Britain v America – Magazine Covers

April 20, 2008 By Paola 18 Comments

Ever since I moved from London to Seattle, I’ve noticed that there is a very different design sensibility between Britain and the US, not just in interiors but in every aspect of life.

So I thought it would be fun to launch a series of posts where we can compare and contrast everyday elements of British and American design and just have a chat round the differences.

First up, here are the May 2008 covers for British and American Vogue, which to me exemplify the two different design aesthetics (even though American Vogue is famously edited by a Brit).

May 2008 cover of British Vogue featuring Natalia Vodianova

The cover of British Vogue is simpler and cleaner, with far fewer words and simple fonts (though note the use of the serif font). Colour though is brought into the typeface.

The focus is very much on the model. Note it’s a model not a celebrity – celebrities do appear on the cover of British Vogue but comparatively rarely. Though admittedly the lines get a bit blurred with celebrity models such as Kate Moss, who seems to be on the cover of British Vogue all the time. The colours are very bright, clean and fresh and to my eyes very English. The whole thing seems much more uncluttered and spare.

May 2008 cover of American Vogue featuring Gwyneth Paltrow

American magazine covers – and this is no exception – seem to have a lot more going on. There are more words and more different font sizes (though only one sans serif font is used throughout). There are more emphatic caps and italics and a quote is included. All the words mix lower case and upper case.

The image used is much busier (and more obviously photoshopped?) – more Gwyneth, more dress, more background. There’s a lot more Hollywood glamour – a movie actress, big hair, silver and sequins. And with the mask, even obvious movie product placement (for the Iron Man movie, starring, you guessed it, Gwyneth Paltrow). The colours, though, are more muted and soft than on the British cover.

So, which one do you like best? Which one would you buy? Do you prefer the cover from your ‘home’ country? Does the other cover seem very different and/or strange? Does the British cover seem scarily uninformative and gaudily bright? Does the US cover seem more old-fashioned (as it does to me)? Or does the serif font on the UK cover look old-fashioned to American eyes? If you’re neither British nor American which one stands out for you? Am I the only person who thinks Gwyneth look strangely like she’s been carved out of wax?

Discuss.

(Just adding a poll, because your answers are intriguing me.)

So the thing that’s intriguing me, is that not a single person has said they prefer the US cover, but surely Anna Wintour et al must do focus groups and stuff about this sort of thing? And must think that the US-style cover will sell best? Can anyone out there explain?

By the way is the poll working properly? I’ve had all sorts of trouble getting it up.

The Lab

April 18, 2008 By Paola 2 Comments

You know what it’s like when you organise a party and you’re not sure if anyone is going to turn up? Well, that’s how I’ve been feeling over the last few days about the Lab.

And then of course I was worried whether the people who did turn up would actually be NICE or not 🙂

But of course I had no reason to be anxious. People CAME. Everyone was fantastically friendly and charming and interesting. There were even people who, scarily, read this blog.

Matte Stephens and his oh-so-cute wife and muse ‘the real Vivienne’ were everything you knew they would be and more, and hugely inspirational. Matte has been plugging away at his art for the last thirteen years and, it seems, almost literally starving in a garret, before John Tusher from Velocity discovered him on Ebay of all places, became his friend and mentor and Matte turned into an overnight sensation.

Anyway it’s late and time for bed now, so go and read Mary T’s (who actually had her camera with her at the beginning of the evening) great write-up over on Shelterrific, Tim Gunn’s alter ego Uncle Beefy has also written a splendid post.

Thanks as always to John and the Velocity gang, our literally gorgeous sponsors from Dry Soda, Matte and Vivienne for making the trek up to Seattle from Portland just after moving across country from Alabama. And of course to the wonderful Grace, who was the catalyst who made everything possible.

Apologies for the very bad photos. I sensibly forgot my camera so had to wait until the Husband could bring it at the end of the evening, by which time I’d had too much champagne and everyone had gone home.

Apologies too for rushing off so quickly and not saying goodbye to everyone. Due to monumentally bad planning on my part, I had a date with an egotistical rap artist immediately afterwards.

Next month’s Lab is going to take place on May 28th and will feature a panel of Seatttle’s finest craft and design bloggers . You would be mad to miss it.

John Tusher and knitting neurobiologist Jerylin indulge in a little interpretive dance while Megan Not Martha looks on.

