Couture wearing comparison: a fashion "wear-off"

One thing I look forward to each month is the arrival of new magazine issues. Aside from my US mag subscriptions (which is sent to me monthly), I also pick up at least one or two local fashion magazines from the bookstore. I just love reading them whenever I am taking a break from reading my med books! Lately though, I've been noticing a magazine trend that quite disturbs me albeit only very mildly as opposed to a number of consumers who are appalled by the whole "issue" (no pun intended hehe). It seems that the typical run-of-the-mill magazine cover nowadays is that of one graced by a mainstream celebrity (ie. a highly publicized actress, actor or teenybopper). Whilst that is actually perfect for more well-rounded women's magazines (such as marie claire or metro), I am thinking that the more fashion-oriented ones probably should at least feature professional models on the cover more often instead of only putting them in fashion spreads. Besides, fashion mags are basically all about couture and as far as I know, ramp models are closest at work with couture.

HOWEVER, this got me thinking... There is a business-tainted reason for this and that is perhaps because mainstream or "masa" celebrities have more selling power. I mean, more people know them hence identify with them. Well, they see and hear about them practically everywhere! And when you compare that to the silent mysterious long-limbed muses of the runway, familiarity is on the models' losing end. I guess I just really miss classic fashion covers with models on them. (My feb 2006 teen vogue ish though has gemma ward on the cover.)

To further elucidate this point, I made a mini gallery which is a sort of couture "wear-off" between models and starlets. hehehe! In these pics a model and a celebrity is wearing the same couture creation by some notable designer side by side. Who do you think carries the dress better?

Zac Posen



Behnaz Sarafpour
(btw, her GO international collection for target is now out!)



Calvin Klein



Magda Berliner



Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton



This actually convinced me that celebs are perhaps the real models (moneymakers) of designers since 1.) the dresses look more approachable when worn in actual occasions than when it is seen in the catwalk with all the lights and accoutrements, and 2.) people/potential buyers notice a dress more when it is worn at a special event by a highly marketable person ie. a celeb. Besides, casting those sensible reasons aside, the celebrities in my opinion did a better job at carrying the designer ensembles with a score of 4:1.

As to which celeb I think did not beat the model, try to guess who it was. She actually lost because of her poorly applied fake tan. (But I usually love her fashion choices. and her bags!)