Vogue Colors A to Z: A Fashion Coloring Book

At the time that I write this review, there two different Vogue coloring books that have just been released. The other one is based on British Vogue and this book is based on American Vogue magazine. They are quite different in time period, style, and print. There are 26 designs based on magazine covers from 1912 to 1932. Each one is associated with a letter of the alphabet. For example, the first one I chose to color (using Prismacolor Premier Soft Core pencils) is of a young woman pushing a wheelbarrow of flowers on a windy day. The magazine is from June 15, 1915, and the editors of this book associated the design with W for wheelbarrow. The design is on the front of the back and the letter and stylized illustration (plus W is for wheelbarrow) is on the back of the page. In addition to the 26 designs, there are coloring opportunities on the fold out flaps of the front and back cover. Better still is a lovely four page fold-out at the back of the book which is printed front and back with a design from each of the years between 1912 and 1932. All of the designs include some small details that may be a bit difficult to color. The artwork is appears to have been sketched but the lines are a tad squiggly and there are disconnects that make it more difficult to color. I also noted that the title and other print on the designs have been done with a weird wiggly typeface. I think that the point is to make the design appear vintage but, in many cases, it merely makes it look a little odd. This issue would not keep me from buying the book as I really love the designs otherwise but it certainly impacts my enjoyment of it. If I could place a rating of 4.5 on this book, I would do so; however, as I cannot, I always round up to the next highest star. I will provide more detail about the physical coloring book below but here is a quick overview of what I found: 26 Full page American Vogue Fashion Designs (A to Z) Great extra coloring including 4 page fold-out Printed on both sides of heavyweight non-perforated paper Designs do not merge into the binding area Hybrid Glue and Sewn Binding Alcohol-based markers seep through this page slightly Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens do not seep through the page Coloring pencils work well with this paper but have blending issues The designs in this book are printed on both sides of the page. The paper used is really nice heavyweight, white, and non-perforated. The actual fashion designs are on one side of the page while the letter associated is on the back. For me, that equals a waste page if I want to use alcohol-based markers. If I use any other medium, I can also color that back page as well. The binding is both glued and sewn (with lots of little stitches that are impossible to snip.) The designs do not merge into the binding area. You will have to cut pages out if you want to remove them from the book but you won't lose any portion of the design in doing so. I would have loved to seen perforations on this coloring book for easy removal for framing, This is a fairly thick book but getting it to open flat was really easy. There are many extras such as the fashion elements on both the front and back page fold-outs as well as the four-page fold-out printed with 21 fashionable designs – one for each of the years represented by the covers. There is also a full color thumbnail of each of the cover designs with a short blurb about it should you wish to follow the original colors. I went my own way for my first project but I certainly had fun looking at the original, seeing the designer, and getting the history of the outfit. I test my coloring books with various medium (which I will list in the comments area for anyone interested in the list.) My tests are not exhaustive as I spend about half an hour per book with my tests. The tests do give me an idea of how the different medium react to the paper but not the experience of coloring a full design. Here are the results of my tests on this book: Alcohol-based markers do bleed through but only the tiniest bit. No other wet medium bleed through at all. That includes water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens. Gel pens definitely require more drying time than usual. Coloring pencils worked well for regular coverage and for layering. My issue arose with blending. My blends were very uneven – with a much darker stain in the middle and only slight color to the sides I was blending. This was true of both wax and oil based pencils. I would have liked to have attempted some blending, especially in the backgrounds but, at least at my skill level, I will have to abstain. My hard lead pencils worked well – but I don't attempt to blend those as that is not how I use them. I find that they are good for some detail areas where my soft lead pencil tips cannot fit.

What an impressive book! I don't know now why I hesitated so long to order this book, it's absolutely fabulous and goes FAR ABOVE AND BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS. The bright white paper that it's printed on is definitely more cardstock than paper. The entire book is put together in such a way that it truly draws you in and you want to know more about the history of each of the fashions and the artist who drew/painted each cover. In my estimation, this book, just as it is would make an adorable coffee table book. But.....it is a coloring book, and one of the very best that I have ever seen (I have seen and bought hundreds of Coloring books..,..there is nothing like it at all on the market). I will color it and pray that I don't make a huge disaster. LOL. Though the pictures are printed double sided, it is done in such a way that, if you were to use a medium and it bleed through, you wouldn't destroy an fashions, only information regarding the fashion. If they were to make more like this book, I would be the first in line. Don't be like me and hesitate about purchasing this book. I promise, you won't be disappointed. Buy it! I am so glad that I did!

