This fascination I have with the Brits…

Continues. My birthday was a couple weeks back and I treated myself to a copy of British Elle. After dining and dancing at the swanky but never stuffy Hudson Hotel, I popped in an area newsstand to glance at some international titles. Sometimes I get bored with American rags. When I was a student at FIT, I would duck into the school library between classes to read all the French and Spanish Vogues (well, more like look at the pictures) and (you guessed it) British Elle to marvel at how it all came together. The images; the words – it was like a sugar rush. Magazines became a true passion of mine. Somewhere between now and then I got a little jaded (I now work at a magazine and at times get very frustrated with the politics of publishing) and just plain busy (trying to get this work/life balance thing right) so I don’t indulge in this creativity boosting activity nearly as much as I should and could.


March 2008 cover of British Elle

I realize that the Internet makes it possible to view just about everything on the web these days but nothing beats swooning over a hard copy of your favorite magazine. Would I think this way about British Elle if I actually still lived in London? Probably not. Honestly, I even enjoy looking at the freakin’ ads. Marks & Spencer (a discount retailer no less) produces some of the sleekest out. I’m gonna treat myself to British Elle and some lesser known foreign pubs more often than once a year. Sure that copy set me back close to ten bucks (the dollar ain’t worth ish right now…) but I can budget for it occasionally. Reading this issue put some much needed fire under my butt and reminded me of why I went to FIT and wanted to work at a magazine in the first place. I truly do have a passion for this and it isn’t going anywhere. It is way too early in the game for me to be jaded (I’m not close to where I know I can and wanna be) and learning to "properly" balance work and life will probably take me a lifetime.

Leave it to those Brits to help a sis’ get her juices flowing! $10 mag versus $250 therapy session… You do the math.


Fly girl Chloe Sevigny was a guest editor for the issue. I saw her on a NYC subway platform a few months back looking like the epitome of bohemian chic!


Marks & Spencer ad