Sweet rus
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If I buy AD magazine, I do not expect to see cars, and if I get NY Times, I don't think it's likely I will see nude photos.Can't it be both though?
Look I completely agree with both of you and yes: normally a Fashion magazine should only only be
So in our mind (globally speaking worldwide) we ALL thought, when we used to read Vogue, that we wanted to see glamour, rich women, lots of excess, beautiful imagery, great photography with luxury brands and that unattainable fantasy world that exists in our dreams and in the pages of Vogue and Harper's ; therefore very very very few of us (and I included myself back then) wanted to see a Fashion magazine talk about politicians (somehow this type of coverage was more suited in our minds to Time, The New York Times, Elle, more ''serious'' newspapers) or super strong topics such as diversity, sexual awakenings, and all these serious things that we never associated Vogue with.
However and to me it's the big ''however'', Vogue Italia for me was that voice of super creative high fashion magazine PAIRED WITH strong statements, serious topics and always done in a smart and original way so we as readers can still enjoy Fashion for what it seems (trivial, beautiful, entertaining, a creative world) AND YET to also keep an eye and think about serious topics such as politics or global warming. Do you understand my point? Vogue China also had that ''soul'' that Angelica talked about in several video interviews.
I feel that nowadays Fashion magazines are in a terrible situation:
- many people don't buy them as they used to
- people who should be buying them just repost photos on social media and therefore actually contribute to the decline of such magazines
- Fashion magazines want (or are just forced to) to adapt to the times and get a grip on important matters that shooks our world besides dresses and bags but they are being judged for me very harshly
- when magazines during Pandemic in March 2020 started to continue to talk about fashion as if Covid-19 didn't exist were also treated badly for doing so
Therefore in conclusion it's a catch 22: ''d***** if you do and d***** if you don't''. Vogue tries to care about models diversity in sex, age, race, body type and ALLLLLL what the world at large is throwing at Vogue (and at us too 24/7...) wether it feels genuine or not is not really the point now, but it's up to US as readers and consumers and humans or society pieces to say what we want Fashion magazines to be.
(Matrix movie: ''Pill decision moment'')
A/ Do we want Vogue to be more ''serious'' and to tackle difficult topics and to be grounded and to include more people and to be diverse and to be still on the creative side like in the golden good-old days of Vogue Italia under Franca.
OR
B/ Do we just want Vogue for what it used to stand for during 120 years and to just be a trivial, made-for-rich magazine where the main focus is to appear gorgeous and look beautiful in an alternate reality where the world problem don't exist because Vogue for us should be unapologetic FASHION and nothing else like Vogue Paris now.
Type A or B and you might win a free car and
Fashion is heavily affected by social, economical and political environment, it's an undeniable fact, however, in my opinion what fashion should do is to absorb what's going on in the world and express it in creative ways, the way Vogue Italia used to do as you mentioned above. I do not need cold facts (sometimes) delivered in a very propagandistic way. I think we can all think and decide for ourselves how to deal with what's happening.
But the truth is magazines (and not only them) do NOT care, they just do this because they feel pressed. It's like Vogue making these series with models, discussing size issue and yet being the one who is a big part of the problem. I think what's happening now is that media is trying to make up for ignoring certain groups of people and minorities and doing the opposite, which feels ingenuine. Every single page would be about plus size, black people, disable people, gay men wearing make-up. I want you to hear me: when your average Joe is not represented at all, it feels you do this inclusion because you want to appear nice and as if you care, it feels forced, it's not when you mix all kinds of people in one magazine. It's becoming absurd. And if we are talking about inclusion, I really want to see women that are older than 30, we still have a lot of work to do with ageism. I don't find 16-20 year old girls relatable, I want to see strong, beautiful, mature women that still have passion for life. Why are they being ignored for the most part?
Another huge issue, which has been touched on in this thread is that everything has to be relatable, everything is relatable and everyone is included. Imagine me in my 30's wanting to become a cosmonaut or a ballerina, because I feel like I should be included, there should be a line here. I also don't want things to be relatable all the time. I believe magazines (and just in general a good thing for all people) should hold us up to a higher standard, and by that I don't mean you have to look 20 in your 40's, you have to be skinny as a needle, no, but I want to see people put effort, try to become better in everything they do. Seeing someone on the street is creased t-shirt with stains and unbrushed hair and stretched out jeans might be relatable, but I don't want this in magazines. I love when people try to do things very well, put their heart and soul into their business instead of just being sloppy and trying to get things done somehow, I love when you see men and woman being dressed nice, I adore when my grandma who is in her early 80's putting on heels, curls her hair and coming out looking so lovely. I want magazines to have inspirations, concepts, but what's happening now is you just tell a photographed person to stand in the corner, throw a piece of fabric, call it styling and be proud how cool and relatable that is. It's one of the reasons fashion has lost its appeal to many people. No one seems to want to be putting effort anymore. If we keep finding self love through excepting ourselves but lose all the healthy self criticism and self doubt, we will degrade really fast. It's like we are all going from one extreme to the other these days.
