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Why do people still read buy fashion magazines?
By Meg | February 7, 2008
I’ve never really been into fashion magazines. Then again, I wasn’t really into fashion until this year. So, I recently decided to start looking at some well known fashion magazines and see what they were all about.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to spend money on them. I can read them free at the library or at the women’s gym. Doctors’ offices are full of them. There are even a few in the office of the music building on campus.
At first, they did seem kind of cool, like peering into another world.
I didn’t spend much time looking at them, though, until I decided to get a couple subscriptions in exchange for my E-rewards points that I got from filling out surveys on that site. It was an easy choice; the magazines were completely free while most of the other options were discounts on things I don’t plan on buying.
My first magazine arrived a couple weeks ago. I took out some Post-It flags, sat down, and prepared to bookmark interesting tidbits, great outfits, helpful advice, and so on.
Five minutes later, I was done with the magazine and hadn’t found one darn thing to bookmark.
I also see now why people say that fashion magazines are just one long advertisement. But even though I expected it to be full of ads, I was disappointed with how much the ‘content’ resembled the ads, collage after collage of outfits with no explanation on who should wear them or when, or why they’re great outfits. Maybe that’s because they weren’t. Seriously, most of them would be hideous on anybody. And though I expected the ads to be artsy and out there, the ads actually had better outfit ideas.
And everything was spookily positive. Every outfit was fabulous. Every brand was fabulous. You could be fabulous, too, if you buy, buy, buy. And although the outfits were horrible, they all seemed to be horrible in the same overdone style.
Now, yes, over at The Bargain Queens I do write about fabulous outfits, and I do hope that people buy stuff (though you’re still fabulous if you don’t!). However, I’ve noticed a huge difference in how we do things there. First off, there are no advertisements unless you count the finds that we writers pick and write about. I didn’t realize how significant that was at first, but now I do: I don’t have to worry about offending advertisers. Plus, at The Bargain Queens we do try to give advice, not just in the advice posts, but even tucked in the bargain posts.
Of course, The Bargain Queens isn’t the only blog like that. Much of what I’ve learned about fashion I’ve learned from other great, informative fashion blogs like You Look Fab and Omiru. Granted, I take everything I read with a grain of salt wherever I find it, but I’d trust fashion blogs over fashion magazines anyday.
I do hate to generalize and I’m sure there must be fashion magazines out there that have a bit more insight, but so far I’ve been looking at several of the most popular ones and I can’t understand how they are so popular.
I have found one use for them: becoming more familiar with brands that readers are likely to know. Being the brand-virgin that I am, I’m not really impressed by names when bargain hunting online. All I see is the stuff. So, sometimes I’m surprised when I see a name in the magazines after seeing the stuff online — especially when my impression of the brand was that it was very low class.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to let any magazine sway my opinion of an item. However, I do want to be familiar with the designers’ lines, their general style, how popular they are, etc.
Of course, I can get all that just by scanning my Google Reader subscriptions.
Tags: Beauty, Fashion, Impressions, Language & Writing, Reviews, Saving Money, Style, The Bargain Queens
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February 7th, 2008 at 1:11 am
I think the main point of fashion mags is to sell fragrance, cosmetics and sunglasses — have you noticed how all the big fashion brands offer at least one of the above?
Still, I must confess that I read US Vogue and Elle semi-regularly… they’re just so pretty!
The best I’ve ever encountered is UK Harper’s though, especially their business supplement editions. They recruit a panel of real working women to edit part of the mag and it’s always fantastic. It always has the best advice you’ll ever get from a fashion mag, and it’s the only time you’ll see an outfit you could actually wear to work! :)
February 7th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Hi Sara!
That’s a good point! I’m surprised that my husband doesn’t ask me why I smell funny after reading them, seeing how many samples fall out on me.
There are some stunning photos in Vogue! I recently checked out their book from the library just for the photos.
I can’t remember if I’ve looked at Elle recently.
I know I haven’t checked out UK Harper’s. Now I will have to somehow!
February 7th, 2008 at 5:50 am
I love Vogue. There’s tons of fashion and there’s also always something to read. Glamour, on the other hand, is such a yawn.
I no longer buy it, or many other magazines, to be honest. I’d rather read them at my leisure at the local eatery!
I quite liked this point you made:”And everything was spookily positive. Every outfit was fabulous. Every brand was fabulous. You could be fabulous, too, if you buy, buy, buy.”
This is so true. I’ve never really thought of it like that…
I do like the SA version of Elle magazine, though I never used to. It’s fluffy, but a nice kind of fluffy. Makes sense?
