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LHKhow fashion magazines

segregate the social classes through their

advertising…

a look into the lives of two major fashion magazine editors; same job, very different lives…

May 2012

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how fashion magazines

segregate the social classes through their advertising…

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introduction

establishment

methodology

critical context

advert analysis

conclusion

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introduc-tion

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The sub culture of fashion magazines are popular with men, women, the old and the young and this collective research will investigate how particular fashion magazines are seen to implicate a more certain aim, through their choice in advertisements, towards various social classes. Although most people overlook the designation of social class, this analysis will look into how the advertisements alone can portray segregation and can influence a particular taste.In fashion, advertising is a great source for designers and brands to push the latest trends and entice the viewer into becoming part of the here and now in the fashion world. In magazines, adverts for; perfumes, clothes stores, make-up, jewellery and other accessories are included to attempt to lure the viewer further and collectively persuade the viewer to be sold by the product itself. Gathering a selection of definitions and significant factors about; magazines, fashion and advertising would provide a starting block to progress into their relations, possibly leading into other areas such as feminism and expectantly, social class.

There are certain people in the fashion world who are considerably admired by thousands of people and Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, are always captured in the spotlight, famous for her celebrity-styled life. Focusing on Wintour, a case study would be developed upon to understand who she really is and how she came about to be one of the most popular people in the fashion industry. Alongside this, it would be insightful to delve into the life of another editor-in-chief, Chantelle Horton. British based fashion magazine more! is edited by Horton, but she isn’t as mediated as Wintour. Providing a compare and contrast analysis between the two, the main study would be into how they are seen by the public eye and whether this has an effect on the readers of their magazines, leading to the notion that making a name for yourself is of great importance. It would also be insightful to look into something that reflects the norms of reality but in a more subtle way, this being Ugly Betty an American hit series following the life of a young girl with dreams of

being big. Conducting a survey would expand the research into the primary, the results would be collated to offer varied opinions but also more generalised thoughts into fashion magazines. To provide supporting figures the survey would need to look into background information of the part-taker leading into more defined questions about fashion magazines. The results would provide an insight into the overall culture of magazines and possibly where the fashion subculture stands against the rest.

Conclusively a semiotic analysis will be conducted on a succession of adverts taken from a selection of 2011 edition fashion magazines. The adverts taken will focus on generalized subjects i.e. perfume, clothing brands and a miscellaneous from each and the exploration will feasibly prompt indicative signs that fashion magazines do have underlying more defined target audiences, all trying to attract the perfect market through taste.

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mMagazines are short publications that represent the here and now, and they are distributed across the world every week,

month or quarterly. From the first ever magazine publication in 1731, magazines have continuously grown and a self-created

culture has emerged.

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there are a range of advertising types used including; press, where small ads can be purchased for a fee and most common in fashion; celebrity branding, where by using a famous face or name the advertiser intends to gain a more empathetic perception from the audience. This particular type of advertising follows the identification function, making it distinctly individual and unlike any other product, overall providing a strong name and awareness. In fashion magazines this form of branding is found to be very strong.

It is important that advertisers choose the most relative media to be featured in, their products and branding will have their own desired target audience and so they need to be pushed towards the main addressee’s, i.e. the

“The periodical is intended for entertainment and includes essays and stories” (Publishing Timeline, 2007) and this criteria has been constantly followed and added upon to this day. With the growth of the magazine culture a series of subcultures have been derived listing from; the arts, business, politics, science and of course fashion. The content of every magazine publication is formed around targeting a specific audience and providing them with the most up-to-date information about this particular subject that interests them. Magazines aren’t financed by a publisher, instead they are more often than not funded by advertisers that pay the publication to promote their products, brands or even people in their magazine. This is most common in magazines that have free circulation where the reader doesn’t pay for the publication, usually these are found inside newspapers or even in supermarkets i.e. Asda or Tesco. But, big name magazines, especially in the fashion sub culture, do still depend a lot on advertising and still have a market price on their publications.

