Fashion Digest
Josephine Dadeboe
The World of Style Magazines
Attention to Detail
When readers are asked to mention
some of their favorite fashion magazines,
they are quick to respond by saying that
Vogue, Elle, Bazaar, or even Seventeen
magazines are their favorite. For a long
time, fashion magazines have impacted the
world where people are influenced to go out
and purchase new trends based on what
they read in the magazines.
The first illustration of fashion began
with the courts of wealthy aristocrats
recording information about what they
were wearing. In the late 1600s and 1700s,
French women and dressmakers relied on
sketches to see what was being worn.
These sketches were later compiled as
books that were produced and sold to the
public. The first fashion magazine that was
introduced to the fashion world in October
1672 was called Le Mercure Galante. This
magazine showed the styles of how the
French invented fashion, fine food, style,
sophistication, and glamour.
In today’s culture, the illustrations of
fashion magazines have now entered a
society where the magazines can be read
just by anyone whether rich or poor. All
types of people are influenced by what they
read and are therefore motivated to
purchase new items. There are many factors
in creating the perfect fashion magazine
that is appealing to a particular audience.
Although, fashion magazines first started in
France, many cultures around the world
have adopted this form of entertainment
and have been able to capture and captivate
readers.
Sometimes when going to the store,
one can’t help but pick up a magazine that
just attracts attention to it right away. All
magazines can come in all different shapes
and sizes. When one proceeds to buy a
magazine, there are different factors that
influence their choices in what they enjoy
reading from a magazine. In many ways,
fashion magazine has this effect on people
where there may be a famous celebrity on
the cover or the font on the cover is in a
bright, bold color that you can’t help but
pick up the magazine for fashion tips.
By the 1860s, American women could
see original designs by true fashion
designers in new fashion magazines. This
was the new way of spreading news of
fashion trends from Paris. Gowns were
illustrated with drawings, but once
photography became more sophisticate in
the early 20th century, the fashion press
used more photographs of the new designs.
Mainstream fashion magazines like Vogue
and Vanity Fair published fashion
illustration by modern artists because they
wanted ti encourage the connections
between fashion designers and visual
artists.
Many Americans also wore lots of
fashion clothes from Paris because they
wanted to ensure others to recognize the
wearer’s status as cultivated and wealthy.
This would also motivate and propel
someone to travel to Paris and perhaps 1
purchase and afford their own expensive
made clothes.
Fashion
Digest
Vogue
Elle
In recent years, Vogue magazines
have had a tremendous influence on the
fashion industry and other brands. The
company has contributed to the way
people read and look at magazines. The
first issue of Vogue magazines in America
was founded by Arthur Baldwin Turnure
in 1892. He wanted to provide
illustrations and patterns in the
magazines. Then in 1909, the magazine’s
volume became thicker and the main focus
was on women and therefore the prices
were raised as well. Now almost all
countries like France and Russia also have
their own Vogue magazines. The American
Vogue placed color photography on its
cover in 1932. The famed Anna Wintour
(figure 1) became Vogue’s Chief Editor in
1988 and she worked on reflecting fashion
trends and effectively shaping them.
Vogue has worked with the style and
spirit of their illustrations which has later
transitioned into inventive approaches to
letterforms as part of the designs. Around
the late 1955s, Vogue covers had serif and
sans serif typefaces. Figure 1
After that time, the
magazine now has
consistent use of all
capitals headline set
in didone lettering.
This has now
Copyrights to nymag.com
become a very
Vogue’s current editorpowerful franchise. in-Chief, Ann Wintour
If you are a fashion lover, then you
must know about the history of one of the
top magazines in the industry. This
magazine is one of the top women oriented
fashion magazine that is loved by girls. It
was established in France in the 1940s and
makes women as the main focal point. In
early days, the magazine only covered
fashion but now it covers health, beauty
and entertainment. This is the world’s
biggest fashion magazine that has been
published in six continents and has 36
editions. One can also find Elle’s online
website which offers a fresh published
edition for the website that may not be
similar to the printed version. The
magazine was founded by Pierre Lazareff
and his wife Helene Gordon and is also
owned by the Lagardere Group of France.
The title for the magazine is also the
name of the French word meaning “she”.
