Notes Vogue Harpers Bazaar Elle

I have chosen to critically analysis these three magazines as they have a similar genre to one another.

As you can see from the media packs for each magazine above, they have a very specific audience. Made up of predominantly female, between the ages 34-45. These women are most notably middle class (ABC1). The magazines are all predominantly about fashion. This is where stereotypes get involved. It is stereotypical that women are interested in fashion. You will also find that the products shown on such magazines are on a higher price range: luxury products. This linking to the class (socioeconomics) of the audience. The products are targeted at an audience that can afford such products, or aspire to be able to purchase the products. Such magazines, like Vogue, project a representation of a materialistic female that cares about fashion & luxury goods. In a sense, this projects quite a negative representation of them as such topics could be seen as superficial & does not feature anything of substance. But on the other end of the scale, generally a female that owns such magazines have a successful life. They look good as they are purchasing a magazine that includes articles on fashion, make up & hair. You will also typically find female celebrities on the cover of these magazines. A variation of age is usually covered. These females are successful, just like the woman reading are/ are aspiring to. The covers used above show Jennifer Lawrence, Lady Gaga & Britney Spears posing for the cover of the magazine. As you can clearly see, Lady Gaga & Britney Spears look considerably more demure compared to other outfits or even other magazine covers they have been on. This is because they have to appeal to the target audience of the magazine. The celebrities can also lead to a larger audience, as fans of the celebrity could also buy the magazine. Using socio-economics, you can see the social group of these magazines. The Vogue media pack states that there socio-economic status is 68% ABC1 & in this 34% are AB. The social group is majorly on the higher side, compared to C2DE. Their social class is higher than the average person. You would expect these similar kinds of women to be friend with one another. Possibly work colleagues or live in the same area, as they can afford similar things.

Social issues found in these magazines would be targeted at what the audience would be interested to know about. The magazine wouldnt feature a social issue that could possibly damage their publication e.g. criticism of the size of models on the runway, as they are linked to this problem. Social issues that have been brought up, specifically, are the models featured on the cover of their magazine. Vogues international editors signed or the healthy body initiative, which was made to project positive body image to the public, specifically their readers. Elle includes articles on lifestyle; one of their articles mentions that fact that people talk less in person due to technology. Stereotyping in these kinds of magazines particularly depict a stereotype in their advertising. A paper I have read claims that women see such adverts that include airbrushed woman & they feel bad about their own physical appearance (http://tinyurl.com/mppqnha). Take the three celebrities on the front cover, what do they actually look like in person. Females are depicted to be perfect looking in the magazines, but in un-airbrushed photos, they actually look real. In terms of presence and absence, products that would be included in other female magazines like washing up liquid & other household cleaning products (which in itself is a major stereotype), are not found. Meaning this is an absence from the magazines. Higher-end products replace these. There is a presence of airbrushed images & skinny models, which means there is a absence of larger models & natural images. Absence of male content, or stereotypically male content is also apparent, due to the target audience.

Front covers: Although there are slight changes between them, the covers of Vogue, Elle & Harpers Bazaar all use a similar font for the title of their magazine. The font is a clean-cut, classic font that includes serifs. You could say that each of the fonts originates from the font Times New Roman. The use of serifs allows each individual letter to be seen individually. Also noted is that each letter is in capitals, which gives the added effect of the letters being easy to distinguish. Using such a font has become associated with this genre of magazine. Looking at Harpers Bazaar, the word Bazaar is considerably larger than the word Harpers. They clearly wanted to replicate the Vogue & Elle titles. Another point about the font is that, as it is connected with this genre magazine, it connotes certain feelings & opinions. For example, personally, its high-class, strong, bold & classy. This can link to the audience of the magazine.