Advertising is a non-verbal form of communicating with a large audience at once, their main objective is to both inform and dominantly to persuade. Advertisements date back to 1704 with the first being published in the Boston Newsletter, this small “announcement seeking a buyer for an Oyster bay estate” (http://adage.com/century/timeline, no date) has led to the building of something that is used by most companies, employers, products and more, all with an intention to lead the viewer to a “desired end state” (‘Advertising’, 2012) ultimately ending in the purchase of that being promoted. There are many avenues for advertising and any medium that has been payed for to broadcast a message is classed as advertising. Focusing on magazines in particular

is The Marxist conception that highlights the similarities that groups share together, but also subjective factors of them understanding their similarities. These elements need to be considered by magazines and advertisers when publishing and promoting, not all social classes will endear the same interests therefore the target audience may become even more defined. Each class has determining features but there is often great emphasis on occupation, leading to a generalisation of certain jobs being undertaken by specific classes of people. For many years people have developed different class models, the most recent from William Thompson and Joseph Hickey in 2005 with the

“with the growth of the magazine culture a series of subcultures have been derived listing from; the arts, business, politics,

science and of course fashion”

latest football boot will need to be featured in a men’s sport magazine, not a women’s weekly where the intended audience will never pass by. This emphasises that the publication will also have it’s own intended market and so it is important that advertisers approach the best media to suit. There are many forms of audience and many categories to be considered from men and women, children and adults and even degrees of social class. Social class is sometimes very stereotypical, with people either misunderstanding the definition or being opinionated upon what defines the class of a person. There are typically three categories in the West; upper class, middle class and lower class, although, there are many theoretical models of class which have been presented. One example

five classes of society and their typical characteristics.Many countries have devised their own structures of class, reflecting their religions and cultures, but it is highlighted that Britain has defined its own classes especially through its separation of the middle class into sub classes but also one’s income doesn’t always deem necessary, instead the focus is on their upbringing. In a recent study it was concluded, “children with parents in professional jobs were ahead of pupils from disadvantaged homes” revealing that upbringing and inheritance does tend to determine class, especially for later in life. Reading into fashion magazines it is important to look upon women and femininity and what behaviours and features that they possess. …

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Some features could be seen as stereotypical such as women being sensitive and having strong feelings, for example. Women were first seen as maidens but over the years they have grown to be more. Many ‘traits’ of women are taken very positively and this helps them show who they truly are but also can be great attributes to their professions or hobbies. Women are very highly depicted especially in the fashion world, as both followers and partakers, and “women are able to show grace and compassion through their femininity” (InForum, 2011) providing an empathetic approach for others. In spite of that, sometimes views of women can change and this is very relative to fashion. There is constant talk of women in the media whom have technically ‘unhealthy’ bodies and figures, but are shown as admirable icons. Catwalk and photo-shoot models can be as small as a size zero (a UK size four) and children as young as six are trying to follow them and becoming anorexic.

These somewhat controversial ideas about women spark a lot of different opinions, especially in feminists. Feminists became known in the late 1800’s with the first women’s rights movement and ever since they have fought for women’s rights and equality against men.Here Sue Thornham is wholly defining women and the portrayals of them towards other people. It is often seen that women are objectified in the media; such as they are seen as an object rather than a human, their assets and particular features are exploited for the viewer’s pleasure, particularly the male society. Men are known to use pictures and images of women for their own personal pleasure, and the exploitation isn’t deemed fair in many parts of society, it is “violent and degrading … negatively affecting women and their participation in society” (Thornham, 2007, pp. 23).

“women are very highly depicted especially in the fashion world, as both followers and partakers”

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In the media indefinitely, women are very often exposed as objects but are also used for their ‘sex appeal’, they are used as selling points to men and even women in a mass of advertisements, hoping to attract the viewer’s attention and then draw them in. Alternatively to a male audience, females are used in advertisements to entice other females to give them a vision to idolise, someone who they would aspire to be and someone who they could be by purchasing the product being sold; “Repetitive images of conventional, or socially established, images of female beauty, self-control and self-management”

Each of the topics has its own discourse and purpose, but collectively they very easily come together to form a common ideology about women in the media; how they are perceived, how they perceive themselves but also what it is that creates these messages and common theories. Together with this, magazines and advertisements

work alongside each other to target an audience in which they intend on fully alluring. In all subject areas of the magazine culture this can be seen, but in the fashion world in particular their magazines could be perceived as having a very focused and compact target audience, even contemplating their target social status of the viewer.

Focusing on magazines in particular there are a range of advertising types used including; press, where small ads can be purchased for a fee and most common in fashion; celebrity branding, where by using a famous face or name the advertiser intends to gain a more empathetic perception from the audience. This particular type of advertising follows the identification function, making it distinctly individual and unlike any other product, overall providing a strong name and awareness. In fashion magazines this form of branding is found to be very strong.