Matte Stephens holds court

Matte’s work on display

Glow in the Dark – Kanye West

April 18, 2008 By Paola 4 Comments

Kanye West in rehearsal at Seattle’s Key Arena (all pics from Kanye’s EXTREMELY cool blog)

One of the CDs I listened to while I was in labour was Kanye West’s The College Dropout. The midwife kept asking if I’d like to listen to something different (I think she hated it) but I found all the expletives to be just the thing.

Notwithstanding the fact that it brings back memories of the most hellish hours of my life, I’ve always liked Kanye’s music (yes, I know he himself can be a bit of a jerk). So when I found that he was opening his Glow in the Dark tour in Seattle, and was promising the mother of all stage shows, with lights by the same guys who had created Daft Punk’s kickass pyramid then I just had to get tickets. I’m a sucker for a good light show.

The support was pretty awesome too – Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D and Rihanna. We arrived in time to catch the last bit of N.E.R.D’s set (Pharrell Williams is SO pretty and She Wants to Move was banging ) and all of Rihanna. She looked like a supermodel – all black PVC with dayglo pink and green accents and the most amazing neon pink lipstick. She can actually sing too and Don’t Stop the Music and Umbrella were pretty hot.

Then we had to wait for about an hour for Kanye to hit the stage – he obviously doesn’t have to worry about paying babysitters. I have to add it wasn’t because he was being a prima donna, but because they were clearly having issues with the set.

When the show started, we could see why there’d been issues. The set was indeed incredible – a raised stage like the rolling hills of an apocalyptic landscape, the most enormous back screen and a hydraulic platform that tilted and moved up and down. All accompanied by pyrotechnics, smoke machines, underlighting, overlighting, everywhere lighting, giant lit up globes, an anime blow up doll, a gold painted stripper hologram, a sexy computer and….just Kanye – the self-proclaimed brightest star in the universe – alone on stage for ninety minutes.

In a act of either extreme hubris or bravery, what was apparently a huge contingent of musicians and backing singers (all his tracks have been reworked for the show) were dressed in black, hidden under the stage in an orchestra pit and practically invisible, leaving Kanye on his own, acting out a (very, very silly) hip-hop space soap opera with all the technology.

I’m not sure it entirely worked for me – call me old-fashioned but I like seeing musicians perform – but it almost did, and Kanye is the only hip-hop artist with enough ego and charisma to get anywhere close to pulling it off. And it all got very moving when he appeared to be close to tears after a stripped down version of Hey Mama. And there really is nothing that compares with seeing a state-of-the-art, money-no-object, no-technology spared stage show.

Just to bring this post vaguely close to on-topic for this blog, do check out Kanye’s surprisingly fabulous blog – full of his design and creative inspirations. He’s got some really cool stuff on there. Oh and couple of reviews of the show here and here. And goodness, the sound system at the Key is cr*p.

The Three Chairs

April 14, 2008 By Paola 7 Comments

We finished painting them over the weekend and I think they’re OK. They’re pretty dazzling when the sun’s out, but brighten up a dull grey day like today no end. We just need a little round cedar coffee table, which will stay resolutely natural in colour.

It’s going to be interesting to see how they go with the garden colour scheme as it develops over the year. The yellow of the daffs will fade away and be replaced by lots of purple and chocolate plants enlivened with splashes of hot pink, red and orange. Though next year I may avoid such very pink tulips.

Bowl-ing bowl-ing bowl-ing

April 14, 2008 By Paola 3 Comments

I’ve just knitted a small green hat. It is the very first article I’ve ever knitted on circular needles and it knitted up incredibly easily and quickly as I used big fat needles and big fat wool (Lamb’s Pride Bulky in Pistachio). I can’t believe that on the couple of occasions I’ve knitted hats before, I’ve had to sew seams. This is so much the better way.

Except that actually, it’s not really a hat. If you turn it upside down, bit becomes a, currently rather porous, bowl. These felted woollen bowls were mentioned on Design Sponge a few weeks ago and I was completely intrigued. They are from the book Oneskein, which also gives instructions.on how to felt it in the washing machine And that’s where I’m a bit stuck at the moment as felting sounds a bit tricky. Is it really possible to turn my hat into this?

Image from Design*Sponge

The Lab

April 10, 2008 By Paola Leave a Comment

This is just a reminder to everyone hoping to come to the Seattle creative meet up from 6pm- 8pm next Wednesday 16th April at Velocity’s South Lake Union showroom on Yale Avenue, featuring special guest artist Matte Stephens.

