When problems overwhelm us and sadness smothers us, where do we find the will and the courage to continue?

Sunday 23 November 2008

My First Lula

I figured this would be an appropriate marker of blog change.

Yes, the magazine everyone has heard of and the girl everyone wants to be is finally in my mitts. I've been fascinated by this magazine for a long time - all the girly Coppola-esque connotations it has (lemme simplify, I'm falling asleep as I write this: blurred 70s-style images, generally very beautiful) etc. and from skimming through it, it does appear to be very childlike but has some perverse undertones - for example, the beautiful naivety of the Zac Posen photo shoot featured with leather (Luella-reminiscent) masks, revealed stockings etc. Saucy stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

I don't know if it's just in this specific issue or whatnot (not like I can really draw any comparison), but in some of the interviews, I almost felt uncomfortable from all the excessive whimsy-ness and distant replies:
"When did you first know you wanted to be a designer?
I guess a year ago."

...Expand maybe? No? Fair enough.
I did like that the interview was like a conversation, with the interviewer sharing their favourite flowers rather than just the mechanical 'Q-A-Q-A' we're so used to.

Right, articles.
A fabulous article was on 'outsider girls' and then sweet illustrations of cult 'outsider girl' icons, two featured below:

Now I'm a huge fan of Margot Tenenbaum (that montage of her secret life with 'Judy Is A Punk' playing, ugh, kills me) and I don't remember The Incredibles that well so I lack an opinion on Violet Parr..
Anyway, the article, it's the author's reminiscence of a girl (Mallory Bates) who was the school's outsider then comments on how the outsider character always seems to stick in our minds (clearly not Violet for me though..).
It's one of my favourite articles that I've read thus far and made me consider my own "outsiders". The only ones I can think of were ostracised for their disabilities or shabby uniform but the girl described in the article was dark-haired with a long fringe and pencilling "intricate drawings that suggested a rich inner life". Unfortunately (to my knowledge) this girl didn't exist in my year of school (I wish she did, she sounds amazing) but it did get me thinking - perhaps we were the 'outsider girls'.
I know I certainly am now.

I'm struggling to comment on the photography and layout of the magazine. The photography is (like I vaguely described above) quite dreamy and natural in appearance for most of it - I did love the images of Floria Sigismondi and her daughter.
I love the introduction to each article/photo shoot as well, the font wouldn't look lost on a poster advertising a circus. My one small annoyance with the magazine is the font, where it is very sweet and does capture the ideals of the magazine, the 'w' looks way too much like an obscure 'r' and disrupted my reading on more than 100 occasions. Just kidding, I got used to it soon enough.

Hm, this is short but, like I said, I'm tired and lazy.
K
x