This is a fantastic colouring book imho. If you like fashion and want to relate to the designs you are colouring this is a lovely book. Although there are designs on both sides of the pages, the paper is of good quality and the Vogue Cover designs are only on one side of each page. There is a very nice tri-fold fashion plate which folds out and can easily be removed, printed on both sides, on cover weight paper. If you are heavy handed with markers they will go through to the other side of the paper, but only with saturation. Beautiful prints of the original cover art are in the book to show you what they actually looked like when they were published in the last century, teens and twenties. The designs lend themselves easily to pencils, markers and brush pens. Metallic colours really make these designs look brilliant. This book is among my favourite colouring books. I would buy this book again, and may. I paid full price for this book and am very happy with this purchase.

My girlfriend loves coloring books -- I mean, who doesn't really -- but she also really loves Vogue. This coloring book is two of her favorite things wrapped in one...so I bought her two. The artwork in this book is gorgeous, comprised of outlines of classic, hand drawn Vogue covers from 1912 to 1932. Conveniently, in addition to the amazing outlines, you also get in the rear of the book thumbnails of the original, full-color rendition of the covers! While the book is great, I must say, though, that I was disappointed with the ink used for the outlines. Any decent amount of pressure on a page will result in inks from following pages rubbing off and marking the opposite. I was able to clean some of the markings with an eraser, but it wasn't perfect. It's the only real frustration that we've had. Otherwise, I highly recommend adding this to your collection!

Though this is probably intended to fuel the grown-up "therapy coloring" trend, I think it's oh-so-wonderful to have a coloring book to pass along to a child that actually can serve as an inspiration for artistic development! Young eyes and brains need and deserve examples of excellence to shape their growing tastes and talents. UPDATE: Informative, too! The color reproductions at the back of the book not only show the artists' execution of the cover, but each includes a brief commentary that may offer insights about the artist, the fashion depicted, a tidbit from that issue, how the cover content relates to social issues of the times, etc. I found this to be a wonderful means of adding a little depth by tying the world of fashion illustration to the world around it, and interesting enough to encourage further study.

I love this colouring book. The paper is substantial and smooth and will colour well, I think (I use pencils but I think markers would work although I'd test the thickness of the paper for bleed through first). The pages are printed on both sides - a Vogue cover on one side and an Art Deco stylised letter of the alphabet on the other; the whole alphabet is there. There's a fashion illustration to colour inside the front and the back cover, a fold out six page piece at the end of figures in fashions representing 1912-1932 and a section showing the original coloured covers. It's gorgeous!

Sono entusiasta dell'acquisto fatto...consegnato in anticipo e in buone condizioni. Immagini davvero belle, ben disegnato (non come altri libri dove il disegno non sempre è accurato) e di stile proprio come vuole la rivista Vogue! Un piacere da colorare!!!

Wer Erté und seine Zeitgenossen mag oder alte Modeillustrationen aus dem Zeitraum 1912-1932 liebt, liegt hier richtig. Die Papierqualität ist gut, richtig schön dick. Die Motive sind sehr gut wiedergegeben mit nicht zu vielen kleinen Details und trotzdem anspruchsvoll. Einen Kritikpunkt gibt es allerdings: Die Blätter sind beidseitig bedruckt, vorne die Illustration und dahinter jeweils ein Buchstabe von A-Z mit Motto und schönen Rahmenverzierungen aus dem Jugendstil und Art Déco, so dass ich nicht sicher bin, ob beim Arbeiten mit Filzstiften oder Aquarellfarben trotz der dicken Papierqualität nicht doch etwas durchkommt. Wer die Illustrationen nach den Originalen arbeiten möchte, der findet ganz hinten eine Galerie mit kleineren Fotos in Farbe, auf denen die Motive abgebildet sind. Es wäre zwar praktischer beim Arbeiten gewesen, die Originalabbildungen direkt neben die auszumalenden Seiten zu stellen, aber das stört nur ganz am Rande und lässt auch zugegebenermaßen mehr Raum für die eigene Fantasie. Alles in allem ein luxuriös aufgemachtes, anspruchsvolles Erwachsenenmalbuch. Deshalb von mir trotz der doppelt bedruckten Seiten fünf Sterne.

A very good colouring book for Vogue Lovers.

La qualité de papier est bonne, on peut l'utiliser avec des feutres (moi j'ai utilisé des Faber Castell). Les dessins sont tirés de couvertures de Vogue sous forme d'un Abécédaire, par exemple p1 A comme Automobile.... Z comme Zèbre (voir illustration de la couverture). Les couvertures datent des années 20-30, elles sont pleines de charme. Petit plus, à la fin on retrouve toutes les couvertures avec un modèle de coloriage. C'est vraiment un bel ouvrage, je le recommande.