Fashionair…. The Final and Best Nail in the Magazine Coffin

Image from the FASHIONAIR shopping page

With the dawn of FASHIONAIR on the web this Thursday, it will only be a matter of time before women across the world — or at least in the US and the UK — will no longer pick up their monthly copies of American Vogue.

Just yesterday, I wrote an ode to my new fashion heroine, Grace Coddington. (WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE THIS GIFTED WOMEN HER OWN MAGAZINE AND LET HER RUN AMOK WITH CREATIVE INSPIRATION??!) But, today I was turned on to http://www.fashionair.com, the new interactive television, shopping, all you ever needed on compiling style from that reality TV son of a bitch, Simon Fuller. In case you don’t know, Fuller started the Idol series (as in American, British, Australian Idol shows that are now syndicated round the globe. He also recently bought Storm Model Management, Kate Moss’ agency.) He’s now smart enough to poach and partner with a female fashion executive from Net-a-porter, a shopping site started almost a decade ago. And away we go!

Here’s the guilty pleasure. I enjoyed surfing this site , watching French Vogue first daughter Julia Restoin Roitfeld (who consults for Miu Miu ) tell me why she always wears mini mini shorts with really high heels to make her legs longer. Her evergreen feline confidence has always made me smile, in person, and now on video! Julia takes part in a profile section that includes photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, who divulges what’s behind her favorite photographs.

Before you knock this off as just more  fashion television, check out the quick how to get the look videos by something called “the Style Counsel,” by LA boutique owner  (and Farrah Fawcett look-a-like) Tracey Ross and another woman who used to buy the goods for Browns in London.

Besides fashion entertainment and style instruction, you can quick read all the trends, buy online, or save items on your own profile page. Plus, you’ll find a varied high end mix of clothes and accessories from Alexanders McQueen and Wang, Burberry, Calvin Klein, and Roland Mouret to Mango, Top Shop, H&M, and (gasp!) Forever 21 (NYC cheap knock off  hunters, come clean.)

You won’t find any ugly people on this site, so the KMart shoppers won’t be logging on. But, in time, everyone else will. I’ve targeted the American edition of Vogue — as opposed to its British, French, or Italian counterparts– since it still panders to a more commercial and catalogue oriented USA audience. FASHIONAIR has now made trend gazing and shopping more fun, even if that means keeping a computer file rather than earmarking mag pages.

Damn you, Simon Fuller! I hate your television shows! But I do like FASHIONAIR. Now, someone please give Grace Coddington a magazine, so I can also curl up in a chair and have her take me away on fantastical visual fashion journeys……

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