A couple weeks ago (on 18 June), Roberta "Robbie" Myers of Elle published "Women's Magazines Do Serious Journalism".
She seemed to make some solid points-
- Yes- Elle has been nominated in the "Columns and Commentary category for an ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors) award in the past decade"
- Yes- millions of smart and stylish women read Elle. In fact according to their media kit, of a total audience of 5,897,000, 88% are women, the median age is 34.4, and the average HHI (household income) is $70,293 (47.1% of which make over 75K). 71.9% have attended college, 66.1% are employed, and 42.6% are single.
- Yes- They do publish quite a few articles way above the 2,000 word mark.
But, this is their website's homepage-
One conversation in the article's comments brought up some interesting points too.
As I love men's fashion I visit GQ and Esquire's website almost as often as I visit Elle or Vogue. I don't recall ever having read a serious article from the mens magazines, but I have had Elle's "Control Freak-Out" (by Rachael Combe) on my wall for a couple years and the last article I actually read on their site was "One is the Loneliest Number" (by Daphne Merkin).
After paying closer attention to Elle's serious and light articles the last couple weeks, I can't decide how serious I would call Elle overall, but I read more serious articles from them than any other fashion magazine.
Though really... is it so bad if we pick up Elle or any other magazine because we want to live vicariously through the lives of the shiny (somewhat airbrushed- and that's a whole other story) celebrities or drool over that Chanel bag?
Stay Fabulous,
xoxo Aimee ♥
xoxo Aimee ♥