Vogue encounter

Well while the cover of Vogue's latest September issue is still being talked about, I thought I would share my opinion and a little Vogue related story. When I saw the cover I was so shocked. THE HAIR. THE RIBBON. THE DRESS. Those stood out to me the most. I personally didn't like the hair. I thought it was just weird and just plain confusing. For a minute, I hated the cover. After staring at it longer and letting it sink in, I saw it in a different perspective. To me it looked like a statue. It was sculpted to present the biggest issue of Vogue EVER. The ribbon that adorned the masthead seem to be celebrating Vogue, in a time where digital subscriptions were at a rise; while print sales of the issue were declining. Those 120 years of style had not gone in vain. This cover shocked most of us, because US Vogue is usually much more conservative. The fact that Anna Wintour let Grace Coddington go all out for the cover was impressive, much more than most people appreciated. I really feel like this cover celebrates the art and symbolism of fashion, and it also sends out a shocking cover to a newsstand covered with pretty little covers this month. This was clearly a sales tatic. Gaga and a shocking cover? Of course it will catch most eyes on the newsstands, which leads to more sales. So while some complain about the ribbon or the hair (which I know see as a sculpture of hair on a sculpture of beauty), Vogue will have one of the biggest sales for an issue. You guys all know you will still be buying it. And now for my story:

It was a normal morning. I had just eaten a light breakfast, and was preparing to wash the dishes. I used any excuse to procrastinate having to wet my hands and dry them out with dish soap. After having checked my instagram and twitter over and over, I contemplated the important events in life. Gaga was tweeting saying she was texting Anna Wintour to get her to release the cover of the September Issue, which has the popstar on the cover. I was thinking "girl who do you think you are??? Like yeah you're one of the biggest popstars out there, but you have no power to decide when the cover gets released". However, I was also thinking that Gaga did have a point to want the cover to be released and it wouldn't hurt to be released early. So I was doubting whether or not the cover would be released.

After much procrastination, I was about to wash the dishes when I saw my first emails of the morning rushing in. I had three. I mostly get promotional emails from brands or magazines. This was no exception. I had a Little Monster newsletter,which I usually delete before reading. I then had a letter from The BTW foundation, which I read really quick and then moved onto the next one.

I started out reading the email from Vogue, I thought it would be another "personalized" subscription offer, however when I read the content I was shocked. I VICTOR VERDUGO HAD WON THE VOGUE SEPTEMBER ISUE SWEEPSTAKES. I thought, "this must be spam!!! They could have hacked the system and got everyone's email". However, I noticed that it didn't ask for any more info or to proceed to the link given. It just said I won, and had to sit tight until I got it (not those exact words). I was still in doubt, I ran to the bathroom and called the number of Andee Olson. It took a few rings before a woman answered. She didn't say hello or said who she was. All she said was "Vogue" in a slight accent. I froze. I was in contact with someone at Vogue. Never did I think I would say that. I stuttered and said I had received an email saying I won the Sweepstakes, "is this true?". I was so mad that I couldn't think straight. The glamour of Vogue was getting to my head. I was so overwhelmed. My dad, who was in the process of cleaning the bathroom was knocking on the door "what are you doing in there!?? Don't sit on the toilet seat!!! It has bleach!!!!!!"I wanted to yell at my dad "DAD IM TALKING ON THE PHONE WITH SOMEONE FROM VOGUE, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!". The Vogue girl responded, "yes it is true you won the sweepstakes". How was she so sure?!? I replied "OMG THANK YOU". This all happened in a time lapse of 3 minutes.

I told my dad, "OMG I won the Vogue book!!!!!!!" He was totally confused, and I didn't care to explain. He then wasn't shocked since I said the book cost about $40; yet, that book to me cost a million!! I went on twitter to share my exciting news in my overwhelmed tone. After hours of enjoying my news, I went online to remember when I entered the sweepstakes; which was not too long ago. That's where I saw it. THE BEST PART ABOUT WINNING WAS THAT I WAS GOING TO RECEIVE A SIGNED BOOK BY ANNA, GRACE, HAMISH, TONNE, ANDRÉ, AND MORE. That all had the worth of about a billion LIVES in my eyes. My heart could not take all this excitement. Vogue: The Editor's Eye was a book I wanted to buy as soon as I heard of it. My dream is to be an editor, and Vogue is the pinnacle of that dream. It was all just so perfect. I saw it like inspiration to pursue my dream, with even more motivation than before. I felt so blessed. 

Let me tell you how I won, just so you can see how I didn't expect winning. When I heard about the Sweepstakes I initially thought you had to guess how many pages where in the book they offered as a prize. HA! That would be easy! All it would take is a quick visit to the Amazon listing of the book. I entered the number of pages of the book. I was sure to win! Vogue hadn't thought this through, it was all too easy. Then I read the rules. I didn't have to guess the number of pages in the book, but I had to guess the number of pages in the September issue of Vogue; which would be the biggest yet. GREAT, I ruined my chances to win. However I saw that I was still able to win. I just had to ask a friend to join the Sweepstakes using my personal link. I asked my friend to play, and told her what to guess. My friend has no interest in fashion, so if she would have won...I would get the prize (well I hoped I would). I didn't think about it anymore. So when I received the email I knew I won because I referred a friend to join. That one entry, out of the 10 I could have gotten if I referred more, had won me the best prize ever! 

You can see why I was so baffled about winning. I just appreciated more and felt like it was meant to be. I was meant to win a book signed my many people I admired. It was all to remind me to stay on track of my dreams. I know the road is going to be tough. I know it isn't as winning a book. I'm just going to work even harder now, because I know I can really accomplish a lot if I just forget the obstacles and focus on the result of my hard work.

Here is the only picture I could find of the cover, it's shitty but you get the idea.