so, goodbye translated, irrelevant articles and too many pages full of ads (which I totally forgive if you’re citizen k and you only cost me 1 euro). I admit there are some good, promising things going on in romanian glossies but unfortunately not enough of them…
the current issue of the one magazine opens with the editor-in-chief singing praises to the ipad… seriously? i understand advertising but I wonder what will happen if next month the main sponsor will be a beer or sausage company…
harper’s bazaar is way too expensive and full of imported stories and fashion. how do they justify their presence on the market?
elle is the best offering, but the meager content ends on the internet soon enough via their facebook page or their website. also, the editor-in-chief accepted a 10,000 euro trip to new zeeland from a shady company which has been trying for years to start a gold operation using cyanide and were hoping that their “investment” will get them some “advertising” in one of the important women’s magazines…the answer to the allegations of partiality, on her personal blog, was that she was not going to write anything about them…yet.
anyhow… i decided the costs are too high for the little and mainly un-original content i’m getting. i understand their reasons: low budgets, bad management, etc, but my monthly budget is limited and i believe i get far better value for my money buying foreign. in comparison, elle romania costs 2.3 euro (and it is not at all the most expensive glossy), as long as vogue paris is 4.90 (imported 8.7), wallpaper 5.8 (10 imported), vogue uk 4.9 (10.9 imported), to list just a few.
now i’m going out exclusively with the following and here you have a few of the reasons:
1. wallpaper
– once a year, they move part of their operation to another country in order to create an issue that gives thorough insight. in 2009, they did china and in 2010 it was brazil. amazing! it makes me sell my stuff and go visit!
– world-class guest editors. last month alone david lynch and robert wilson.
– they use new media: the online (their website has a life of its own), the qr code (if you used your gadget to read it, you got a soundtrack for robert wilson’s portraits), the acetate film they included in the magazine in order for you to make the same portraits come to life. ipad apps as well.
– subscribers get limited edition covers. they were even offered the opportunity to design their own cover. recently, october’s issue also included an invitation for 2 to art and design london. just saying…
in a nutshell, a hugely educational, grown up magazine
2. vogue paris
– transgressive chic thanks to the editing team carine roitfeld and emanuelle alt (last month alone they had michele lamy, freja by hedi slimane and by terry richardson and a story featuring sasha and an occasionally half naked child…). they are also the ones who made lara stone and crystal renn superstars, in spite of their so called plus-size status…
– they use guest editors as well. Just one example: the tom ford-edited december issue is on newsstands now and it includes, among others, a kiss between the editor himself and terry richardson.
3. vogue uk (my all-time favourite)
– covers fashion, but also the arts, culture, politics, etc.
– great writing style
– great online version, including several blogs
picture taken from terry richardson diary
yesterday was the national day of romania. giving up romanian glossies and blowing all my magazine budget on foreign content was my answer to that
3 comments
medine says:
Dec 2, 2010
Good point. I absolutely agree with every single word and point of view!
little-aesthete says:
Dec 2, 2010
thank you
PRINT OR ONLINE FASHION MAGAZINES? « little-aesthete's Blog says:
Jun 21, 2011
[…] asking their writers to keep blogs… you know that i gave up buying any romanian magazines on december 1st. i don’t miss them. that’s sad. i wonder if i’m actually missing […]