February 7th, 2008 at 6:04 am
I love to look through vogue, elle, and bazaar. aside from that I don’t enjoy any other fashion mags regularly. i assume you looked through the ones i like since they are some of, if not the most, popular i would think.
maybe it’s just a matter of taste. your tastes may not correspond to what’s in the mags. i love seeing the items for new seasons and cutting out outfits and pieces i like for my scrapbook.
with things that are subjective, i don’t think there can always be an easy explanation for why one person likes it and another doesn’t. we each just have different things we are drawn toward. for ex. i hate the outfits and just about everything in lucky magazine, and for many others it is their favorite.
but anyway i like vogue and elle both for their articles and photos, bazaar is light on reading but has nice clothes. other than that i just like the clothes and i like how flipping through mags. makes me much better prepared when it comes to shopping responsibly.
i know what i like, what i need, and how to pair things together and some of that is from spending time looking at images of clothing and learning from that exactly what i’m drawn to, and what i don’t like, and how i can use the products out today to build and maintain a wardrobe that fits my unique style. and other than that i just love fashion and looking at images of beautiful clothes is something i enjoy doing, even if i can’t nec. buy the pieces for myself.
sorry about any typos im typing late at night.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I used to subscribe to Vogue, W, Lucky, & InStyle.
I no longer have Vogue, or W and I’ll be letting InStyle lapse.
Lucky, however, I love. I can actually afford some of the stuff, and I actually earmark trends to try/look into. Plus, I love Lucky Rewards (luckymagrewards.com).
February 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
It’s definitely true that everyone has their own tastes! My style is generally a lot simpler than what is in the magazines.
For the record, Vogue wasn’t on my worst of list, though I didn’t get a whole lot out of it either. In other words, “Love the pictures, glad I didn’t pay for them.”
I think my biggest gripes are the lack of real advice in most, the extreme commercialism, and their cost — especially when there are so many wonderful blogs and online magazines that can be read for free. With so many ads, you’d think those magazines would more than pay for themselves.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t occasionally flip through them ; )
February 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I hear that. I stopped buying fashion mags a year ago, and I haven’t missed them since. All I want and more, is located at style.com
But I’ll go through them anyway
February 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I read them at doctor’s offices and the like, too. And you’re right, there’s almost nothing actually in them. It’s sad. I think they’re excellent if you need material for an art project, but most magazines are disappointing when it comes to content.
Once you’ve bought your wedding dress, for instance, Bride’s magazine is pretty pointless. Sure there are articles, but I can’t find them.
February 7th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Fabulously Broke,
Same here — I’ll go through them every now and then, but I prefer sites like style.com
Mrs. Micah,
Good point about those bridal magazines! I don’t think I bought a single one when I was getting married. I flipped through a few at a magazine stand here and there, but I didn’t see anything remotely useful.
What a shame, too! Planning a wedding can be such a stressful time. It would be nice if the mags had some really useful advice on how to get everything done and not go crazy. Fortunately, I did find some advice online.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I hate bridal magazines with fiery passion — always have, always will.
I’d always avoided them ’til I got engaged (I never wanted to get married ’til I met my husband, so I didn’t start planning my wedding ’til then :) But when I did look through some bridal mags for some ideas a few days after I got engaged, I practically started hyperventilating!
Their attitude was summed up very neatly in one of the mags: they had a bride’s checklist that covered two pages, with about 100 boxes to tick, each of which would require hours of research (e.g. ‘book venue’, ‘book band’ etc.) On the very next page, there was a short article about the groom’s responsibilities, which could be summed up as ‘wear what she tells you and turn up on time’.
They also had articles about ’small, simple’ weddings, that ‘only’ had 80 guests, ‘only’ had a $50/head cocktail party instead of a $100/head sit-down dinner, the bride ‘only’ spent $1,000 on the dress… in bridal magazine world, a wedding that only costs $10,000 is a bargain!
Then there was all the articles that said your wedding day is the biggest, most important day of your life and every single little detail must be perfect, hang the expense. They practically say that there’s something wrong with you if you’re not obsessed with finding the right napkins to go with your table setting and having the bows for the chair backs custom-dyed.
Luckily, hubby-to-be took the mags out of my hands, led me out of Border’s and insisted that we make all the decisions jointly. Our wedding cost a lot less than $10,000 and we had a blast.
I’m not universally opposed to big weddings — for some people, a big wedding is perfect — but we shouldn’t all have to have one! Some of us would rather spend the money on shoes ;)
February 7th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I’ve yet to see a blog that does for me what fashion mags do. Most bloggers just don’t have access to the resources magazines have–or the same experience, training, and industry exposure.