Vogue: This particular cover of Vogue, which features Jennifer Lawrence on the cover, has some things you can point out which are specific to this genre of magazine. Looking at the font used on the cover of the text that is not the title, you can see it is different. The font used here is more modern in a way as it doesnt used serifs. The contrast of the two fonts makes the Vogue font more impactful & iconic, as it only used once. The text tells you what will be included in the magazine, or the most important parts that may sell the magazine. Using the white doesnt contrast in a harsh way against the image, but contrasts enough for the writing to be a focus point. Looking at the image used, it a very reserved, mediumclose shot of Jennifer Lawrence. The image is a classic shot, which is what the magazine genre is all about. She is meant to connote what the target audience would like to look like. It captures the beauty of her face nicely. The inside of Vogue magazine is where the images can get a little bit more adventurous. Like stated a few paragraphs earlier, the image has clearly been edited & photo shopped. If you look at a different magazine Jennifer Lawrence was on the cover of (Rolling Stone popular culture & politics), you can see that this image would not be found on the cover of Vogue magazine, as it is unpolished & doesnt connote what Vogue is about. Harpers Bazaar: Looking at this magazine cover, you can put into place many of the things I have mentioned above about Vogue magazine. This cover oh Harpers Bazaar has followed a colour scheme, compared to Vogue magazine. The black & white contrast of the text & the background & Britney Spears outfit is a classic way to contrast as they work well together as well. The colour red is also used on the cover to link particular parts to one another e.g. Update Your Look, New Season & + are all linked together. It is basically saying update your look because its a new season & we can help with a runway report. Also, unlike Vogue, they used the same colour for the title as the majority of the other text. This could be due to the fact they believe the magazine doesnt need to stand out as they are already

established. The fonts used on the cover differ slightly. The text also differs in the boldness. The text on the left uses bold, unbold & then bold again. This is also used on the right hand side. This allows each different point to be paid, without blending in with the other. I believe they have done this instead of using a contrasting colour. The font also differs from the font used for the title, just like Vogues cover does. This separates both parts (I have mentioned this further whilst annotating the Vogue magazine cover). Looking at the image specifically of the cover star (Britney Spears), we see that the photograph is photo shopped & has been edited. Lets compare with another of Spears magazine covers. You would not find this kind of photo on the cover of Harpers Bazaar, as it is clear that Cosmopolitan has a different demographic & target audience. You can also tell that the photograph used for Harpers Bazaar is more edited, compared to the cover for Cosmo.

Elle: Looking at this magazine cover, you can clearly now see the similarities between Vogue, Harpers Bazaar & now Elle. A similar font is used again. This is slightly taller & thinner that the other two, causing slight difference between them. Colour wise, it could be seen as being similar to the Harpers Bazaar cover, as white & black are a prominent colour. The grey colour used for some of the text (including the title), fits into this colour scheme of black & white. The black also matches Lady Gagas outfit. The matching of the grey of the title with some of the other text on the cover creates a coherent cover, which is also found on the cover of Harpers Bazaar but not of the Vogue cover. Again, like I found with the other covers, there is a font change from the title of the magazine to the other text on the cover. Speaking of the image on the front cover, it is a very tame photo of Lady Gaga, compared to other outfits she has worn & other magazine covers she has appeared on. You can, just like the other two magazine covers, see that the image has been photoshopped & edited again. Looking at the cover above of FHM that Lady Gaga appeared on, you can clearly tell there is a difference in what the magazines want for a cover photo. This photo is more sexualized, as it is targeted at a male audience, whereas Elle

are targeted at women & a particular kind of woman (mentioned earlier) Inside the magazines: These are three pages taken from each magazine:

I asked my friends if they could tell the difference between which inserts were from Elle, Vogue & Harpers Bazaar. They actually guessed incorrectly the majority of the time. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that each magazine has a very similar house style. Images are used in each magazine, alongside an article. Half text & half image are around what each of these articles consists of. If you read an article in Elle magazine, you will most likely find the article is 6 pages long (front cover interview). You can see from these photographs that a white background is common in each of these magazines, as is the text being black. Black & white images are also used often as they give photos a classic, artistic & classy look.

The three images above are all the first covers from each magazine. Harpers Bazaar was created in 1867, Elle magazine was created in 1945 & Vogue was created in 1892. As you can see each magazine was actually, essentially, a piece of art. These were obviously made when cameras & photographs were either not made or not commercially used. Another contrast from todays covers is that no celebrities are on the cover, although you know the magazines are targeted at women because the drawings are of females. Elle uses the same font from what appears on their first ever cover. Vogue use a similar font to what they used on there first ever cover. As times have changed, their magazines have changed. They have to alter their magazine to suit their audience, but also sticking to a particular theme/genre. Overall: These magazines, due to the being in the same genre, are very similar. The representations (both positive & negative), social groups, social issues, stereotypes, presence & absence, content, style, symbols, cultural & technical are all incredibly similar in each magazine. Some very slight differences are special to each magazine, making them not a copy of one another.