“all visions of women are contaminated bymale-defined notions of the truth of femininity”

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methodologY

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To understand what people already personally think and know about magazines and the sub culture of fashion is important to this analysis as it will give an insight into whether or not they also see a link between these topics and social class. Although people may not consciously acknowledge this link, a survey would determine if there is a form of underlying ideology. A positive outcome would be seeing a correlation between the types of people, whom buy or are knowledgeable about fashion magazines, and their personal lifestyle. There will be two parts to the survey, the first is more generalized and can apply to anyone who buys, is interested in or has even merely thought about magazines. Overall from this section, the results will create a rounded idea of what types of people buy what form of magazine, so not just focusing on fashion. The follow up survey will be more direct to the subculture of fashion, therefore giving a more determined view from the participator about their personal views and tastes. By conducting a survey the results that will be collected will highlight the common responses, clearly identifying links between the questions and providing a theory, which may enhance the overall intended objective.

From analysing the results of the survey, some positive results have been established. Focusing on the first survey conducted, the accumulated responses from the initial few questions gave a good spectrum of participators, ages ranged from fourteen onwards and there was a 3:2 ratio of females to males. However, although employment status showed both employed and unemployed participants, students completed

the majority. This result highlights a possible anomaly in some of the other findings due to the theory being based upon social class, unless Bourdieu’s theory of being born into a class distinction is followed where,defines you. To acquire a sizeable amount of data on the magazine culture and the most popular subcultures, the remainder of survey one questioned what, why and how much the partakers generally spend and purchase. Observing Fig.1 it

knew of and Fig.4 shows that the answers were majority even across the board, with everyone having heard of or bought Vogue.

After analyzing the second survey results, some positive conclusions have arisen. It was foremost notable that the only participants in this survey were females, therefore showing fashion magazines to have a somewhat feminine appeal. Opening with a general question about

personal magazine opinion came just three different answers; Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan, see Fig.5, all of which are in a higher price range and include more high-end fashion content.

The main intention from this study was to find out whether people, somewhat subconsciously, see an underlying target audience and so it was of importance to question what fashion magazines they find the best for the latest fashion and trends, Fig.6, and also which they believe best fits their own lifestyle, Fig.7. Fig.6 shows that more than half believe Vogue contains the best fashion content, followed by Elle, whereas the participants clearly consider more! magazine to be more suitable to their lifestyle. So, although the subjects favour Vogue and Elle and find them the most fashionable, they don’t see them as the most suitable towards their lifestyle and instead they identified a magazine which content “is the only weekly magazine for 20 something women showcasing stylish and affordable high street fashion.”

is plain to see that the majority of participants prefer monthly magazines, with subscriptions being the other main choice. This is likely to fall on the certainty that most magazines now circulate monthly, rather than weekly and accompanying this, Fig.2 indicates that the larger part of contributors buy magazines for; interest, information and pleasure. In 2010’s Top Ten Monthly Magazines (Sehgal, 2010) the whole ten execute general interest, from parenting, decorating and things to do in winter, also providing the reader with information of a subject, it is also interesting to note that five of the top ten were fashion magazines. Fig.3 further shows that almost a quarter of participants buy fashion magazines, just behind educational, which is explanatory due to the large amount of students that completed the survey, real-life and celebrity style magazines were also a popular response creating a general analysis from previous answers that it is young females whom prefer lifestyle interest magazines. The final question of the survey was to get a general idea of what different fashion magazines specifically people

“total, early, imperceptible learning, performed within the family from the

earliest days of life”

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BettYuglY

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Ugly Betty is a comedy drama series released in America in 2006 and was aired on ABC until

the finale in 2010. It followed the life of a young girl from Mexico living in Queens, New York who had dreams of becoming an editor-in-chief and the

struggles that she encountered along her journey.

The two most relative characters were Betty and Wilhelmina Slater, Slater was the Creative Director of Mode Magazine when Betty was hired there as the editor-in-chief ’s assistant. Slater was the daughter of a Senator so already had a prestigious name in society, but she had a great passion for Mode and all that it was worth from fashion to editing, she took her job very seriously but always wanted to be the editor, and so worked very hard to make her way to the top. Betty had similar traits to Slater in how focused and determined she was to do what she always wanted, but other than that they were on completely different scales. Betty was an outcast to the fashion world; she didn’t know or

have an interest in fashion leading her to be an outcast at Mode, she came from a very working class family and had no name for herself. Throughout the series Mode was shown as a very high-class magazine with high-end fashion, everyone who worked there knew the latest trends and wore only the best designers and so when Betty was introduced her “fashion sense, glasses, hair, her short stature, and working-class roots in Queens are often mocked by her colleagues.” (‘Betty Suarez’, 2011)

This distinct example underlines a strong ideology upon taste and class. Although people may not certify themselves as a particular

class, they can easily identify the class of others. In Ugly Betty Betty is judged immensely on her personal appearance, she stands out from the crowd because of her background and even though no one calls upon her to ask her about herself, she is ultimately known to be from a different class. Her general taste in both fashion and life itself is polar to those she is working around. Looking at this in relation to fashion magazines, it can easily be justified that in instances such as Elle, Vogue and Company the features and advertisements all express a certain taste, overall a sense of class and formality, and can be optimistic in saying that these magazines express a contrasting taste to such magazines.