They may offer runway pics, pics from people on the street, or their own outfits. But they generally don’t get amazing designer clothing from wherever they want to put together into numerous spreads for me to look through.
They usually aren’t able to do the real reporting, to get the same industry info and insight, and so on. Not dismissing bloggers because there are some on par with journalists and some who *are* journalists, but overall I think fashion blogs lag behind fashion mags, ast least as far as my needs and interests are concerned.
My fashion reading and viewing needs are satisfied mainly by sticking with with the mags (no offense to fashion blogs, they just don’t meet my personal needs, but clearly they do for others) and the Sartorialist. That’s one fashion blog I can get behind. Love the looks there. Again, I think the discrepancy in views is all about what you are looking for and personal needs/tastes.
And I find that there is def. some very good writing in the mags esp. in Vogue and to a lesser degree Elle, as also explained by Andy I think was her name, in the Devil Wears Prada. Many very skilled writers write for those mags and I find there to be a much higher quality of writing and variety of content than what I find in most (all?) fashion blogs (I admit though I don’t reg. read fashion blogs so maybe there are some on par with the mags? Any others you recommend besides the ones already listed in the post?).
Again, not a personal affront to blogs, hey, I write one myself. Just sharing my experience. Great topic, again, Meg.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:37 am
I used to read fashion magazines. Now for my “light reading” I subscribe to GQ and Real Simple. I read Glamour because I have since I was about 10, and I can’t let go. Fashion magazines all reiterate each other constantly, and are so interested in impressing advertisers (if you’ve seen the movie version of The Devil Wears Prada, you’ll know the scene where the editor in chief character asks her fashion editors where the advertisers are represented during a run through for a shoot) that they are virtually useless as a guide for readers. Also, in attempts to look as high fashion/art as possible, fashion layouts in Elle, Bazaar, etc. feature outfits that are literally impossible for most women to wear. I thought that’s what runway was for, silly me. Or W. I love W for it’s beautiful, beautiful pictures, but people don’t really dress that way…do they?
I really think fashion magazines are largely about selling a fantasy, not about helping readers think of interesting and reasonable ways to use trends and look better. I do think Glamour does a fun mini What Not to Wear type column each month, repurposing a trend for a different body type (and yes, the “plus-sized” women they use are often actually what we think of as “plus-sized”, which is nice) so that’s always good. Blogging/style sites have filled in the fashion/style inspiration niche in a good way. I love to flick through The Sartorialist’s most recent photographs and see how relatively average people are using the season’s newest colors or employing texture to excellent affect. Also, when bloggers post their outfits, it helps others learn to repurpose what they own rather than purchase constantly and mindlessly.
But I guess that doesn’t help so much, as fashion magazines are still, you know, kind of a drag.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Sara, I couldn’t agree more! Some of those mags make it seem like the fate of your marriage depends on what pattern is on your napkin and that everyone will be devastated if you don’t give them trinkets with your names and the date on them.
We got plain ol’ white paper napkins and skipped the trinkets because we know that most people throw them out (and the people who wouldn’t don’t need any more cheap plastic dust collectors). Since we decorated with votive candles that we got in bulk with nice votive holders, we just told everyone at the end of the night that they could take those home. You should have seen the rush! You’d think it was a black Friday sale!
February 9th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Hi M,
While there occasionally is a good piece in a fashion mag, the problem I see is that there just isn’t enough content for the price — and very little in the way of genuine advice.
If I want fashion news, then I generally check out the fashion news sections of online newspapers or magazines (I guess you could say that I do read fashion mags in that case!). I have really enjoyed the fashion week slideshows at NYMag.com. Style.com also has some nice articles.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Hi Anastasia,
Well said! The magazines do make a lot more sense if you look at them from the perspective of selling a fantasy — same goes for runway fashions. Maybe that’s one more thing they share with advertising.
I can sort of understand why people would want to read the mags for the fantasy. I’ve actually been getting into some of the fashion slideshows from fashion week. However, with so many other free sources, I still wouldn’t pay for them. Then again, I rarely read fiction in general and I’ve stopped buying most books that I can at the library.
February 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
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April 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
when i was working in a bookstore we used to sell a ton of these magazines, and the women buying them would at least 1/2 of the time say, “i’m just buying these because i’m on jury duty”…is that a commentary on the judicial system or….?
April 24th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Hi Chris,
LOL! I haven’t been to jury duty yet, but I’ve been tempted while waiting at the airport.
What I think is interesting is that women do sometimes feel like they need to declare an excuse like they’re another sort of magazine. Even I admit to reading them at times, so I don’t want to be too hypocritical.