Wednesday, September 06, 2006
On the way to the hideous skirt convention
By now, practically everyone has watched The Devil Wears Prada (for those who haven't—yes, Isa, I'm talking to you!—I'm volunteering my services and Carrie to watch it with ya, haha!) and I must say, I loved the movie. Probably because it hits close to home.
Here are some things that the movie gets right (and wrong), in my experience:
1. The Closet: OK, the movie's Closet may be patterned after the famous one of Vogue magazine, but I doubt it's that big (or maybe it is. I dunno. Anna Wintour hasn't gotten to touring me around, haha!). In the magazines I've worked for, we have closets, but they're nowhere near that big. It's true though that fashion/lifestyle magazines do get lots of clothes, either designer samples or stuff we pulled out and never returned, or promotional items that get stuck in the closet forever, but it's not true that we can get or wear whatever we want from the stash. I don't know, it could be different in the States.
2. Freebies: Yep. Perks of the rag trade. We do get a lot of freebies, from cosmetics to gadgets to trips (if we're lucky and senior enough) and we either use these or they end up as gifts for our nearest and dearest come Christmas. When I was at Manual, my brothers were the happiest bunch of dudes on the planet because they always get the free fragrances and grooming stuff that I'm given!
3. Clogs for stylish stilletos: There's a really short scene, part of a montage, of this girl who changed her clogs for more stylish shoes when Miranda (the Devil in the title) was due to arrive. Obviously, she felt her clogs weren't stylish enough to pass muster! In my former office, we had this unspoken rule in the editorial department that we dress up for press cons, on Mondays (simply because it's the start of the week), and on Wednesdays and Thursdays because those were the days that our bosses would be prowling around the office and they would comment if you're not dressed “like an editor.” Younger editors are told to dress stylishly or to fix themselves up so they look “like editors.”
4. The book: That's the term for the magazine. And at the layout stage, laid-out pages are gathered together and put in clearbooks just so editors get to see how the pages flow into each other. Our clearbooks are nowhere near as great looking as the bound pages of Runway magazine, though.
5. Size matters: In the mags I worked for, it's nowhere near as blatant as in the movie, where Emily, the first assistant, was starving herself just to look good. But the constant emphasis on thin models, and small clothes, and even lipo-ing images on Photoshop—all these combine to make any normal woman who's a size 8 and bigger feel downright fat. You either have to be thin or have great self-esteem to work in a fashion and lifestyle magazine.
6. It's a beautiful world: I laughed when Meryl Streep as Miranda was muttering to herself about why there are no real women who are beautiful. Not because it isn't true, but in the world of magazine publishing, beauty is not relative. So, if you're featuring women pilots who've been in the Iraqi War, say, you'll choose the one who's the most beautiful, but not necessarily the most brave. I remember one creative director who freaked out because the baby we featured was “ugly.”
7. Catty co-workers and designer clothes. Real-life local fashion assistants, and even editors don't wear head-to-toe designer clothing for the obvious reason that they're too expensive. We wish! We may feature them in our magazine, but we definitely do not wear them. To use a favorite term of an ex-boss, everything we write or feature is “aspirational.” Most local fashion&lifestyle editors and writers like to put together their own look—for one thing, it's more original, for another we can get away with wearing ukay so long as we look fab when everything's put together. And luckily, all the women I've worked with get along famously. We're all friends. So at least, that's where we differ from the movie.
Thankfully, though, I have yet to encounter an editor like Miranda (or her real-life counterpart Anna Wintour), although there are editors in the local biz who like to think they're as good as these two!
Anyway...On the way to the hideous skirt convention, I went to...
...A bazaar in New World, where I ended up splurging on a cute pair of purple flats. I'm breaking them in right now, and my feet are killing me! But as girls the world over knows, when it comes to shoes, a little pain is nothing.
...and the Philippine Bookfair at the World Trade Center where Carrie and I lost our heads for awhile in a building full of books.
I ended up buying six books:
Sandman: King of Dreams for only P388. It's a huge coffeetable book on Morpheus and The Endless. Now I have to get Neil Gaiman's whole graphic novel series!
Manila on Foot by Sylvia Manahan for a little less than P200. A great read for those who're tired of the malls and want to see something of old Manila and its environs. Of course, it would actually be better if you did go around touring the landmarks, instead of just reading about them. It's such a nice handy reference that methinks this should be a series of books on the metro's different cities.
Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage Pete Lacaba's first-hand account on The First Quarter Storm. For me, this is still one of the best reportage books I've read. Wish we had more writers of Mr. Lacaba's caliber doing books like this.
Natural History by Justina Hobson a hard sci-fi novel. This is a first contact
State of the Art by Iain Banks. Again, a first contact. I've always been curious about Iain Banks and this seems like a good introduction, since it's a collection of short stories. I'm especially curious about his books on The Culture but couldn't decide which to buy first because I don't know which is the first book in the series. Hopefully, this book will clue me in.
Author, Author by David Lodge A novel on the last days of Henry James. I've always been curious of David Lodge's books but I don't know if this is a good introduction to his work, but what the hell, all three books were worth P199 so if they're all duds then at least, I can take comfort in the fact that I didn't shell out big bucks.
