Vanity Fair is a Conde Nast publication, a monthly magazine that features relevant articles and photo spreads on art and fashion, pop culture, entertainment and current political discussion. This month's November cover girl is Marilyn Monroe, who has been featured on the cover two times since 2008. This year, Vanity Fair dedicated covers to Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe. Before that, Jackie Kennedy was on the cover solo in October 2009, and with Jack Kennedy in November 2007. They must be top-selling issues, or else it is likely that Editor Graydon Carter would not continue to produce covers with iconic women of the past.
November 2010
October 2008
With a good amount of covers that feature big names of the past, and pay tribute to them by rehashing stories in articles that do not offer new information, what can we gather about design as conversation? Is design a way to link figures from the past to today, as a sort of inspirational source for current designers? Or is this type of nostalgia unproductive, in that it is not very progressive or forward thinking for readers to be exposed to two Marilyn Monroe covers in two years? Design is influenced by the past, of course, but at what point do readers decide they want to focus on the now and look for reports on the present.
Liz Taylor, July 2010
Jackie Kennedy, October 2009
For a magazine like Vanity Fair, it would seem a priority to come up with covers and articles that are compelling enough to sell, simultaneously stirring the pot that is a cultural conversation amongst its readers. By dedicating six covers to figures of the past within two years (Taylor is not dead yet but has not exactly been a topic of current news for a couple decades), as pictured in this post, are we experiencing productive nostalgia? Or are we dwelling and rehashing things that have been talked about already? It seems that some buyers are uninterested in modern celebrities, and are more likely to buy ones with the familiar faces of their own youth (it could be that baby boomers like to revisit the golden icons closer to their generation). After considering VF covers from the last few years (three covers prior to Monroe's 2010 cover feature Lindsay Lohan, Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie), the topic of design as conversation reveals itself more prominently. Design is a way in which magazines like Vanity Fair can redirect its viewers to consider moments of the past, and how that fits into moving forward in today's society. For a relevant magazine to open up the public dialogue by bringing ideas from the past into the present sphere of society, questions arise about constraints in design and what it means to draw from past influences.
November 2007
June 2008
November 2010
October 2008
With a good amount of covers that feature big names of the past, and pay tribute to them by rehashing stories in articles that do not offer new information, what can we gather about design as conversation? Is design a way to link figures from the past to today, as a sort of inspirational source for current designers? Or is this type of nostalgia unproductive, in that it is not very progressive or forward thinking for readers to be exposed to two Marilyn Monroe covers in two years? Design is influenced by the past, of course, but at what point do readers decide they want to focus on the now and look for reports on the present.
Liz Taylor, July 2010
Jackie Kennedy, October 2009
For a magazine like Vanity Fair, it would seem a priority to come up with covers and articles that are compelling enough to sell, simultaneously stirring the pot that is a cultural conversation amongst its readers. By dedicating six covers to figures of the past within two years (Taylor is not dead yet but has not exactly been a topic of current news for a couple decades), as pictured in this post, are we experiencing productive nostalgia? Or are we dwelling and rehashing things that have been talked about already? It seems that some buyers are uninterested in modern celebrities, and are more likely to buy ones with the familiar faces of their own youth (it could be that baby boomers like to revisit the golden icons closer to their generation). After considering VF covers from the last few years (three covers prior to Monroe's 2010 cover feature Lindsay Lohan, Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie), the topic of design as conversation reveals itself more prominently. Design is a way in which magazines like Vanity Fair can redirect its viewers to consider moments of the past, and how that fits into moving forward in today's society. For a relevant magazine to open up the public dialogue by bringing ideas from the past into the present sphere of society, questions arise about constraints in design and what it means to draw from past influences.
November 2007
June 2008
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