L'officiel de la Mode is the oldest running women's magazine in France, it has been in circulation for 80 years and has over 500 000 readers in France alone. This magazine's purpose is to discover "the French spirit of elegance" which 80 years ago would have been by looking at the talent of sewing; however the new modern day approach looks at new places, expositions, fashion, art, design and architecture. L'officiel pride themselves on knowing that their readers are of the upper classes and are the most fashionable and cultivated women of the big cities.
The archives of their magazine covers have been released on the internet and I found myself scrolling through and stumbling across this sort of abstract style which was the face of this magazine from 1920-1960. I love the colours that are used together and the way 'L'officiel' falls across the page, similarly to Vogue, it had made its mark in the Fashion world and so you didn't even need to be able to see the the full name or in some cases see it at all. I wanted to express how most of these early covers seem on the verge of chaos, but instead due to the genius of angles, colours and images all systematically grouped together, it becomes organised and beautiful.
The two covers simply with a portrait on and plain backgrounds for me show the effortless sophistication and style that France owned through the mid 20th Century, and still do to this day.
What I am drawn to is the impact of these images in such an early stage of graphic design; I find myself more fascinated by the graphics and their elegance in this era than the magazines now minimalist 21st Century approach which you can see in the archives.
Please have a look at the covers for yourself at http://patrimoine.jalougallery.com/lofficiel-de-la-mode-sommairepatrimoine-13.html
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