Elle (figure 2) features articles on fashion,
beauty, and style but also now covers a
variety of other things like food, celebrities,
relationships, and music. Elle is
considered as one of Figure 2
the world’s most
sophisticated
fashion magazines.
In the early 21st,
Elle had the largest
readership of any
fashion magazine in
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the world.
Copyrights to panjury.com
Fashion
Digest
Bazaar
Seventeen
In 1867, America was introduced to
Harper’s Bazaar which provided many
illustrations of European designers like
Charles Frederick Worth. The issues
that were discussed in the first issue of
this magazine were no different to the
concerns discussed regarding the
modernized magazine in our generation.
The magazine cover of the first issue that
was published in 1867 was very different
from the cover on the stands today. It
was published by the Harper Brothers
who created inspiring illustration covers
for the first 50 years. In 1970, it expanded
overseas to the UK & Australia.
Unlike today’s cover format, the
first issue was similar to a newspaper
design as shown in figure 3. Back then,
the magazine title spelled Bazaar with
one letter A instead of two. The font was
also different because it was written in an
old English style and had in intertwining
between letters. Fabien Baron is to be
credited for re-designing the cover of the
Harper’s Bazaar. He commissioned
Jonathan Hoefler to create a new digital
Figure 3
didot that was
drawn in sizes
that allowed
the type to be
set in enormous
display sizes
while still
retaining its
razor-thin lines.
Copyrights to harpersbazaar.com
Since the beginning of its introduction
in 1944, Seventeen magazines was started in
order to show teen girls that they have the
power to be themselves and do good things
for themselves and their community. This
magazine was started to attract happiness
and annoy, please, or perplex readers. It also
spoke to young girls showing them that if
they wanted to be someone in life and if they
wanted to succeed in what they do, they
should go for it. 1944 was the year when the
magazine was published and had sold its
very first issue.
The magazine covered situations that
many high school girls think about or face
because they have issues and they want to
discover what real life is all about. The debut
of the first teen magazine has also helped to
introduce other magazines like Teen and
Teen Machine. In the late 1990s, the
magazine really took of bringing in a
combination of 6.3 million readers. The font
used for the magazine logo as shown in
figure 4 is Arsis Italic. This is a modern serif
typeface font that was designed by Gerry
Powell in 1937. The Figure 4
magazine still
continues to teach
up and coming
teens about the
ways of life and
how to prepare
themselves for the
real world.
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Copyrights to pryncepality.com
Fashion
Digest
Hmm…Interesting
Influence on Readers
In today’s society, the fashion
magazine industry continues to flourish
with new names and celebrities grazing
the covers. A study found that after 3
minutes looking at a fashion magazine,
this causes 70 percent of women to feel
depressed, guilt, and shameful.
Despite the huge leap in digital
circulation, there is still a heavy decline
in print circulation. Vogue’s circulation
in both print and digital is down by
2.8% on the year. Consumer magazines
have also had ad pages that were down
year over year in the second quarter of
2012. The top women’s fashion
magazines have increased ad pages by
153 pages with the fashion magazine
Marie Claire in the lead.
As fashion magazines continue to
reach out to fashion bloggers, readers are
beginning to take notice and take advantage
of finding out about new trends and fashion
merchandise. Leandra Medine of the Man
Repeller agrees that blogs and magazines
will continue to evolve. She says, “I don’t
know if magazines are going to be consumed
in the way they are now, but they have a
strong support of readers.” Also, with the
popularity of many celebrities, some readers
get really excited when they see their
favorite celebrities on the cover. This
influences the reader to purchase the
magazines so they can find out more about
the celebrities and their lives.
Future of Fashion Magazines
Digest This!
Millersville University
Founded in 2014
Managing Editor-Josephine Dadeboe
Editor-in-Chief-Josephine Dadeboe
Photography Editor-Josephine Dadeboe
Writer-Josephine Dadeboe
Fashion Digest
No one really knows the future of
fashion magazines but all that is known is
that it is becoming a lot more difficult to
spend money to buy magazines when one can
go online and look at blogs or magazine
websites. With the use of modern technology
on the rise, this gives fashion magazines more
competition where people are now adapting
to iPhones and other forms of media rather
than reading from print. Although new ideas
are formed each day, fashion editors will
always be faced with the challenge of how to
keep consumers to keep purchasing
magazines from stands.
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