Here are some things that the movie gets right (and wrong), in my experience:
1. The Closet: OK, the movie's Closet may be patterned after the famous one of Vogue magazine, but I doubt it's that big (or maybe it is. I dunno. Anna Wintour hasn't gotten to touring me around, haha!). In the magazines I've worked for, we have closets, but they're nowhere near that big. It's true though that fashion/lifestyle magazines do get lots of clothes, either designer samples or stuff we pulled out and never returned, or promotional items that get stuck in the closet forever, but it's not true that we can get or wear whatever we want from the stash. I don't know, it could be different in the States.
2. Freebies: Yep. Perks of the rag trade. We do get a lot of freebies, from cosmetics to gadgets to trips (if we're lucky and senior enough) and we either use these or they end up as gifts for our nearest and dearest come Christmas. When I was at Manual, my brothers were the happiest bunch of dudes on the planet because they always get the free fragrances and grooming stuff that I'm given!
3. Clogs for stylish stilletos: There's a really short scene, part of a montage, of this girl who changed her clogs for more stylish shoes when Miranda (the Devil in the title) was due to arrive. Obviously, she felt her clogs weren't stylish enough to pass muster! In my former office, we had this unspoken rule in the editorial department that we dress up for press cons, on Mondays (simply because it's the start of the week), and on Wednesdays and Thursdays because those were the days that our bosses would be prowling around the office and they would comment if you're not dressed “like an editor.” Younger editors are told to dress stylishly or to fix themselves up so they look “like editors.”
4. The book: That's the term for the magazine. And at the layout stage, laid-out pages are gathered together and put in clearbooks just so editors get to see how the pages flow into each other. Our clearbooks are nowhere near as great looking as the bound pages of Runway magazine, though.
5. Size matters: In the mags I worked for, it's nowhere near as blatant as in the movie, where Emily, the first assistant, was starving herself just to look good. But the constant emphasis on thin models, and small clothes, and even lipo-ing images on Photoshop—all these combine to make any normal woman who's a size 8 and bigger feel downright fat. You either have to be thin or have great self-esteem to work in a fashion and lifestyle magazine.
6. It's a beautiful world: I laughed when Meryl Streep as Miranda was muttering to herself about why there are no real women who are beautiful. Not because it isn't true, but in the world of magazine publishing, beauty is not relative. So, if you're featuring women pilots who've been in the Iraqi War, say, you'll choose the one who's the most beautiful, but not necessarily the most brave. I remember one creative director who freaked out because the baby we featured was “ugly.”
7. Catty co-workers and designer clothes. Real-life local fashion assistants, and even editors don't wear head-to-toe designer clothing for the obvious reason that they're too expensive. We wish! We may feature them in our magazine, but we definitely do not wear them. To use a favorite term of an ex-boss, everything we write or feature is “aspirational.” Most local fashion&lifestyle editors and writers like to put together their own look—for one thing, it's more original, for another we can get away with wearing ukay so long as we look fab when everything's put together. And luckily, all the women I've worked with get along famously. We're all friends. So at least, that's where we differ from the movie.
Thankfully, though, I have yet to encounter an editor like Miranda (or her real-life counterpart Anna Wintour), although there are editors in the local biz who like to think they're as good as these two!
Anyway...On the way to the hideous skirt convention, I went to...
...A bazaar in New World, where I ended up splurging on a cute pair of purple flats. I'm breaking them in right now, and my feet are killing me! But as girls the world over knows, when it comes to shoes, a little pain is nothing.
...and the Philippine Bookfair at the World Trade Center where Carrie and I lost our heads for awhile in a building full of books.
I ended up buying six books:
Sandman: King of Dreams for only P388. It's a huge coffeetable book on Morpheus and The Endless. Now I have to get Neil Gaiman's whole graphic novel series!
Manila on Foot by Sylvia Manahan for a little less than P200. A great read for those who're tired of the malls and want to see something of old Manila and its environs. Of course, it would actually be better if you did go around touring the landmarks, instead of just reading about them. It's such a nice handy reference that methinks this should be a series of books on the metro's different cities.
Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage Pete Lacaba's first-hand account on The First Quarter Storm. For me, this is still one of the best reportage books I've read. Wish we had more writers of Mr. Lacaba's caliber doing books like this.
Natural History by Justina Hobson a hard sci-fi novel. This is a first contact
State of the Art by Iain Banks. Again, a first contact. I've always been curious about Iain Banks and this seems like a good introduction, since it's a collection of short stories. I'm especially curious about his books on The Culture but couldn't decide which to buy first because I don't know which is the first book in the series. Hopefully, this book will clue me in.
Author, Author by David Lodge A novel on the last days of Henry James. I've always been curious of David Lodge's books but I don't know if this is a good introduction to his work, but what the hell, all three books were worth P199 so if they're all duds then at least, I can take comfort in the fact that I didn't shell out big bucks.
// posted by terrie @ 6:53 PM 
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Hey, Te. I do want to see this movie. In fact, earlier today while at Mega, I couldn't pull myself away from Powerbooks, so I went in and...bought a Bob the Builder dvd for Ben. I so badly want to buy books, badly, badly, badly and one of them was the Devil wears Prada. Sige na nga, saka na lang.
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