Yasmin Le Bon buckles up in 'Fast Forward', styled by Hannah Teare. Photographer Matt Holyoak flashes Le Bon in her city test drive of a Ford Mustang GT for Vanity Fair UK September 2018 (En Route Supplement)./ Hair by Paul Donocan; makeup by Liz Pugh
Le Bon's critique of the car is surely an example of future editorial relationships between magazines and sponsors. The editorial doesn't say sponsored content -- and I agree with that decision, although others would not. Vanity Fair is hemorrhaging money and new sources of income must be developed. I personally subscribed to the magazine recently, to gain total access to all the content, as it's going behind a tight pay wall.
New grandmother Le Bon strikes a perfect balance with her newsy critique of the car that's filled with details about her own life and what the Mustang GT has meant to her over the decades. She doesn't give it 5-stars and yet there's a lot of solid, positive accolades for Mustang to market around the article.
The New York Times' Vanessa Friedman was critical of Vanity Fair US's September 2018 cover with Michelle Williams wearing Louis Vuitton but not writing 'sponsored cover' . Williams is a LV ambassador and she was photographed by new LV photographer Collier Schorr. I could argue that this is also a boost for women photographers. This complex relationship between journalism and business reminds me of the dating game profile option "it's complicated". Knowing how difficult it is to make money online in a world where consumers think everything shold be free or very cheap, I will refrain from the criticism.
