There's a familiar odd-shaped head holding down cover-photo duties for this month's Vogue magazine -- and I'm not talking about Gwyneth's Paltrow's. (Though I could be. Her face looks horribly photoshopped over someone else's hair and body, like it was pasted over a scrapped Carrie Bradshaw cover image.) Vogue snuck an Iron Man mask onto their cover in order to promote Paltrow's summer superhero movie, marking another infiltration of comics into mainstream adult culture.
As a big magazine head, I own a few issues of Vogue and Vanity Fair despite them being womens' publications. I mostly just like the annual Hollywood issues and the Annie Leibovitz spreads. They do a good job making modern Hollywood feel like the glamourous old days.
Back to the comics: This awesome Adam Hughes poster was a much-talked about giveaway at the New York comicon, and its nod towards Leibovitz's Hollywood spreads for Vanity Fair is awesome and very appropriate. With this new issue, Vogue unknowingly returns the synergy between comics and fashion mags.
Aside from the Paltrow/Iron Man piece, the new issue features Smallville's Tom Welling, a pullout section on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Giorgio Armani-sponsored "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy Show", featuring awesome artwork by Alex Ross, an article detailing the influence superhero imagery and costumes have had on fashion design and style, as well as photos of kickass haute couture versions of some four-coloured femme fetale costumes.
Vogue may have one-upped Comic Foundry's inaugural issue's very nice black-and-white fashion spread. But still, this type of comics coverage from a massive publication only reinforces and validates the lifestyle/fashion approach that Comic Foundry is taking. I'm all for it.
If Vogue ever takes a second stab at this, how cool would be to see some A-list movie stars in full-blown high fashion cosplay outfits? Maybe "cool" is the wrong word, but hey, I'd buy it. And given that actors are now more than willing to don comic costumes in movies, it's not that far-fetched at all.
Vanity Fair's amazing Hitchcock photo tribute
Project Rooftop's amazing costume design blog
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