The events will go by the name of The Lab – we are hoping that they will become a place to experiment with new ideas, foster creative thinking and provide us all with plenty of opportunities for networking and inspiration. Please feel free to invite anyone you think would like to come and remember that The Lab is open to both men and women.

Special thanks are due to John Tusher and his staff at Velocity who have embraced the idea of regular meet-ups so wholeheartedly and who will be hosting and sponsoring future events.

For those of you on Facebook, we have created an events page here – please come and sign up. All of you who have emailed me asking to go on the mailing list should be receiving an email within the next day or two. Anyone else who would like to be on the mailing list, please get in touch.

After resisting it for the longest time I have become a Facebook addict. All huge fun, though somewhat disconcerting when it turns out that a very old flame appears to have found enlightenment and turned into a cross between Mother Teresa and Deepak Chopra…

Bee with Fern

April 10, 2008 By Paola 1 Comment

Or, how the rich get richer…

Regular readers will remember that earlier on this year, there was much temporary excitement round these parts when This Morning (which, for American readers, is a major networked morning TV show in the UK) called in the Atelier LZC Bee mirror for a feature.

The excitement quickly abated when the mirror wasn’t mentioned at all during the feature and indeed only a tiny corner of it was fleetingly visible during the programme, resulting in absolutely no sales whatsoever.

This is pretty much par for the course, I would say of everything that is called in by journalists etc. only about 25% is actually used in any capacity. As is also par for the course the mirror was never returned to us.

Most journalists are really bad at returning stuff. In theory they’re meant to return it, and some are very good about it, but many seem to assume that you’ve just given them a generous gift, whether or not they actually use the item in their publication. The mythical Vogue accessories closet is not just a myth (and yes, one of their staffers managed to ‘acquire’ a couple of scented candles a year or so back, though they had at least featured them in the magazine). And it doesn’t seem to matter to them whether the company they’re ‘acquiring’ things from is a huge multinational behemoth, or a teeny tiny online shop.

The reason I’m writing about this scam now is that when we emailed This Morning to enquire as to the whereabouts of the mirror, we were told by the researcher that it had been ‘passed on to Fern’. For the uninitiated Fern Britton is the main anchorwoman of the show, one of the very few women on TV that I actually like, and one of the highest paid women on UK TV.

While part of me is pleased that Fern liked it enough to ‘acquire’ it, she has gone down a long way in my estimation. Though to be fair, This Morning did say we could invoice them (but only after we’d emailed them).

The temptation to write “as ‘acquired’ by Fern Britton” on the mirror product page is almost too strong to resist. At least that way we might get SOME publicity out of all this.

And with this post all chances of ‘mirrormirror’ ever being on the telly have just disappeared….

Adirondack Pop Art

April 8, 2008 By Paola 5 Comments

So, inspired by these, at Ocean Point Inn in Oregon where we stayed last year,

and these cushions by Karen Hilton, which I’m soon hoping to get on mirrormirror,

we went to the paint shop at the weekend and choose these

for the sickly pastel-coloured Adirondacks on our patio.

I’m hoping, since the colour scheme in the garden is supposed to be like this – full of clashing hot pinks, oranges, reds and purples – that they might just work.

I know, subtle colour is not exactly a forte of mine. We shall see. Painting updates to come.

We have socks!

April 7, 2008 By Paola 2 Comments

The sock obsession has been continuing unabated and I have actually finished my first pair of socks. They were a very plain pattern (from Violet Green which comes free with their sock yarn, though I can’t find it on their site) and are riddled with mistakes, but hugely fun and I now own the most comfortable pair of socks in the history of the planet. Note they’re already slightly fluffy as I have been wearing them all weekend.

I’m a complete novice at ‘reading’ sock yarn, so I had no idea they would end up looking like this. Really quite subtle. I actually love them, though next time I do a variegated yarn I might try a slightly more textured pattern. Because yes, there’s definitely going to be a ‘next time’.

It was a little embarrassing lying on my back on the lawn like a stranded beetle while I photographed my feet. The neighbours can’t laugh though, because the other night we watched them film a zombie movie in their back yard. The bit when the ‘body’ emerged from the hole they’d dug was really very effective.

Inspiration

April 4, 2008 By Paola 1 Comment

So, I know we’ve been somewhat mean about her in the past, and that she’s recently had a facelift, and is no doubt Botoxed to the hilt and airbrushed to the max, but good grief, her Madgeness is looking HAWT in her latest vid. And very inspirational to those of us who may be past our first flush of youth.

The song is the best thing she’s done in ages too.

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