James Scholar Blog # 12

Essence profile: Q & A with Holly Robinson
http://www.essence.com/entertainment/celebrity_spotlight/holly_robinson_autism_celebrity_apprentice.php

GQ style advice: solid ties


Elle how-to: “Kiss Redness Goodbye” video
http://videostar.elle.com/videos/73034605001/kiss-redness-goodbye

Marie Claire variety:
Caucasian model


African-American model


Vogue Classic article and look:
http://www.vogue.com/voguedaily/2010/03/and-the-winner-of-the-first-british-fashion-fund-iserdem-moralioglu/

James Scholar Blog #11

After analyzing the techniques, target audiences, and selection of articles of five different fashion magazines, I want to give them awards for best profiles, fashion and how-to’s; most appealing to all ages, genders, and races; and most classic. I will call these “Lily’s Fashion Magazine Awards.”

Best profiles: Essence
This magazine offers profiles of numerous successful, influential people, not only in the celebrity world but “no names” as well. The Q and A’s have questions that give insight about the people featured in the stories. As a result, the reader can relate and feel more connected to the interviewee.

Best fashion: GQ
Although this magazine admits that they have advised many men to wear some silly outfits, their style recommendations are usually great looks. They feature many designers from across the globe and provide pictures of runway shows. Also, they consistently have pictures of suits for businessmen which will never go out of style.

Best how-to’s: Elle
This magazine has a lot of fun articles, like getting the best hairdos or making over your bedroom to show your personality. Having fun articles like these makes the magazine have a distinct personality that readers can recognize.

Most appealing to all ages, genders, and races: Marie Claire
Although this magazine has many expensive looks for professional women, it did have many appealing articles for both younger and older audiences that make it very relatable. Also, I found that this magazine has the most variety when it comes to having African-American, Caucasian, Asian, etc. women and men in their ads and photo shoots.

Most classic: Vogue
Vogue has been around for decades, and it consistently has a wide range of styles, profiles, beats, etc. The writers have an edgy tone of voice, and the stories are very unique to this magazine.

Personal Reflection: Before I made this blog, I had never written anything online in a journalistic style. This was my first experience blogging, and I have very much enjoyed it. Having the opportunity to share my voice with an audience has inspired me to continue on with this blog over the summer. I picked fashion as my beat, because I wanted to try looking at the magazines in an unbiased, fresh point of view. Over time I could see why this is so difficult for journalists; what a journalist decides to write about portrays their interests in a way. Through this project, I was able to dive into the fashion world and analyze the magazines’ target audiences and how the editors portray their magazines through their writing selections. This project has made me look at magazines very differently; I see them as compilations of art: writing, photography and advertisements. There will be no more skimming, only in- depth reading. Hopefully one day you will see my name in one of these fashion magazines as a writer in the future!

James Scholar Blog # 10

My favorite style flub (what were they thinking?):


Featured in the October ’65 issue of GQ

My favorite look:

Dries Van Noten collection in Paris from Spring 2009

New technology featured in the magazine:

Lenovo IdeaPad U1: $1000; available in June 1st, 2010

James Scholar Blog # 9

GQ

Because funds are limited for me right now, I decided to peruse the GQ Web site instead of buying the magazine. Nevertheless, I found myself analyzing the articles and photography in a similar manner to when I read the magazine. As a female reader, it is interesting to see what the editor selects to publish in order to satisfy male preferences. On the Web site there are articles under each category; this makes it easier for the reader to pick and choose what topics he or she wants to read about.

The tone of many of the pieces is very playful and wordy; this differs very much so from the more serious, stiff articles which tend to be in magazines such as Vogue. One article that exemplifies this fun style of writing is called GQ Regrets. The writer apologizes for the numerous looks that GQ has suggested for men over the years. Not only does the writer apologize in a humorous manner, but he also adds a slide show for the reader to see the specific fads that the magazine encouraged. This concept of multimedia for writings such as these really adds to the success of the article. Without those pictures, one might have just skimmed through the article and not taken the time to look at the specific trends that GQ admits were a bit much. For this, the Web version of GQ allows the reader to navigate and select the information he or she receives.

GQ tends to enjoy emphasizing the importance of sexuality through its numerous photo shoots of half- naked women. The Web site provides a video of Victoria Secret models over the years as a tribute to its 15th anniversary of swimwear lines. Also, there are pictures of celebrities men voted that they would want a hot date with like Mila Kunis from “Thats ‘70s Show.” Because GQ seems to target professional men, I think it would be more effective to add some interviews of both attractive and intellectual women. Limiting the coverage of women to only pictures makes the magazine seem less intellectual and more degrading. In comparison to magazines like Marie Claire, articles about the opposite sex have less substance to them in GQ.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the articles on the GQ Web site ,and I would recommend the magazine to others as well. Of course, there are pros and cons to both magazine and online versions of magazines. The ads in the GQ magazine that I have seen in the past are well disbursed throughout and there are more spreads of models for an avid fashion lover like myself. On the Web site, the ads are squished together and distract my eyes from focusing on the words on my Web page. On the other hand, the GQ Web site offers many videos that I could not see in their magazine that add to my GQ reading experience.

Likes: “GQ Regrets”
“GQ’s Restaurant of the Week”
“The Best Desserts of the Year”

Dislikes: “Hot Date”
“The Comeback: Tom Brady”

Suggestions for Improvement: Show some sexy women in business clothing, not only bathing suits. Oh, and give them a personality with a Q&A.

James Scholar Blog # 8

Style A to Zee: From Runway to Airwaves

Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Zoe Lee (from left to right)

Favorite individual featured piece:

(Thakoon jacket- $2,525)

Behind the scenes look at Taylor Swift’s cover shoot
http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Cover-Shoots/Taylor-Swift2

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.

James Scholar Blog # 6

Zoe Saldana at the 2010 Directors Guild of America Awards:


Beyonce’s new scent called “Beyonce Heat” featured in Essence:
http://www.essence.com/entertainment/hot_topics/beyonce_turns_up_the_heat_with_new_fragr.php

My favorite discovery: Mara Hoffman’s designs; www.marahoffman.com

My favorite look from Essence:


Tommy Hilfiger fashion show