Bazaar does glamour better than Vogue, Dazed & Confused do eccentricity, i-D often focus on 'british' styles and youth culture, and Tatler is 'smarter'
I was thinking about this today, as I was walking along the road. No matter who we might wish to see as the editor of UK Vogue, that won't alter the editorial staff and the type of person that ends up working there. There's something institutionalised about it, and there is the sense that they're now being left behind by every other magazine.
As you say, Tatler already exists to service the toffs, Elle has the high-end high-street thing going on, i-D and Dazed do street creativity and innovation... Yes, the staff at UK Vogue might have class and connections, but they're being outdone on that
and so much more by UK Bazaar, a magazine which sells the idea that a British woman isn't ashamed of glamour. I get the feeling that UK Vogue thinks that glamour is beneath them, a bit grubby, something that desperate people like celebrities resort to using.
If UK Vogue wanted to rebrand themselves as more literary or intellectual, they would really need better contributors than they have at the moment (or those contributors writing better articles). And the magazine could go that direction, if it wanted to, because we can be well-read or high-minded and still love the superficial world of fashion. There's not really any contradiction there - if we're in the hands of a great editor, who can get us to see the art in all of it. And get us excited about it.