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Vogue is the world’s most renowned fashion magazine with editions published and printed in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and Brazil. Ever since it’s founding in 1892 by Arthur Turnure it has become a worldwide fashion icon. As it progressed across several countries it began to get a serious name for itself, but in 1988 “fearing that the magazine had become complacent or worse, boring” (http://www.biography.com/people/anna-wintour, no date) Anna Wintour stepped in as editor-in-chief and was given free reign to bring the magazine back to life. Ever since she achieved her life long ambition, Wintour has become one of the most powerful women in fashion.On the other end of the spectrum,

more! magazine is a British fashion publication, circulated weekly. Established in 1988 it was produced to appeal to a younger market, providing them with the latest style, beauty and celebrity news. In 2009 more! was said to be the “fastest growing glossy with a 12% increase on the period following relaunch.” (ABC Magazine Circulation Figures Jan-Dec and Jul-Dec 2008, 2009) giving them the opportunity to announce their new editor-in-chief, Chantelle Horton. Both Wintour and Horton have the same job title and they both have the same responsibilities throughout their

publications. They were both born in England and have both constantly worked upwards towards personal achievements of editor-in-chief. But in spite of all this, it is Wintour whom has managed to create an impeccable name for herself, she is idolised by many in the fashion world and has over five million results on Google (http://www.google.co.uk, no date) in comparison to her rival Horton whom is merely known for her takeover of the small magazine in 2009.

Wintour is seen as a powerful, fearless and determined woman, both in and out of work she raises awareness to different causes, fundraises for charities and goes all out to help others, “She has raised over $10 million for AIDS charities since 1990”

(Craven, 2011) and she even helped raise money after the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Also since her uprising, not only has she delivered a name for herself but she has also given up and coming designers the break that they had been looking for. “She helped make the careers of such designers as Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen” (http://www.biography.com/people/anna-wintour-214147, no date) whom are now two of the most successful designers in the world, and she is always working with the Council of Fashion Designers of America to

“Runway shows don’t start until she arrives.Designers succeed because she anoints them. Trends are created or crippled on her command.”

encourage anyone who wants to be a designer. In comparison to Wintour, Horton isn’t at all exposed in the media; she isn’t recognized for doing anything other than her promotion three years ago.

This drastic contrast between the two seems to only be explained through the company that they work for, and not the job title itself. Vogue has an impeccable identity and in the UK alone the “average monthly circulation figure for the first half of 2008 was 221,090” (Johnson,2009) in comparison to more! which was down 9.2% in 2011 with a reduced figure of 170,033 (Ponsford, 2011). These figures illuminate that Vogue is a better selling, all in all more popular magazine, so it could lead to the speculation that Wintour is constantly in the limelight due to her success. Nevertheless, more! is still a popular UK magazine so the actuality of Wintour’s success could be her own personal choice, through what she does and how she puts herself in the eye of the media.

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anna win-tour

chan-telle

hor-ton

may 2012LHK

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Elle is one of the world’s leading fashion magazines with editions published in over 60 countries across the world. Starting in France it has spread over all major capitals including the UK and USA making it Vogue’s immediate competitor, if not successor. In May 2010 Elle US’s editor-in-chief Robbie Myers was quoted, “average women are not actually inspired to look at women who look like them” (Stewart, 2011) and this personal opinion is seen predominantly throughout her magazine, and related magazines such as Vogue and Company. Company magazine, founded in 1978, is a similar high-end fashion magazine to Elle and is said to be “a fresher and edgier Teen Vogue” (‘Company (magazine)’, 2012), implicating that although it is aimed at a younger audience it’s content is more expensive fashion. A semiotic analysis of certain adverts from these magazines will be conducted, along with some from two other magazines; Look and more! magazine, both of which contain different content to Elle and Company, including celebrity stories, relationship advice and more

Fashion magazines are one of the leading magazine cultures that entitle a majority of help from advertisers. As well as helping fund the magazine itself, their main priority is selling their

products to the consumers.

informal information, but still the primary focus is fashion. This content overview already implies that the latter are less sophisticated than the first, therefore even further implicating a more defined target audience.

