You'd be better off with the money in the bank you know!

Today's blog post is from the lovely and very stylish Penny, who I met on Twitter via a shared love of all things Chanel. I was in awe when she revealed that she had an archive of Vogue magazines, going back over 30 years, and was delighted when she agreed to write about it for my blog.

************************************************************************

My interest in fashion began many years ago when I was a small child, playing dress up with the beautiful clothes and hats that my mother and grandmother had magically stored in their wardrobes.

There were always loads of magazines around the house too, and I was about 10 when I started using my pocket money to buy more. Then I got a holiday job in a bookshop, in the magazine section of course! That was when my addiction really began - 40 years ago, and since then it's been 'Vogue UK', 'Harpers & Queen' and 'Tatler', every month, with loads of other titles coming and going over the years.

Back in those days of course there was no internet, no air freight delivery, no Facebook and no Twitter!  Fashion occasionally  appeared in the newspaper  and on the TV news,  but mostly we had to wait for the  magazines to arrive by sea, usually 3 to 4 months after they were published – and that was the first time we actually got to see the Royal weddings, the new collections, the models, the parties , the new seasons ads  etc.  It’s really hard to think back to those days now as I sit here watching LFW 2012 live streaming on my iPad and reading my e-version of the current Sunday Times Style magazine.

40 years x 12 months x 3 titles is a LOT of magazines!   I’ve moved house 6 times since I started collecting them, the last time only 1 year ago and believe me it takes a long time and a lot of car trips to move them all – and there is very little appetite from anyone else to help pack up the boxes and lug them down and up the stairs.

People always ask me what I do with the magazines and I can honestly say that I still read my back copies all the time. I am working on a project currently to photograph every British Vogue cover in my collection by month and Tweet/Instagram them along with some highlights from each magazine. I love the memories and the responses that I get from the Twitter sphere with new followers and friends appearing every week.

My father’s catchphrase when he was called upon to help me move the piles of magazines was “You’d be much better off with all this money in the bank” but he was definitely wrong. Those articles and pictures were the stuff of dreams for me when I was young and before I was able to visit London and Paris regularly and see all that magic for myself. Now they provide the material for the constant planning of the next trip and make the distance between New Zealand and the fashion world ALMOST disappear!

****************************************************************************

You can follow Penny's Vogue archive by following her on Twitter (@pjc16) or  Instagram (pjc16).