The September Issue: Favorite Ads & More! (picture-heavy)

Every year, I buy the September issue of Vogue just to see all of the amazing fall ads (and of course to read the content, which is a very small percentage of the magazine's total pages.)

I currently subscribe to a lot of magazines, so I have a lot of "September Issue" reading (and admiring) to do.

I peeped into the VOGUE I bought today and snapped some pics of my favorite/the most interesting ads I saw.  I've always been into ads- I like looking at them as much as the rest of the magazine's content. I'm always interested in how a brand chooses the way they portray their products to their customers and potential customers and why they choose to feature certain things from the line...it's just fascinating to me.

Take a look into the September 2010 issue of VOGUE:

Didn't realize Tiffany made handbags... I don't love it.

As mentioned in yesterday's post- Naomi Watts is in Ann Taylor's fall campaign

What are some of your favorite Fall 2010 ads? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo,

Veronika.

Lauren Conrad: Stunning on the Cover of Glamour Magazine

I got the May 2010 issue of Glamour in the mail last week and I was taken aback by how great The Hill's Lauren Conrad looked on the cover:

I have to give a shout-out to her makeup artist Amy Nadine- she writes an awesome beauty blog where you can see exactly which products she uses to create all of The Hills girl's and her other client's pretty makeup looks.

I really love her makeup techniques. She seems to know how to bring out the best in every client and make skin look warm, glowing and perfect. If you'd like to know what makeup was used for LC's cover look, go check out her blog.

What do you think of LC's look? I love her super-defined eyes and lower key but still pretty makeup on the rest of her face. I also love her long waves that look kind of undone and care-free. Gorgeous.

xoxo,

Veronika.

PS- Big shout-out to Hills favorite "Lo" who also looked stunning in Glamour's article.

Finally, a Magazine that "Gets It"

About a month ago, there was a lot of buzz in the fashion and beauty community over "The Girl on Page 194,"featured in the September issue of Glamour magazine. The photo was a nude (but tasteful) shot of 20-year-old model Lizzie Miller. Here she is: Women from all over the country were taken aback by the photo being featured in a prominent fashion and beauty magazine- and they wanted to see more.

I opened up the November 2009 issue of Glamour this Saturday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful letter written by Glamour editor Cindy Leive about a feature on page 198 called "oh.wow. these bodies are beautiful."

Here is the story's featured photo:

I was happy to see the magazine featuring beautiful women of all shapes and sizes- but what truly sealed the deal for me was when in her letter, Leive said: [quote]

To be clear, I'm not advocating a "real women have curves" mentality, which implies that all skinny women are obsessive dieters and not "real women..." But the bottom line is this: In the real world, women of all body types-whether pixie-ish like model Noreen Carmody or cruvy like Lizzie- have sex appeal, full , fabulous lives, and men drooling all over them. Our pages should tell the same spectacularly confident and diverse story.

Her words were perfection. I always had a problem in the past when magazines would feature curvier women and proclaim that curvy girls were "real women..." and then featuring size 2 models on their pages. It just seemed so insincere and fabricated. It was like they were not able to find a way to tell one side of the story, while not trashing the other.

I think Glamour's approach finally did it for me. I am a longtime subscriber, and I appreciated that a fashion and beauty magazine was finally able to celebrate women- ALL women- without making one group of women feel victimized.

At the same time, I appreciated the magazine's focus on featuring healthy women- not just girls who were larger than a size 6 to make a point. The women featured were healthy women who eat well and exercise and embrace their size without torturing themselves or succumbing to crazy diets.

I must admit at times I don't have the best eating habits and I haven't hit the gym since our wedding...and these women were a true inspiration to me. Some days, I get down about my body and then I realize how lucky I am to have the body I have...and the only way I can do better is to have healthier eating habits and to take care of my body by exercising.

I just thought I would share this story because I think it is important to celebrate women of all shapes and sizes and understand that good health doesn't always go hand in hand with a size 4. At the same time, I think this story is an inspiration to all women to love their bodies more, and to embrace a lifestyle that allows them to be the best they can be- whether that is as a size 2 or a size 14.

xoxo,
Veronika.