26 Fashion Designs plus fold-out and more American Vogue Covers printed on both sides of page

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.