OK folks, here we go. Today, off and on (because work and chores) I'll be conducting my annual ritual of live-tweeting my reading of the @condenast @voguemagazine #SeptemberIssue. And I'll be bringing to it the same lens I have in previous years + a 2020 one. Follow this thread:

Anyone following this thread might also like to watch my @BoF conversation with @imranamed from June featuring my four must-dos for the fashion industry to have a future post-pandemic: I'll be echoing those themes @condenast @voguemagazine #SeptemberIssue

The first thing to note about this year's @condenast @voguemagazine #SeptemberIssue, beyond its theme #VogueHope, is that for the first year in a VERY LONG TIME, it is not a gigantic doorstopper of an issue. Pandemic = less advertising and editorial.

Opening @condenast @voguemagazine #SeptemberIssue to find another #VogueHope cover illustration. Presumably I'll find out more about the artists and the artwork as I read.

Off to a bad start, @lancomeUSA. 7 pages pushing 'younger skin'. Good on diversity, bad on #ageism. I want to give my money to a skincare brand that celebrates the skin I have now, on older models @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue #LiveOlder #SayYourAge

My immediate reaction to @Prada: "People have money to spend on @Sothebys auctions?" @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

. @Dior has gone for the catalogue approach - featuring something we saw a lot of in last year's @condenast @voguemagazine #SeptemberIssue and I'm sure we'll even see more of this year: CCD. Carefully Calibrated Diversity. #VogueHope

Full marks for 3 Black models out of 4, @LouisVuitton @LVMH. But to all @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue advertisers: this was your chance to do something very different, in 2020, the year of the pandemic and #BlackLivesMatter . Why didn't you?

. @chanel - carefully calibrated diversity, advertising like this was a year like any other. @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

. @gucci is doing incredibly well, so figures they'd do more of the same - but @gucclove, what a missed opportunity to bring your eccentric brilliance and creativity to acknowledging 2020 in your ads. @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue #GucciTheRitual

More of the same with @YSL. You'd never know the world had changed completely. @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

2nd skincare spread @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue, same deal. @esteelauder talking 'youth-generating' and 'more youthful' skin. I want to see older models, revelling in their age. Remember, this kind of #ageism makes younger women feel insecure #LiveOlder

. @TiffanyAndCo leads with the Black model. At least that's something. @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

. @dolcegabbana advertising outfits that are definitively not designed for Zoom calls. @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

#ValentinoEmpathy @maisonvalentino = posed, not demonstrated. But I WANT that @MariacarlaBosco leather bustier. Fun fact: @beyonce wears my @TOMFORD @YSL bustier for 'Yonce' (loaned to her stylist): https://www.thecut.com/2013/12/interview-ricky-saiz-on-beyonces-yonce-video.html Now when I wear it my nipples rest where Beyonce's did

Oh look! As you go nowhere in the pandemic, you can monogram your @Fendi handbag so it makes you feel really good as it sits in your closet @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

I'm struggling with the creative choices here. @MIUMIUofficial @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

Should you wish to lay out in the snow, this is the Bottega Veneta gown to do it in. @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

Kudos @McQueen for featuring a Black model, although I have a hard time conceiving of when anybody will be wearing these outfits out anywhere any time in the near future... @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

Load up on these for your next Zoom meeting! @bulgariofficial @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

Call me old-fashioned, but right now, when the world is desperately in need of warmth, empathy, human connection, and, yes, #VogueHope - wouldn't this be a great time to drop the po-faced/stern model expression approach? @Ferragamo @condenast @voguemagazine #SeptemberIssue

This is a really boring skincare ad, but well done @clinique on not saying anything about 'youth' or 'younger looking skin' @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue #LiveOlder #SayYourAge

Oh look! At last! We're finally through the ad jungle and heading into the editorial! @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue

Nope, spoke too soon. Back to the ads. @RalphLauren went to town on diverse model casting (although, as always, not body diversity) but the 'back to school' feel of kids in fall clothes is jarring when that's a huge issue now @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #Septemberissue

Same old same old, @maxmara. If you're not going to innovate in your @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue ad approach, then why not at least cast an interesting model vs standard white blonde? Why not (shock horror) an OLDER WOMAN? Even, a REAL-LIFE OLDER WOMAN?

60-odd pages into @condenast @voguemagazine #VogueHope #SeptemberIssue and FINALLY we have an advertiser speaking to our new reality versus pretending it's 'business as usual'. Well done @Nordstrom @micaiah_carter @Renellaice @Sarrjamois