I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in the Burdaverse these days.  The old English language site now redirects to the BurdaStyle.com online community, a merging which was promised a long time ago and never entirely panned out until last week, and which doesn’t entirely make sense now because the site content never really merged, with the exception of the fact that the online community now sells BurdaMag patterns. If I were an English speaking reader wanting to find out more about the magazine, I think I’d be pretty lost. But if there’s one thing that remains consistent no matter what name changes and site changes happen in Burdaland, it’s that the Russian Burdites are always on top of their shizz. Once again, the July 2010 preview is linked off of the Russian site ahead of the rest!

For those of you who were hoping for the continued appearance of buff partially naked men in your BurdaMags, if there are any to be found in the 7.2010 issue, they’re not showing up in the preview. But this could get freaky:

Yep, Burda’s going to college** and things are about to get preppy. With three short guys in dandy candy-striped crested blazers with not-quite-matching candy striped ties. (Seriously, has Burda ever actually *seen* a college? Or are they working from a 1950’s picture book about college? Shouldn’t one of these guys be carrying a megaphone that says “COLLEGE” on it?) Is Burda replacing the Central European princes that they normally pull in to serve as arm candy for their leggy ladies with freshly scrubbed teenagers?

Nope.

Hey, why does the hot guy get out of wearing the dorky blazer? What kind of college is this?? Actually, I think I like the striped ones better. I’m actually liking the garments in the college feature a lot. They look like classics with nice details, not too basic. And most of the stuff in it looks really wearable, especially in their sophisticated yet casual palette of navy, khaki, and white. And while I’m generally not a fan of pleated pants (because I’m short!), is it just me or do the pleats get a lot more sophisticated when you get rid of the front fly? I’m really feeling those trousers in the top picture and am even thinking that maybe I could pull them off, for all of my inseam deficiencies.

But especially interesting is that after months of basics and simple shapes, BurdaMag seems to be taking a page out of Patrones and La Mia Boutique with the sort of trendy and youthful silhouettes and details that the comparatively conservative BurdaMag usually eschews.

It’s all very Bebe and Zara, yes? In general I think I’m in favor of them taking a more fashion foward direction in one of their features, though I don’t see myself making much of it because I’m not so keen on making things knowing I’ll only wear them a few times. And I don’t see that skirt going on heavy rotation in my wardrobe. More Patrones-esque dresses, very pretty and unusual for Burda:

And in case you still weren’t feeling the LMB vibe from this issue, have a look at this very un-Burda leather jacket:

Anyway, isn’t that so like your Selfish Seamstress, to whine and whine for months that Burda is doing nothing but rehashing what it’s done in the past, and then when they go radically different, she simply sniffs that it’s pretty and interesting, but she wouldn’t wear it enough to make it worth her while to sew it. Typical never-satisfied Selfish Seamstress! (But I am really eyeing those college clothes.)

But speaking of rehashing, some of the plus fashions are looking awfully familiar. In particular, don’t this blouse and dress from the new issue:

look an awful lot like this blouse and dress from 6.2009?

I’m going to hope that if Burda is taking previous issues’ Misses’ patterns and making them for plus, that they’ll eventually go in the other direction too :)

Overall, it’s shaping up to be promising issue which I suspect will have a little something for everyone. Even the crafts are pretty tolerable this time around, or at least not funny enough to be worth showing here :)

Though I completely understand if you, like me, need to get at least one WTF moment out of each Burda issue, and in case the boys-in-blazers weren’t enough for you, I’ll confirm again that Burda’s 1981 sleeve ruffles are back:

Oops, wait, no that was an actual Burda 1981 sleeve ruffle blouse pattern.  Here’s 7.2010:

Only this time, they’re taking a perfectly cute pair of shoes down too by pairing them with white ankle socks. Argh. Somebody turn the page, quick!!

[** UPDATE: Hmm. The plot thickens. After a couple of comments suggesting that the “Hallo, Kollege!” feature looks more like high school, I went back to the preview to have a look.  That’s when I realized that Burda is using the word “Kollege” rather than “College” which I had first thought. To the best of my knowledge the German word for “college” is “College,” but Burda used “Kollege,” which is the German word for a male colleague. Of course, that being said, German Burda very often uses English words in their features and titles because apparently that sounds hip and modern in German. Do any native speakers of German want to weigh in on whether the feature, which does appear to be at some academic institution of some sort, is intended to mean “Hello, college!” or “Hello, colleague!”? I can’t tell and now I’m so curious!]