Vogue Magazine Subscription

I will make a statement to begin this review. I did not buy Vogue nor would I ever spend $3.99 for it. The May issue came into my home via my 22-year-old daughter whose friend gave it to her before she boarded a train for a 6-hour ride home.

The May issue is 348 pages. That sounds like a lot doesn?t it? A good deal for the money? Well at least 80 pages are advertisements. I counted them. I say at least because there are other pages that aren?t pure advertisements but they do plug designers.

For example, in the Talking Fashion section: Trend of the Month, we see stars going to a party sporting some snakeskin (I thought that was illegal ? well maybe it isn?t real). We see Gail Elliott (whoever she is) wearing Diane Von Furstenberg and Marie-Anne Oufejans in a vintage jacket by Ardeche. Looks like advertising to me.

I brought this magazine to the gym today to read while on the elliptical machine. Fitness and fashion magazines sometimes motivate me. I have flipped through Vogue in the dentist?s office, but I never really looked at it critically as I did today knowing I would write a review about it. I didn?t like what my eyes saw.

The cover starts out well with a beautiful healthy young woman and huge letters: "Beach Chic 150 best swimsuits, shorts, sandals and more." Now the women here know that ?best swimsuits? is an oxymoron, and to make matters worse the swimsuits are worn (or hardly worn) by young, anorexic women in provocative poses.

So why does one buy Vogue? While on the machine I gave it much thought. This is what I came up with.

1. People have a lot of money and buy the magazine to really see what they should be buying. Let?s face it, most of us writing for a few dollars are not buying jewelry in Tiffany?s, or by David Yurman and Rudolph Erdel. (I?m just copying these names ? I have no idea who these last 2 people are.)

But perhaps there are many people (obviously Vogue does a good business) who look at the Giorgio Armani bathing suit (2 tiny pieces of material); like it and just go out and buy it. They even list the stores where you can buy it and for a measly $395.

2. You buy this magazine because you are bored and it is the only one left on the newsstand. I would guess that if my daughter, the self-proclaimed feminist, did buy Vogue it was for this reason.

3. You are a wanna-be-rich person and you think you can get ideas from the magazine so when you go into TJMaxx you can attempt to copy the look. But do people really dress like this? Sure much of the clothing is
fairly mainstream, but what about page 168 and the article ?Wings of Desire?? It states:? For Fall 1999, Celine showed a ? coat made entirely of pheasant ($19,000). In spring 2000, Helmut Lang circled the ankle of a finely drawn sandal with black chicken feathers." BLACK CHICKEN FEATHERS ?GROSS.

4. You buy Vogue because you like to see the partially clothed women or women wearing totally see-through tops or other sexy clothing

None of the above sit well with me so I went to the articles. Playboy is successful, in my opinion, in combining sex with literature. Vogue isn't.

It?s interesting because Vogue has brilliant editors who make the most mundane article appear literary. One such article in the "People are Talking About" section says ?For the creators of Cinematherapy and a growing number of therapists, a movie is rarely ?just a movie?. Joanne Chen discovers the healing powers of film.?

It is actually not a terrible article, but surrounded by the rest of the magazine I just wasn?t all that interested in reading it, although I did for this purpose.

The People are Talking sections are, in my opinion, the best part of Vogue. Twelve Pages are geared toward subjects such as Movies, Theater, Books and Health and Fitness. Why they needed an article on Ben Afllick?s brother, Casey, is beyond me. He is starring in a movie, but I am always put out by actors getting famous on the coattails of their relatives anyway. So this just added fuel to the fire of dislike I have for this magazine.

Vogue must have some redeeming qualities and you are welcome to post them in the comments section, but you won?t convince me to spend $3.99 on this magazine ever.