At 235 pages, the September issue of Lucky magazine is not as weighty as some other publications (Vogue is 902 pages, and we'll deal with that later), but fashion fiends should be pleased with the upbeat direction new editor-in-chief Eva Chen is taking.
Chen, who is profiled in today's New York Times Style section, is 33, very active on Instagram, and declares: "I have a bag and shoe addiction." In her editor's letter, she writes that she "swooned" when she tried on a $4,400 lambskin dress. And although the issue has some of the usual pronouncements you expect from fashion mags — Jordan almond pale is the new trend in coat colors; pinkie rings are back — the traditional Lucky mix of high-low is still in effect (you'll see an $850 Marc Jacobs sweater with an $89 Guess skirt). And since this is a "personal style" issue, the focus is less on some unattainable "must-have" items and more on the joy of dressing up, trying new things, getting into a color — no matter the price.
Chen's mother is from Taipei and her father is from Shanghai, and what the Times profile doesn't mention is that September, her first issue, seems a lot more racially diverse than earlier iterations of Lucky. (Chen used to work at Teen Vogue, which has a record of being more inclusive than regular old Vogue.) There are Asian models in the beauty pages; two pages on model/actress Tao Okamoto; two pages on Chanel Iman, and Sudanese model Atong Arjok is in the major fashion feature — she gets a whopping eight (gloriously colorful) pages all to herself.
The one drawback to the issue is the cover. Blake Lively, mouth ajar, in a $3,900 wool and Persian lamb coat from Gucci, is a hyperloop trip to Snoozeville. The cover shot is dull and does nothing to advertise the fun, energetic pages you'll find inside. But this is just the beginning of Chen's reign, and she may have some more exciting stuff up her Proenza Schouler sleeves.
Eva Chen, Trending Now at Lucky Magazine [NYT]
Below, a few great pages from the September issue of Lucky.
DISCUSSION
I like Eva Chen. I follow her tumblr and she is very open about giving advice to people who want to work in magazines or fashion (just noticed after reading this that hasn't been posting in ages, I guess this is why). Yeah, it's easy to roll our eyes at her collection of extremely expensive handbags and talk of swooning over lambskin dresses (sounds sweaty), but she's rich, so... whatever. Anyway, it's nice to see her going in this direction, and taking advantage of her position as a WOC to change things up rather than folding to popular opinion.
As for Blake Lively... I've always found her incredibly dull. She's very beautiful, but her roles are all the same and she has this sort of cloying whininess about her that just bugs me. Don't even get me started on Savages - the whole movie I was like, "Why are these guys so into her? Is her vag made of chocolate and rainbows?!" That might be the fault of writers for writing such a non-dimensional character, but then that brings me to every single one of her other roles...