Started in 1892, Vogue has been an international standby in the realm of fashion and life. With varied articles throughout its history, vogue has a fairly wide draw, though its predominant focus is on fashion. The February print issue features Kristen Stewart on the cover, and stories ranging from snagging classic trench coats at reasonable prices to a woman’s near fatal brain injury. However, the stories take a back seat to the advertisements. I was literally on page 54 before I was able to get to the table of contents just to see the articles.
However, I was immediately given some great Louis Vuitton fold outs, and four consecutive pages of Prada, featuring cacophonously colorful shoes that look like boy scouts made them out of gimp twine for their ‘crafty fashion’ badge.
Ads like this take up every other page, interspersed with the occasional article, most of which don’t continue past a page. If by chance an article does stretch on past its allotted ¾ page, the remnants are tucked away in the back, in simple columns, with not life whatsoever. You have to be damn motivated to go back there to find out what happened with that New York artisan pasta maker.
In the online version, you’re given a pretty nifty little feature that makes you flip through the articles until you find the one you’d like to read. Baggy polka dot pants? Count me in. At this point we’re shown the sometimes preposterous, sometimes moderately decent street style of New York during fashion week. This is absent in the print edition, probably because it isn’t quite enough of a draw, and since the labels are on the inside of the clothes, the advertisers would have absolutely no reason to sponsor that madness.
In the world of fashion magazines, Vogue has been around so long it has become the standard publication by which many other are measured. This is an automatic leg up on the competition, simply because of the name recognition. However, in all reality, it’s just a fancy way to market clothes. Granted, it’s a wonderfully photographed, well organized advertising vehicle, but that’s really all it is. This is pretty similar to all the other fashion magazines on the market. Vogue is simply a higher tier than many of the rest. Editorially, the main focus is going to be clothes and the people who wear them (which could be you! If you have $790 do drop on the back cover Miu Miu pumps).
In print, we get the wonderfully glossy, tangible advertisements, and the adorably girly feeling of flipping through a magazine, presumably while sitting under a dome hair dryer gossiping. Online, I get to pretend I’m totally not reading that Lady Gaga interview… which I may or may not be able to resist.
Of course, online, I don’t have to shell out 4 bucks to do this, but I also don’t get many of the stories featured in the print edition, and looking through the website for specific stories is a pain, it’s cluttered with slideshows and vague categories like nobodies’ business. However, in print, what you see is what you get, I don’t get to read comments, go further in depth, or show everyone on Facebook just how terrifying the wide legged Kate Hepurn pants revival is.
Of course, the target audience in Vogue is going to be those interested in fashion. Predominately women, and despite the ridiculously high priced brand names, most of these women are going to be pretty average, hence Vogue’s continued popularity. The ads blend seamlessly in with the articles, because that’s how it’s intended.
Personally, I prefer the print version. I’m not a big fan of reading online, and I’m really not a fan of the somewhat forced flow through the website. Though I appreciate their attempt to make it ‘magazine like’ in feel, but they don’t account for my ability to flip through pages at nearly inhuman speeds. It is nice to be able to comment on articles, but let’s be real, that’s just for me to try and show off my own wit in the online community, nobody actually takes article comments on “Steal of the Month” seriously. I just read it and call it good.
Surprisingly, despite Vogue’s fairly superficial subject matter, there’s been quite a bit to discuss here. Obviously plenty of people put a lot of time and effort into crafting this publication, and it’s been fun uncovering all that.
However, I was immediately given some great Louis Vuitton fold outs, and four consecutive pages of Prada, featuring cacophonously colorful shoes that look like boy scouts made them out of gimp twine for their ‘crafty fashion’ badge.
Ads like this take up every other page, interspersed with the occasional article, most of which don’t continue past a page. If by chance an article does stretch on past its allotted ¾ page, the remnants are tucked away in the back, in simple columns, with not life whatsoever. You have to be damn motivated to go back there to find out what happened with that New York artisan pasta maker.
In the online version, you’re given a pretty nifty little feature that makes you flip through the articles until you find the one you’d like to read. Baggy polka dot pants? Count me in. At this point we’re shown the sometimes preposterous, sometimes moderately decent street style of New York during fashion week. This is absent in the print edition, probably because it isn’t quite enough of a draw, and since the labels are on the inside of the clothes, the advertisers would have absolutely no reason to sponsor that madness.
In the world of fashion magazines, Vogue has been around so long it has become the standard publication by which many other are measured. This is an automatic leg up on the competition, simply because of the name recognition. However, in all reality, it’s just a fancy way to market clothes. Granted, it’s a wonderfully photographed, well organized advertising vehicle, but that’s really all it is. This is pretty similar to all the other fashion magazines on the market. Vogue is simply a higher tier than many of the rest. Editorially, the main focus is going to be clothes and the people who wear them (which could be you! If you have $790 do drop on the back cover Miu Miu pumps).
In print, we get the wonderfully glossy, tangible advertisements, and the adorably girly feeling of flipping through a magazine, presumably while sitting under a dome hair dryer gossiping. Online, I get to pretend I’m totally not reading that Lady Gaga interview… which I may or may not be able to resist.
Of course, online, I don’t have to shell out 4 bucks to do this, but I also don’t get many of the stories featured in the print edition, and looking through the website for specific stories is a pain, it’s cluttered with slideshows and vague categories like nobodies’ business. However, in print, what you see is what you get, I don’t get to read comments, go further in depth, or show everyone on Facebook just how terrifying the wide legged Kate Hepurn pants revival is.
Of course, the target audience in Vogue is going to be those interested in fashion. Predominately women, and despite the ridiculously high priced brand names, most of these women are going to be pretty average, hence Vogue’s continued popularity. The ads blend seamlessly in with the articles, because that’s how it’s intended.
Personally, I prefer the print version. I’m not a big fan of reading online, and I’m really not a fan of the somewhat forced flow through the website. Though I appreciate their attempt to make it ‘magazine like’ in feel, but they don’t account for my ability to flip through pages at nearly inhuman speeds. It is nice to be able to comment on articles, but let’s be real, that’s just for me to try and show off my own wit in the online community, nobody actually takes article comments on “Steal of the Month” seriously. I just read it and call it good.
Surprisingly, despite Vogue’s fairly superficial subject matter, there’s been quite a bit to discuss here. Obviously plenty of people put a lot of time and effort into crafting this publication, and it’s been fun uncovering all that.
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