Return of the teen model

Back in the day, when Hanson were, like, the coolest band ever and everyone quoted Reality Bites and Clueless, there were models on the covers of Australian teen mags Girlfriend and Dolly. Nikki and Krissy Taylor were who we all aspired to look like (beautiful Alison Brahe was Australia's answer to the Cali sisters), as were the winners of the magazines' modelling competitions (Miranda Kerr, Alyssa Sutherland), pretty local girls (Liz Alagich, Jane Goldsmith) and overseas teen modelling sensations like Bridget Hall. The supermodels (Helena, Karen, Naomi, Kate, Christy, Eva) got a good run in the editorial features, too. The images are etched in my memory like the taunts of my high school nemesis.

And now the model cover is edging its way back, spearheaded by the popularity of shows like America's Next Top Model (which the mag takes a cheeky swipe at: "despite what Tyra Banks would have you believe, it's been a good long while since any real top models have come out of the U.S.A") and possibly the end of the celebrity cover cycle. Given the pool of suitable teen-friendly celebrity cover models is shrinking, it's rather timely. It's also a way for the fashion magazine to set itself apart from more pop-culture driven teen titles, like Seventeen. This is Teen Vogue's first model cover since they ran Gemma Ward in February 2006. There are 10 pages of editorial showing off the girls inside the mag, too, in addition to two pages telling us how the cover shoot with Ali, Chanel and Karlie came together (and what makeup we can use to 'get the look') , as well as Amy Astley's editor's letter, which waxes poetic about "fashion's most talented teens".


The magazine has gone to lengths to assure us that these are girls we can aspire to be like, unlike those 'other' models who smoke, do drugs and don't eat. Astley describes the three American girls as "wholesome" and they seem to have their heads screwed on, thanks to their supportive families ("one major difference between the new girls and most of their counterparts from other countries: parental supervision"). Ali, described as "young and beautiful but in a healthy way, not heroin-chic way" (though told by a modelling agency to lose weight), says she'll never smoke – "I wish people would use some sense and not think about superficial things like curbing your appetite" – and won't jeopardise her career by partying and taking drugs. Chanel, the most overtly self-confident of the teens, is accompanied to most shows by her mother, China. Karlie, who has an exclusive contract with Calvin Klein, has her school work supervised my family members ("In between shoots, my uncle makes me read my school books and write my papers").

Further to this model coverage, Kimball Hastings' Style Blogger this month accompanies Coco Rocha, who is using her name to give back to the community: "When you've experienced success, you need to share it," she says to Hastings' applause. The model is using her dancing skills to teach kids at the Children's Aid Society in NYC.

The trouble with models as role models, as apposed to young celebrities (who have been tarnished by the misbehaving antics of Lindsay and co.), is they are generally from the same body-type genre (tall, leggy, skinny), despite their skin colour or ethnicity. Back when Nikki and Krissy were doing Dolly covers, the top models had boobs and butts; Cindy Crawford was the poster girl for fitness; athletic-looking Elle McPherson was 'the body'; and the cute girl-next-door look (Tiffani Amber Thiessen....) was favoured over super-skinny in teen-mag fashion editorials. But as the size of the girls on the catwalks have shrunk, so too has the 'ideal body' in the minds of young women. I am all for bringing models back, so long as magazines go to the effort to feature images of healthy 'normal' types alongside the skinnies (and in saying that, I realise lots of teens are naturally thin), so girls can see there is not just one body type or look to aspire to.

I know Teen Vogue's aesthetic is all about keeping in with the high fashion crew, and Seventeen has more room to move on the 'real girl' front, but the blonde models in the issue's two main fashion spreads, My Funny Valentine and Blue Horizons, are also super-tall and thin...

As is this model from 'Denim Patrol'...

Thankfully, Teen Vogue does give us more to aspire to than thin. There are some very cool girls doing cool things, like Brittany Bergquist, who has set up a charity, Cell Phones for Soldiers, which recycles mobile phones to raise money to buy calling cards to send to troops overseas; the winner of the CFDA/Teen Vogue fashion scholarship; Chloe Sevigny, the eternally cool fashion muse/actress; female musicians like Kate Walsh and Cat Power; and quirky French artist Fafi, who is profiled by Eva Chen in 'Beauty Blogger' (I may have a new girl crush – what is it with those French chicks?)...

Music Blogger is one of my favourite Teen Vogue sections, so I lament its disappearance this month (I am getting my fix of Leigh Belz online). Beauty & Health gives us the Readers' Choice beauty awards (Gemma Ward is the favourite model; Vera Wang Princess is the top perfume; Mischa has the hair teens most covet) and 'Power Foods' (eggs, sweet potatoes, walnuts, celery and grilled chicken make the nutritional cut for their varying value to the immune system and energy levels, as well as your teeth: see 'celery'). Further on there's a beauty feature showcasing bright makeup.

In features, we get 'Wild Ride', a first-person account of one girl's regrettable DUI disaster; 'Wannarexia', a story about girls who display eating disorder behaviours, and desperately want to be thin, but aren't clinically anorexic or bulimic (which inadvertently gives readers tips about what information they can find on pro-anorexia websites); 'Sixteen Candles', where we meet Quinn Jackson, who is hosting an extravagant birthday bash for herself, with 250 guests, a Vera Wang dress (her mum's Wang's BFF), goodie bags filled with Jo Malone product and its own RSVP hotline; and 'Germ Warfare', a public service piece which looks at hygiene and staph infection (wash those hands, girls!).

Elsewhere, the young and the fabulously well-connected get a run in 'Trendspotting' (I can see Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Margherita Missoni and musician Phil Collins' daughter Lily) and the usual nepotistical 'Snapshot' page: this month it's Rosanna Arquette's daughter, who wears Chloe ankle boots, just acquired new Tsubi jeans, prefers Marc Jacobs and American Apparel tees and has a thing for Lanvin ballet flats and Keds.
I always enjoy looking at the 'Shopping Spree' pages, which this month uses cute celebrity couples for inspiration...

Altogether not a spectacular issue but I appreciate the magazine's efforts to promote altruism. If I were 15, I might feel like I don't belong because my legs aren't long, my daddy can't afford to throw me a birthday bash with designer gift bags and my mum isn't a celebrity. I might also consider visiting a pro-ana website, just to see what they're like (bad move). But I'd be stoked to read about Fafi and inspired to do something for the good of mankind, in a fashionably Clueless kind of way.

Overall excitement factor: 6
Feel-good factor: 3
Eye-candy factor: 4

The Stats
Issue: February 2008
Book size: 148 pages
Cover price: US$2.50
Inside front cover: L'Oreal Paris HiP
Back cover: Louis Vuitton
Front-of-book ads: Marc by Marc Jacobs (starring M.I.A), Vans, Clinique, H&M, Diesel, Candies Foundation, Covergirl, Apple Bottoms by Nelly, Got Milk? campaign, DKNY...
Editor in Chief: Amy Astley
Publisher: Conde Nast
Website: www.teenvogue.com

Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel