They’re hard to resist, but have modern-day fashion magazines lost their link to art and become too focused on celebrity culture?

French women as early as 1700 pored over magazines – then sketches of the latest dresses simply bound together – to see what was going on in fashion. Now blamed for causing eating disorders, wafer thin models and conspicuous clothing consumption, reading fashion magazines is a slightly spurious and increasingly guilty pleasure these days.

But before the influence of television and movies – let alone blogs and social media – fashion magazines were solely responsible for spreading Parisian fashion trends around the world. Both Harpers Bazaar, founded in the U.S. in 1867, and Vogue, in 1892 were created to provide sketches and patterns of fashion derived from Paris designs. Vogue was expressly designed to promote the superiority of French couture to an American clientele.

In 1900, fashion magazines began to publish photography and later fashion illustration by the most modern of visual artists, forever cementing the idea that fashion is an art form – and the glossy pages of fashion magazines, its catalogs.

Another perfect marriage appeared to be fashion and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The first fashion magazines fueled the birth of today’s celebrity culture with readers eagerly following the exploits of early movie stars like Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow from its pages.

Nearly 100 years later – and inundated with dumbed-down celebrity fashion face-off stories- we might do well to reestablish the link between high culture and fashion magazines – and pay more attention to the effects on ordinary women of glorifying imagined “ideal” lives via mass media.

The Way They Were – Lets take a look back at some of fashion media’s most important milestones:

1886, Cosmopolitan is launched in the U.S. as a fiction magazine for the family.

1937,  Diana Vreeland writes her first “Why Don’t You?” column for Harper’s Bazaar, she eventually becomes editor.

1938, Harpers Bazaar editor, Carmel Snow hires Russian-born Alexey Brodovitch as Art Director. Revolutionizing editorial layout and design he was known for his signature use of white-space. He inspired some of the greatest visual artists of the 20th century (including protégés Irving Penn and Richard Avedon) to create some of fashions most legendary images.

1965, Helen Gurley Brown becomes the editor-in chief of Cosmopolitan turning it into the bible of single girls worldwide and the magazine for “fun, fearless, females.”

1988, Anna Wintour’s first cover as Vogue editor. Wintour wrote. “This one broke all the rules.”

2005, Scott Schuman’s street style blog The Sartorialist is launched, unleashing a tsunami of DIY camera-phone-in-the-mirror-shots online.

Want to catch up on some more fashion history?

Now & Then: The History of the Bikini

Now & Then: The History of the White Wedding Dress

Now & Then: The History of the Ballet Flat

Now & Then: The History of the Breton Shirt

Now & Then: The History of the Pencil Skirt

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Read more Now & Then articles here.

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Five low-impact suggestions to create a smart Fall 2011 wardrobe.

Thinking about our relationship to fashion beyond conspicuous consumption is a core principle here at EcoSalon and as we all know is as challenging as it is enlightening. Identifying what fashion truly means to you is the first step to figuring out how to re-design a stylish future that better serves you and the planet. For me, the fun of fashion is in its unique ability to express the outlandish, a sense of wit and imagination, as exemplified by icons such as Alexander McQueen, Isabella Blow and Diana Vreeland.

Vreeland, Editor-In-Chief of Vogue from 1963-1971, created the fashion media as we know it today. She imparted her sparkling wit and ingenuity into the style scene, qualities that are mostly missing in these days of carbon-copy consumerism.

Vreeland began her career as a columnist for Harper’s Bazaar in 1936. Her tongue-in-cheek “Why don’t you” columns – “Why don’t you use a gigantic shell instead of a bucket to ice your champagne?” and “Or paint a map of the world on all four walls of your boys’ nursery so they won’t grow up with a provincial point of view?” for example – inspired her post-Depression readers to think outside of the box and break the rules of fashion.

It was Vreeland’s fearless, slightly madcap voice saying “Why Not” that came to mind as I watched last week’s New York runways with a view to how I could adapt my own wardrobe to reflect some of the trends. In the spirit of fashion risk taking, and with humble acknowledgment paid to a true genius (she actually invented the word “Pizazz” for goodness’ sake), here are my five low-impact suggestions to create a smart Fall 2011 wardrobe.

Why not…tie one on? Menswear is a huge trend. With Yigal Azrouel, Alexander Wang and Prabal Gurung (above) showing tuxedo inspired ensembles, the easiest way to get the look is to borrow a tie or cut a thin strip of black silk. Tie the knot a little looser and lower  than you would on your male counterpart or forget a collar completely and rock the androgynous look with a tee.

Why not…stop playing so safe? It’s not until you’re confronted with a chartreuse dress or bright orange pants that you realize you’ve essentially been weaned on a diet of safe neutrals and black. If you’re going to buy one thing for next season, choose a piece that gives your neutral ensemble an unexpected pop of color, as seen at Peter Som, Preen and Phillip Lim (above).

Why not…chop off the arms of your old trench or jacket? If this idea makes you squirm, get your tailor to do it. Make sure to save the arms to create a bias binding to neatly finish off the look. Vest coats looked fresh at Alexander Wang, Richard Chai Love and Rachel Roy.

Why not…nix the match? Clashing textures, plaids and prints is the way to go, as seen at Marc Jacobs, Rag and Bone (above) and Thakoon. Consider it  the perfect excuse to try on all your old clothes again to see what clashes with what!

