Glamour raised my ire when they put the Kardashian sisters on the cover of their January issue. That was one issue I did NOT read (seriously, I was mad), and I am a devoted Glamour fan. The problem is that their sales are down 17%, and I can't fault them for trying to reach a new audience. Now they're tinkering with their design and perhaps their overall concept, according to The New York Times:
Fashion Changes, and So Do the Magazines
Here's the new and improved cover:
I submit, how is this magazine any different from Cosmo? Are women only capable of reading five key words? The NYT article suggests a "heavier focus on celebrities." Good Lord, I have the Fug Girls for that - don't mess with my Glamour!
How much of this angst and anger is self-inflicted? How much do men struggle with loving and supporting the fashion world AND being a feminist and supporting everyone's right to like their body and dress any damn way they like? This makes my head hurt, not to mention about a hundred women in the blogosphere are more articulate than I am. As Jo says, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It.
Now, because I am a librarian and deeply believe in being fair and balanced, I Googled the 2011 Glamour covers. I of course found they were all devoted to sex, beauty, shopping, guys and gossip. The content, though was smart and empowering, including articles on health, and women's rights, and financial sense - and women of all ages and colors. We'll see how Glamour's new look alters its insides.
In my mind, I always slotted Glamour into the "too old for Cosmo (because, really, how many times do you need to read those same six sex tips recycled into endless iterations of "hot, new, sex!!!!) but too young for Vogue, Baazar and the other "fashion" mags (because really, who has that kind of money). I know it was my #1 go-to mag from around the ages of 25 - 30 or so.
ReplyDeleteI think Glamour's main problem right now is that their prime target audience is simply not buying magazines. They are reading blogs, writing their own blogs, following street fashion and getting "glamorous" fixes via video Vlogs and other live feeds. New generation, new media habits.