James Scholar Blog # 7

Elle

In the Apr. 2010 issue of Elle, Taylor Swift was featured on the cover and inside the magazine for the main cover story. Many magazines just give profiles with no background on the main feature writer; Elle differs from other magazines in this sense. It consistently gives you the faces behind the names of the writers, editors and style coordinators. For the feature on Taylor Swift, readers were able to learn about the long, intricate process of interviewing, writing and rewriting by Aaron Gell. Emphasizing the work behind the magazine serves as unique for the reader; the reader can see how seemingly perfect layouts, articles, and photographs have hundreds of hours behind them. Also, Gell’s background was provided as well which made it appear that Elle cares about its writers, not only the people that are featured in their stories and its readers. Elle’s choice to commit pages and pages to their writers sets them apart from other fashion magazines and makes the writers more accessible and relatable.

Because this issue of Elle emphasized women of power in the workplace, there were many office outfits that would appeal to this audience. Featured trends from the runway this season include the architect, spy, librarian, botanist and shrink. These five example looks each had a page to mimic the looks from Michael Kors dresses to Alexander McQueen eyewear. Like Vogue, Elle tends to leave out “looks for less” despite the current economic crisis. For this, Elle should try to follow in the footsteps of Marie Claire which has some high fashion trends for more affordable prices.

Also, Elle revealed the do’s and do not’s for television broadcast as a way to contribute to the women in the workplace theme. Today co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford were interviewed by Zoe Lee; they showed readers how professional looks matter. Being a new journalist interested in broadcast and fashion, I found this very beneficial. Elle provided its readers with so many behind-the-scenes people that the reader can see the reality of the way magazines and television broadcasts are run. It was even great to see a nine-page spread of model Hilary Rhoda in a broadcast themed photo shoot called “Special Report.”
Overall, Elle upheld great class and appeal for the working women readers. Only one article featured anything related to sex and swear-words; consequently, this parallels the professionalism theme of this issue.

Likes: “Special Report”
“Elle Contributors”
“Elle Fashion Trends”

Dislikes: “The Awful Truth”

Suggestions for improvement: Readers needs some more affordable looks. Also, there were way too many articles on books; have a variety of topics about culture, not just novels to read.