Why not…make a sweeping entrance? Flowing, mid-calf and longer skirt lengths feel radical, even mildly uncomfortable, after years spent in form fitting tops and skinny pants. Dig around your local thrift store and I guarantee you’ll find some floor-skimmers left over from the early 1990’s. Pair with a utilitarian jacket to get the new silhouette, as seen at Tommy Hilfiger, Rachel Comey and Tory Burch.

All images from style.com

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As I flicked through the January edition of Harpers Bazaar, I came across an excerpt from a newly released bio of Jacqueline Kennedy by John Loring, who had worked closely with her during her days as a Doubleday book editor. He described her savvy approach to dressing and wide knowledge of fashion, writing, “Yet Jackie was more interested in how people wore things than in what they wore.”

I imagine in this digital age of fashion voyeurism, the many online style tools available with a click of her mouse would have delighted the high priestess of American chic.

Photographer Scott Schuman, better known as “The Sartorialist” to the rest of the world is one of the industry’s most influential figures, capturing exactly how the stylish are wearing their things from New York to Milan. Together with StreetPeeper, currently documenting the world’s fashion editors as they arrive for the fall shows, the sites make for utterly irresistible daily style inspiration. Another favorite of mine is Vogue’s online feature “Five days, Five looks, One girl” where they break down the looks of glamorous gals about town in their daily ensembles.  Rather than looking at fashion through the abstraction of a magazine layout, it’s useful to see how real people wear the latest designer fashion to work, albeit to a job that accommodates 5-inch ponyskin heels.

Putting together our outfit for work every morning is one of the most creative things modern women do. In our fast-paced, work-heavy lives, few of us engage in other types of creative pastimes. Many of us are waking up to the environmental ramifications of forever buying more while still wanting to revel in the fun and creativity of fashion. Happily there are a number of sites that aim to provide with the grown-up version of playing paper dolls. Vogue’s Light box, Polyvore and Closet Couture allow users to put together an outfit, to see which combinations work – and which don’t – without handing over credit cards or adding to our overstuffed closets.

Perhaps you get your creative kicks from hair and make up. The hundreds and thousands of viewers who enjoy the beauty tutorials on YouTube phenom, Pixiwoo prove you are not alone.  Make up artists, Samantha and Nicola Chapman’s exhaustive resources show you everything from how to wear to Spring’s acid bright color palette to how to skillfully recreate the chiseled cheekbones seen on the runways.

InStyle magazine’s Hollywood Makeover feature allows you to upload a photo of yourself and superimpose a collection of celebrity make up and hairstyles.  Another way to utilize the style know-how of celebrity stylists  (who are largely responsible for enhancing their client’s best features and minimizing their worst), is to take some cues from your celebrity lookalike.  Try uploading a picture of yourself onto My Heritage’s face recognition tool to find out which star you most resemble and pick up some hair and make up tricks from your Hollywood doppelganger. You can spend a frivolous ten minutes, okay, 40 minutes – uploading your photos to produce a range of celebrity faces that are most similar to yours. Consider yourself forewarned and turn the gender function on first.

And if, after all that fun and creativity, you do decide to go ahead and buy something, first visit Made By, a U.K. based non profit that recently launched a set of online tools that allow us to make our fashion purchases as transparently as possible. Features such as Scorecards and Track & Trace, record the eco-developments of the participating brands and allows the consumer to see exactly where and who created a garment.

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Haruku ballet flats (above) by Hetty Rose, made from vintage Kimono fabrics.

“Fashion is about two things: the evolution and the opposite,” was Karl Lagerfeld’s proclamation to press during a preview of his spring couture collection. I’m not sure he was referring to the flat and the wedge, but the Chanel model wearing pretty black ballet shoes with transparent ankle straps did appear a strike against a suddenly dated stiletto.

This season, it’s about choosing the thin edge or the wedge. The divergent shoe choice reflects an unusual unfolding between successive fashion era influences. The tunics and square-shouldered cuts are clearly inspired by the spare minimalism of the 1960’s, shown side-by-side with relaxed tailored ensembles informed by the free-flowing heyday of YSL in the 70’s.

From my recent experience of graceless clomping through Mumbai’s higgledy-piggledy streets, I can’t agree with Harper’s Bazaar’s assessment of the new platform as, “the hip, walkable flat wedge.” It is, however, the only option for anchoring the billowing looks of the 1970’s. Flowy is one thing, floppy, another.

I’m sticking with last summer’s wood wedges with tan leather straps and studs from Celine’s standout collection. They’re the perfect balance of polish and rustic, and justifiably informing many similar looks this season.

Coclico’s Morphos Wolf Wedge (above) in soft grey suede.

For those of us not blessed with a high instep that naturally makes wearing high-heeled shoes comfortable, the return of flat shoes in the form of ballet flats and oxfords is welcome news. The lack of height and weight of the shoes requires a tapered leg and streamlined silhouette. While a nude oxford updates black skinny jeans nicely, the tight silhouette of the ballet flat provides a risk-free point of accent for injection of this season’s trend for neon hues. Bright yellow, orange and red are key colors for shoes and bags this season.

Vegetable tanned leather megumi ochi style 1984 taupe oxford (above).

The ingenious use of stripes, novelty prints and color blocking as seen at Louis Vuitton, Jil Sander and most arrestingly, Prada, are influencing accessories designers too. If you, like me, are irrationally tempted by the trend for pink jeans as soon as the weather thaws, a bright red ballet shoe would amp up the look.

Recycled Babylon Flat (above) in red, by Olsen Haus.

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