--TOTALLY BANANAS--

Elle UK is far and away my favourite magazine of the moment, outstripping Vogue by miles(seriously, Cheryl Cole as the October cover? Does anyone else think that was just a massive error? Or is that just me, as Ms Cole is one of those people I hate with a sort of guiltless relish?). So I was really looking forward to their 25th Anniversary Issue, which came out this month. I wasn't disappointed-there were some amazing shoots, interesting essays (something which it's always been better at than Vogue, who tend to focus all their longer features on fashion) and, as per usual, great graphics. (I wouldn't have the imagination to be an art director, but I do sit staring at pages of magazines for minutes on end, simmering with annoyance that a branch of the one of the letters of one of the words of the title is slightly, just slightly, overlapping with the model. Elle doesn't tend to do this; instead they have words floating in a random order which satisfies me in deep, inexplicable OCD ways. Vogue's graphics are pretty standard. Although, not wanting to be completely unpatriotic, I must admit that, Cheryl Cole aside, Vogue UK was good this month-far better than the September issue which I found pretty boring).

Ok, massive magazine sidetrack there...Basically, the point of this was to highlight one of Elle's October editorials featuring Coco Rocha, who I've always loved as a model ever since I first saw her in Teen Vogue, because she's so much more than a walking, talking clothes' rail. She dances spectacularly, she reaches out to her fans via her blog, and she actually has a personality of her own that comes across in every video and interview I've seen of her. Basics, I love her.

This shoot was different from normal in that it wasn't trend driven (instead it depicted 25 wardrobe classics), and it was very much story-based (my favourite type of editorial!). As a result the photos are really spontaneous and have a strong narrative element. The ones below aren't necessarily my favourites, but are the most unusual ones in terms of how fashion shoots typically are; however I encourage you to look at the whole thing here. (Or, you know, you could buy the actual magazine, nothing wrong with that). And, to cap it all, there's even an amazing behind-the-scenes video here, which is a demonstration of how to separate the wheat from the chaff, model-wise. I seriously doubt many models could cope with such a high-tempo shoot(apart from anything else, they'd probably collapse from a lack of nutrition. OH no she didn't. Actually, yes, I went there. I'm sorry, some models are just too thin.)-actually, I don't think I could cope with it either.

Well, that concludes my little love fest for today. I feel like an American, with all this positivity flowing left right and centre. I should probably add some bitingly sarcastic remark on the end, like a true Englishwoman...

...LOL jk.

The end.

(fashiongonerogue.com)