English Version | Editor's Letter: The Big Book of Trends, September 2024

The unbearable lightness of print

In an issue where we wanted to retrieve the spirit of the old fashioned books that are part of Vogue’s history, especially in the famous September Issues, the weight of a 400-page planned number was something that worried me. Especially having just moved homes during the summer: as an unconditional fan of print, my largest volume of boxes was, in its majority, books and magazines. And if a move is in itself not easy to manage, the weight of the paper, collected over the years, was one more challenge to tackle. I naively thought, while planning my transition in between addresses, that I would be able to reduce the amount of magazines by half. But when it came down to choosing, I found myself flipping through these true art objects, historical documents, timeless references that were part of my training as a designer. Each issue had been saved for a special reason, and for the same special reason, it still had to be part of this weight archive, which I couldn't undo.

Misty Kyd
Luca Anzalone

Each magazine is a real time capsule, and an unaware testimony of each era. The importance of what each one represented nullified the weight it was adding up when packed. In fact, it was about 100 boxes of magazines and books that I ended up carrying with me and my story, to a new home. And between design, architecture and fashion magazines from 1920s to this day, watching the trends of each era is an amazing trip through time.

Daisy Bradford
Andrew Yee

In order for this issue you have in your hands to get to you with a reasonable weight, we relied on the complicity of our printer team, with whom we were able to figure out a type of paper with the Vogue quality and minimum weight, though it can be much lighter. Despite having a matte finish over the traditional shine, it doesn’t undermine the reading experience: I believe that the concept of a glossy magazine has evolved over the ages and today the true brilliance of a magazine is measured by the quality of its contents and not by the glare of the paper. But just as in the polishes of Vogue Portugal covers, also inside this issue we play with the matte and the gloss of the print, which tags along the rhythm and editorial alignment.

Coco Rocha
Domen Van de Velde

The Big Book of Trends, Vogue Portugal’s biggest all-time issue, highlights the top trends of this season, but mostly celebrates Fashion, throughout over 400 pages and 13 fashion stories. And, who knows, some of our collectors may be pleased to come by it in many years, and travel in time just like me, to a Fall/Winter 2024. Because despite trends having a short lifetime, Fashion is part of a lifetime. And good magazines too.

Christie Lenkevych
Élio Nogueira

Translated from the original on "The Big Book of Trends" issue, published September 2024. Full credits and stories in the print issue.