When you look at color all day- sometimes the lack of it, really grabs your attention. Case in point- the day I received my October issue of Elle magazine. It actually took me a few moments to figure out why I was having such a strange reaction to it.
The issue, which features a gorgeous Jennifer Lopez ( who by the way looks way too good for having twins at home) on it’s cover- comes in two cover options- full color (newsstand) and black and white (subscriptions).
The black and white cover is most definitely beautiful, the pose and Dolce and Gabbana gown super chic- but without a speck of true color on the cover it reads to me as somehow odd and quite frankly after a tumultuous week on Wall Street- a little eerie. After all fashion is fantasy- and in times like these I crave lots of colorful fantasy!
The photo spread inside has Jennifer living out any fashionista’s fantasy- being photographed as a muse to some of the world’s greatest designers- half the pix are in b&w, half in color ( okay-now I’m getting it!)
I really do love when magazines use duo covers- like with JLO’s cover- It’s fun to try to figure out the psycology behind the editors choices. Obviously in this case, an experimental cover that is ’sans’ color may fly for a pre-paid reader, but when it comes to grabbing the attention of a potential buyer- color sells.
That’s right! Color does sell, good observation of why newsstand did not take that chance.
I find Karl Lagerfeld looks like a sinister mannequin in the black and white (although he sort of looks that way in color as well, given his black and white uniform). I prefer the playfullness of the color – shocking how much color plays with our perception of everything !