it clearly Elle Collections on it in big letters. Reason being that the paper treatment of the cover had been changed up to a grainy/matt card and flicking through, well... it's pretty much a typography dream and paper treatment/texture dream. I may lay my blog out like a toddler but I am appreciative of a good layout in print... well because for a fiver or whatever it is, your eyes should be traversing through the pages with ease and delight and with every page turn, you're not angry that roughly 3.3p has been flitted away.
Content wise, it hasn't veered too much other than it just looks... really polished...which isn't overly useful or insightful as a description but it does sort of need to be seen/touched to fully gauge what it's all about...
So we have the usual round-ups...

...the focus on collections (I love the way they've laid out the Viktor & Rolf spread... )

Then the fashion week tidbits...invitations... and a fun page of Chanel show stats (4,000 hand-painted roof tiles on the roof of the barn...). You can't see but the section has been short-cutted (hope I'm using the right term...) for easy thumbing and uses a pleasingly-nice-to-touch matt paper. Other added tidbits are list-orientated... always a bonus for a list-lover like me... what people have on their desks, TweetClouds, what they're looking forward to in 2010 with contributors like Fake Karl and Garance

V. pleased about Tommy's contributions proving that traversing between Conde Nast and Hachette is a-ok...

The longer, more engaging pieces in this section is a welcome addition too... in particular Mark Hooper has done a Fashion New Media piece that is fairly well-balanced and not *ahem* fluffy (not naming any names...)


I'm in love with whoever did image selections such as dedicating a whole page, zooming in on the Miu Miu puppy print...

...or using eggs to illustrate the 'Beige' trend, a Nick Knight-shot rose to illustrate 'Romance' and a John Currin painting to illustrate 'Lingerie'.

So my glee over the copy landing on my desk isn't entirely self-disconnected... Elle also very kindly asked me to write a 'trend' piece where I wax lyrical about the new wave of pastels... I'm most grateful to them for not editing me down to 100 words...

Like I said though, there are certain things like paper treatments and physical handling of the mag that can't really be emphasised online... ah...it's that obvious nuggin' about the appeal of print AGAIN...let's not delve into that old chesnut, shall we ? It's so 2008-2009... and this is a Collections issue for Spring/Summer 2010...