Vogue Magazine

BACKGROUND

Vogue Magazine is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that was founded by Arthur Baldwin Turnure in 1892.

Arthur Turnure, a New York socialite created Vogue to act as an informative social tool for both men and women of a higher class. The magazine itself was aimed towards a more elite society and this was conveyed by the magazine covers which featured the socialites and debutantes of the time such as the Gibson Girl, a popular figure in America at the time. The magazine primarily featured fashion, sports and social affairs.

In 1905, Vogue was bought by Condé Montrose Nast. Nast was responsible for expanding the magazine, introducing editions in Britain, Spain, Italy and France which all proved to be popular. Thanks to Nast, the magazine began to make a growing profit and publications soared, with it's popularity still growing even through the Great Depression of the 1930's. The magazine itself still featured the top social affairs with the addition of wedding coverage.

In 1960, editor in chief Diana Vreland transformed Vogue into a women's fashion magazine. The magazine was updated making it more contemporary and focussed on trending fashion and issues of the era. As well as this, the magazine openly discussed sexuality, which in 1960 was a popular topic due to a social movement of the time known as the sexual revolution.

In 1988, Ann Wintour was made editor in chief and still holds the title today. It is because of Ann Wintour that Vogue has become one of the most popular high fashion magazines. As a statement, for her first cover she included a model that wore $50 jeans and a $10,000 jewel-encrusted t-shirt. This powerful message signalled a change in fashion and Vogue as we knew it. By combining high street brands and haute couture, Ann successfully created a new fashion movement and appealed to a younger, wider audience making Vogue magazine the highly successful fashion magazine it is today.

Vogue France, Vogue UK and Vogue Italy

 

ADVERTISING

I have looked through a wide range of different Vogue editions including America, Italy, France and UK and all magazines advertise very similar brands. The brands that are advertised throughout the magazine include Louis Vitton, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbanna, Gucci, Prada, Burberry and more which conveys that this magazine targets the upper class and those of a certain wealth that could easily afford to spend money on such brands. Each advertised good shows no price tag which coveys that regardless of the price, the readers are expected to be able afford it. This technique is also carried out in the shops that sell these brands as no prices are displayed in these more expensive stores.

A typical two page Advertisement in VOGUE Paris (Issue 934)

When analysing the advertising, I noticed that most adverts in the magazine had a two page spread which included crisp, strong images that drew the attention of the audience. The fact that each advertisement has two pages per brand conveys that advertising is very important to Vogue's success. This notion is true in not all Vogue magazines but in particular, the UK edition who makes it's profit primarily through advertising. In 2007, the UK Vogue ran 2020 pages of advertising which came with a £16,000 price tag per page.

Whilst looking through the magazines at the different adverts, something that drew my attention was that before the reader gets to the contents page of the magazine, there are pages and pages of advertising. I think this is very clever in drawing in the consumer and sends out a message to the audience straight away. This message is that the audience should be buying these particular brands in order to be elite. As well as advertising goods, I noticed that the UK Vogue I looked at (ISSUE FEB 2015) had property advertisement. This also conveys that the target audience is a more mature woman, one who could afford to but their own property.

Although the advertisement is primarily based on consumer goods, American Vogue did receive criticism in 2007 for including tobacco advertisements in the magazine. Vogue was criticised for advertising tobacco in order to receive a profit. Over 8,000 people made complaints to the company with little response from Vogue.

As well as the main adverts that are displayed throughout vogue, towards the back of the book there are pages entitled VOGUE advertising feature which consist of adverts showing designers, photographers, jewellers, food, wedding locations to name a few. This is something that is original to Vogue and is not featured in any other high fashion magazine.


ARTICLES

Although it is clear that advertisements dominate the pages of the magazine, there are variety of articles featured in Vogue. These articles are primarily focus on things that appeal to the target audience.

In the current issue of the UK Vogue there are articles discussing maturer topics such as porn and money matters. As well as this, there are articles devoted to travel and interior design. The articles all indicate the target audience and appeal to a certain type of woman. The words written are sophisticated and informative and can be compared to the articles written in Harper's Bazaar.

Maturer topics are discussed in Vogue UK

Predominantly, the main articles consist of very little words with just a small introduction followed by pages of colourful fashion photography. The more smaller articles are consumer based with a wide variety of fashion products being displayed. The trends of SS15 are not only shown in the fashion section but also in  the beauty section of the magazine, with information on products that can achieve the look.


TARGET AUDIENCE

As I said before, over the years Vogue's target audience has changed. The publishing company that owns Vogue (www.condenast.co.uk) has released information about the age range of Vogue's readers. Here are the statistics:

The official audience figures from Vogue's publisher

Although the figures above are correct, as a reader, the magazine itself tells me this information without needing to see official figures.

The first thing that tells me the target audience of this magazine is the advertising. The goods that are displayed throughout the magazine are expensive brands. Brands such as Chanel, Prada, Rolex and Gucci are continuously displayed throughout the magazine and no indication of the price for the goods is displayed. This conveys that the readers would be assumed to be able to easily afford such brands thus giving an indication as to Vogue's target audience. The fact of the matter is, a more middle class woman would not be able to freely spend money on such luxuries so would not be influenced to read this magazine.

Expensive brands indicate the target audience of Vogue UK

The second thing that indicates the target audience of Vogue is the articles. An article shown in the latest UK Vogue issue discusses porn and how women should talk about it more freely. The article sees a maturer conversation around a taboo subject conveying the age of the audience. The way this sensitive subject is discussed so openly conveys to me that the target audience of Vogue would be a woman around the 30 age mark. Stereotypically, a woman in her 50s may not be as inclined to discuss these types of heated topics so this what I have based my assumption on. The many fashion articles in this magazine indicates that the intended audience is those with a strong passion for fashion. Although some high street brands are shown in the magazine, many articles feature segments on expensive fashion and accessories. It is presumed that the intended audience would be able to afford such brands therefore shows us that the audience would be those of wealth with a disposable income.

Overall, my assumption of the Vogue reader is a woman around the age 30 mark with a strong love of fashion and the latest trends. She is a sophisticated woman that can openly discuss controversial topics and is of a comfortable class that allows her to indulge in the latest trends when she pleases.


FASHION INFLUENCE

Vogue is very much centred around the latest fashion trends from the catwalks. The magazine is full of colourful pages that the audience have seen dominating the fashion shows of London, New York, Paris and Milan. Throughout the magazine, both the maturer and younger fashion trends are show, allowing Vogue to appeal to a wider audience. The magazine is controlled by the more expensive brands showing that they are the bigger fashion influence.

Current trends are the biggest fashion influence of Vogue UK