Vogue Paris Translation: Editorial, September 2009

Here is Carine Roitfeld's editorial for the September 2009 issue of Vogue Paris in French and in English (albeit my powers of translation leave a bit to be desired). Also forgive me for accidentally cutting off the top of the image when scanning but I simply have not the time to retouch it. Curiously, Farrah Fawcett appears in the montage of photos but not the text...

Elles s'appellent Angela Merkel, Toni Morrison, Aung San Suu Kyi, Lydia Cacho Ribeiro ou encore Natalia Estemirova, journaliste et militante russe des droits de l'homme retrouvée assassinée en Tchétchénie au moment où nous bouclons ce numéro. Intellectuelles, présidentes à la tête de démocraties, opposantes à des dictatures au pouvoir, directrices d'ong, chercheurs, grands reporters, elles font de leur vie une course contre la montre pour dénoncer l'injustice, l'oppression, les atteintes à la liberté, pour défendre les plus faibles et donner au monde un visage humain. Ces femmes sont des héroïnes, des spécimens de courage, vies battantes éprouvées à sens unique : les autres. Elles s'appellent Liza Minnelli, Gloria Vanderbilt, Bianca Jagger ou Debbie Harry. Voix tombée du ciel, allure admirable, volonté de fer, talent inouï pour se brûler les ailes, ces spécimens-là sont tout aussi rares, objets de désir, d'admiration et d'inspiration. Elles pourraient finir au coeur d'un film ou d'un roman. Des héroïnes là encore au sens où elles paient de leur personne, transcendent l'ordinaire et s'illustrent hors du commun. Portraits, interviews, mises en scène mode à la manière de... Ce Vogue de rentrée rend hommage et célèbre des femmes extraordinaires, des modèles uniques à grandeur universelle.

They are named Angela Merkel, Toni Morrison, Aung San Suu Kyi, Lydia Cacho Ribeiro or Natalia Estemirova, the Russian journalist and human rights activist found assassinated at Chechnya at the time we completed this issue. Intellectuals, presidents, and heads of democracies, opposing dictatorships in power, directors of corporations, researchers, great reporters, they make their lives a race against time to denounce injustice, oppression, breaches of liberty, to defend the weak and to give the world a human face. These women are heroines, specimens of courage, giving their lives to others. They are named Liza Minnelli, Gloria Vanderbilt, Bianca Jagger or Debbie Harry. Voice fell from heaven, looking beautiful, iron will and incredible talent to burn the wings, these specimens are quite rare: objects of desire, of admiration, and of inspiration. They could end up in a film or novel. Heroines also in the sense that they give their all, transcend the ordinary and illustrate the extraordinary. Portraits, interviews, staged fashion… This Vogue of re-entry honors and celebrates the extraordinary women, the single souls with universal size.

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Brunette Lara Stone

Carine Roitfeld might just be the world's greatest living visual artist. Hyperbolic statement? I think not. She is a master at what she does. Her acumen in creating visual images using the human form and articles of clothing and accessories is unequalled. I thought Lara Stone was oddly interesting to look at as a blonde but she didn't really strike me prior to the editorial "Gloria" in the September issue of Vogue Paris whence comes the cover image. Look at these photos! Glorious! I find her mesmerizing. Why??

1. I've never seen Lara look more beautiful. She's nearly unrecognizable next to her former blond self, except for the telltale teeth. The dark hair enhances her coloring and features perfectly, adding depth to her uniqueness.

2. By dying her hair and eyebrows darker, Lara now looks more like a Roitfeld, reminding me of both Carine and Julia in different photos in this editorial. I thought she looked a bit like Julia when I first saw the cover photo and when I saw the spreads that feeling was magnified.

3. Now, imagine Julia Restoin-Roitfeld playing the part of Séverine in Belle de jour in the scene where she ascends the staircase. Voilà—voir ci-dessus !

4. Carine's goal when styling a shoot is for the reader to come away wanting to be the girl in the editorial. Do I ever! I already wanted to be Séverine only brunette. Carine Roitfeld, you rock!

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Vogue Paris Translation: Editorial, August 2009

Below is my best attempt to translate Carine Roitfeld's editorial for the August 2009 issue of Vogue Paris. I think that is Carine's handwriting in the margins of the collage of designer photos which served as a mood board for the issue.

C'est une première dans Vogue. Un parti pris insufflé par une tendance qui caractérise a plupart des maisons de mode dans la zone de turbulences que nous traversons : le retour aux racines, le recentrage, sur ses lignes de force, l'expression haut et fort de son identité. Quand l'horizon est incertain, l'avenir une piste de sables mouvants, plonger dans l'origine de son succès est un refuge. D'où l'idée de ce numéro exceptionnel, totalement orchestré par les photographes Inez Van Lamsweerde et Vinoodh Matadin, qui mettent en scène et réinterprètent en 64 total looks la singularité et la force de caractère des plus grands créateurs d'aujourd'hui. Du tailleur Chanel au smoking Saint Laurent, en passant par l'épure absolue de Balenciaga ou l'éros ‹‹tragi-sophistiqué›› des Dolce & Gabbana, les silhouettes qui se succèdent vont à l'essentiel. Tout comme la sélection subjective des chocs culturels de la rentrée auxquels nous croyons. Un message clair et stylé dont l'unique but est de susciter le désir. Et d'envisager l'automne à venir comme une saison de plaisirs.

This is a first in Vogue. In part given breath by a tendency which has characterized the majority of the houses of fashion in the zone of turbulence that we are traversing: to return to their roots, recentring, on their lines of force; the expression high and strong of their identity. When the horizon is uncertain, the future a moving sand track, to plunge into the origin of success is like a refuge. The idea for this exceptional number was completely orchestrated by photographers Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, in which we reinterpret 64 total looks with the singularity and the force of character of the greatest creators of today. From the Chanel suit to the Saint Laurent smoking, while passing by the absolute purity of Balenciaga or the tragic-sophisticated eros of Dolce & Gabbana, the silhouettes which follow one another capture the essence. All like the subjective selection of the cultural shocks of the reentry in which we believe. A clear message and style of which the single goal is to cause desire. And to consider the autumn to come as a season of pleasures.

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Love Makes The World Go Round

I tried to buy the June/July issue of Vogue Paris today but alas it wasn't there yet. So I am contenting myself with a few of the editorials and I had to share this one with you. The model is Sasha Pivovarova, the photographer is Bruce Weber, and the stylist could only be Carine Roitfeld, is there anyone as visually clever? Does anyone else hear Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot singing "Sea, Sex, and Sun"?

Vogue Paris editorial image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.

Somesing A Leedle Osé

Just wanted to share with you one of my favorite impersonations. Did you see the April issue of Vogue Paris?! Did you note Carine's biting wit in the editorial "No Smoking" featuring none other than her son's girlfriend, Lily Donaldson, as a bad pregnant woman/mommy?!

Jezebel nailed it in writing:

"You just know Patrick Demarchelier was snapping away when Carine said, in her smoky French Barbara Walters diction, 'Leelee? Now we do somesing a leedle osé. Shoot up widt zee bottul. Pretend shoot up. Peuhfect. Yes.'."

Girl with a Satchel offers an equally intriguing commentary on the April Vogue Paris.

Lily Donaldson image © 2009 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.