I don't know that they changed anything. They said in their 'treaty' that they vow to never change girls' body or face shapes, but then say, '(Never have, never will.)' To me, that sounds like they just published a self-serving statement that made them look good, but they're not taking into account the intentions and concerns that were really behind the petition. Again, it's not just about Photoshop — all kinds of components of a magazine help contribute to the feelings that might leave a reader with a negative body image.
Whether you're a fan of Tavi Gevinson's magazine, Rookie, or not, there's no disputing that it's doing well. Last month, the 15-year old told the Observer that the online magazine will have a print edition this fall and in her July editor's letter, she revealed a little more about what we can expect:
It is not, however, a lame website-to-paper copy-and-paste situation. Considering it is mostly content you can read for free online, we knew we had to really take advantage of the print situation and make sure it's SUPER GOOD-LOOKING AND SPECIAL [...] I have a very soft spot in my heart for print magazines, and I believe in the power of writing and art that you can hold in your hands, and I promise that looking at all this stuff in print is a different experience from reading it online.
According to The Cut, the print version will be published by Drawn & Quarterly and can be bought for $29.95. What hasn't been confirmed yet is the release date.
Although it was expected that Tavi and Jane Pratt were to work together on Rookie, the online magazine launching next month, it looks like Gevinson has decided to fly solo. When talking to WWD recently, the 15 year-old revealed that she was not prepared to lose creative control by launching the magazine under Say Media who are responsible for Pratt's website, XOJane.com.
“I would love for [Pratt] to be involved, but right now it’s something that has to be worked out between her and Say,” she said. "It wasn’t like Us versus the Man. It was just that I want to have full control, and it’s important to me that we’re independent, not so that we can be indie and ‘down with the man,’ but because I find a lot of comfort knowing that it’s all in my control."
Tavi is taking the blogger-turned-bona-fide-career that one step further. Remember last week when we told you that she's working on a new book centred around all things teenager, well that's not the only project that the 15 year-old is working on.
When interviewed last week as part of a 'Tribute to Sassy Magazine' she revealed that she's working on Rookie, a new website with a magazine-like format which will also come out in print. At present she's still looking for contributors but confirmed that New York Times cover star Miranda July is involved. When the site will launch is still under wraps.
If, like me, your teenage years feel like a lifetime ago, do not despair. Tavi is here to remind you. Next week the young blogger will be in New York meeting publishers with writer Maria Meltzer to pitch for a book called, 'Diary' which centres on "the state of being a teenager." Although the business move makes sense it does make you wonder who the teenager that the pair are referring to is. After all, Tavi's lifestyle of sitting front row at shows, interviewing celebrities like Gwen Stefani for Teen Vogue and working with editors like Jane Pratt on new business ventures is hardly typical of the average teenager.
If the project gets the go ahead, it won't be the first book under the 15 year-old's sleeve as she is already working on a book based on her blog with Rizzoli. According to WWD we can expect a combination of 'instructions on “how to make a friendship bracelet,” entries on “why crushes are so essentially teenage” and perhaps a page to design your own tote bag or “dream pizza,”' and 'one part make-your-own scrapbook, one part feminist manifesto for girls and one part celebrity memento collage'.
In the wake of the upcoming launch of her website, Jane Pratt has announced that she has opted for xoJane.com instead of the planned JanePratt.com. According to her spokersperson, the name change is in aid of creating a "warmer" feeling to compliment the "spirit of the site".
As well as Tavi's involvement, Pratt has also announced that she's secured former Jane fashion editor Eric Nicholson and Elle Girl's Christina Kelly to come on board as regular contributors.
If you have a click around, then you can see that JanePratt.com is launching soon. But that doesn't answer all the questions surrounding the former Sassy editor's new venture, or her much-talked-about magazine with Tavi Gevinson. Will the projects be one in the same? We're not sure, but WWD tried to find answers, despite Jane Pratt's refusal to spill details.
WWD reports that within "the next two months, [Jane Pratt] will launch JanePratt.com, a website aimed at the gulf between the Cosmopolitans and the Jezebels of the world. Then, in the summer, she will team up with Gevinson to introduce a magazine and a website for teenaged girls." Gevinson says that her magazine will amount to "kind of a branch under the JanePratt.com umbrella for teenaged people -- girls."
What was your most fashionable moment of last year? Perhaps Alexander McQueen's death, or Tom Ford stealing, well, every spotlight? For Cathy Horyn, it was seeing Tavi at fashion shows. We're surprised it got the top spot on her list of 10 memorable moments, but it certainly caused a stir.
Horyn says: "I wouldn’t have picked Dior’s January couture collection as a major fashion moment (John Galliano punched an out-of-date ticket for the Gibson Girl), but the scene illustrated the tension between the weird and the wonderful that exists in fashion. Dior held the show in the house, so everything was creamy with intimacy — just what editors love as they plop down next to friends — but it soon registered that Tavi Gevinson, the 13-year-old blogger, was in the front row. Some of the editors really hit her with looks. At the Armani show that night, the stares were openly hostile. It was obvious the older Italian ladies didn’t care to see a child in their midst. And Tavi wore a big bow-shaped hat that pointedly emphasized her juvenile stature. The fact is half the people were still in the dark about what was happening. Blogs? Strange ruminations from a girl’s bedroom in Chicago? They were still politely applauding satin ball gowns that Charles James would have whipped up in his sleep at the Chelsea Hotel."
It's not exactly the first time that someone's dressed up like the famously bobbed Anna Wintour, but it just might be the first time that a magazine has shot images of transvestite versions of the editrix, along with Grace Coddington, Franca Sozzani and...even Tavi. In the first edition of Candy, the first "transversal style magazine," editor and publisher Luis Venegas brings us an editorial entitled "The Devil Wears Anna," which features Venegas and model/musician Andres Borque dressed up as Wintour and Coddington. Also on the mag's pages are female-impersonator versions of Vogue Italia's Sozzani and that everpresent teen fashion blogger.
The first issue of Candy is now a year old (the publication's 1,000 copies sold in a flash), but it seems that photographer Brett Lloyd has just uploaded these images. We'd like to know what the real Wintour would say about them.