In any woman’s magazine it is accurate in saying that a makeup advertisement is more than likely to be featured and so starting the analysis four different makeup advertisements have been selected; L’Oreal Paris, Maybelline, Rimmel and Sleek @ Superdrug. Makeup is a common product used by many women across the world, but the amount of brands available to choose from is what creates a difference. The L’Oreal Paris advert is a double-paged spread taken from Elle magazine, one whole page features a close up photograph of Jennifer Lopez, a very famous singer and actress. The celebrity appeal is popular with a lot of advertisement campaigns and “marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing consumer-purchasing decisions.” (Katyal, 2011). Accompanying this, her body language is very direct and sultry, with her hands on her

face and a direct gaze she is used to personalize the viewer, make them feel as though she is looking at them, drawing them in to the pages. The wet hair and very passionate stare adds a commonly used sex appeal to the advert, equally drawing in men, which will give the viewer the conception that by buying this product, they could become as equally sexy and appealing. Similarly in more! magazine Rimmel have used Zooey Deschanel, a new television personality, but she has been photographed in a much fresher and natural way, aiming for a younger audience. From Look magazine, a Sleek @ Superdrug advertisement was taken and this seems to represent a different form of audience. The main subject is a young African woman advertising a ‘Caribbean Collection’ of makeup, she isn’t a famous face and this could be due to the brand itself. Superdrug is a UK health and beauty retailer and so their own brand of products will be promoted as a cheaper alternative to the better-known brands. This cheap alternative therefore implicates that the target audience is quite young, an ideal choice for someone who cant

advert

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afford the worldwide products such as L’Oreal and Maybelline.

Stereotypically, shopping is a favored hobby of all women, and so the next adverts chosen focus upon clothing brands and shops. There are many well known brands of clothing which are seen as high-end i.e. Alexander McQueen, Chanel and Marc Jacobs, all of which are known across the world, but who can afford to buy them is a more limited market. Quicksilver is a worldwide surf brand and its high quality, highly priced products are typically for beach goers. Taken from Elle, this advert is very simple containing a black and white photograph, making the pink of the brand logo stand greatly in the corner, initially implying to the viewer what brand is being featured. The image itself contains two thirds of sky then the bottom third shows the back of a woman stood on the rocky shore, staring out to sea. This whole photograph represents an idyllic scenario, all of which will be desired by the viewer. As in Elle’s featured makeup advert the woman featured has a famous background, showing

that many brands do use celebrity endorsements to sell their lines. Uniformly, a Havaianas advertisement taken from Company also represents an idyllic scene, the main location is a city, overlooking the tops of the buildings creating a feeling of New York, one of the most fashion-orientated cities in the world. In the foreground there is a 3D set up of a beach, this generally is presenting the ideology that this brand of shoe can be worn anywhere, but once again the brand itself is more highly priced, separating out the audience. Once again on the other end of the spectrum, the adverts taken from Look and more! promote clothing shops from the UK, both aimed at a young target audience and both with a very affordable selection of clothes. New Look and Internacionale are nationwide stores with clothes that follow the latest trends, just at a more reasonable price, but the adverts still follow the same concepts as the pervious. Internacionale portrays a young girl on a rocky shore with the sun setting behind her, this idyllic scene will provide the young audience with the thought that spending a lot

of money isn’t always necessary to look good, positively helping them to follow along with fashion, without breaking the bank.

Shopping and makeup are two things that make all women the same; it is the prices and branding which make everyone different. It has been seen that Elle magazine has included advertisements that portray more expensive brands and products therefore aiming towards an audience that has a higher taste. But, one advert taken from this magazine disregards all sense of taste and highlights something that all women do do. Veet wax strips are featured in Elle and this advert could easily be found in any fashion magazine, regardless of being high-end or not. Solely aimed at women the advert is pastel pink in colour and the woman featured is a typically average girl. Nothing about this chosen advert segregates women from one other, instead it unites them.

analYsis

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The overall intention of this analysis was to find an underlying notion that fashion magazines use particular forms of content, especially in advertisement choices, that create a very specific target audience for them, explicitly focusing on a certain social class alongside gender and age.

conc

From primarily looking through the separate topics of fashion, advertising and social class it has come to light that there are already underlying links between them. Fashion brands all have their own names for themselves; the general public knows the differences between a high-end piece of fashion and a high-street piece. The brand therefore holds this interpretation and when people see the logo or name, this underlying knowledge comes forth. In relation to social class, because people understand the brand they also know whether or not it is suitable for them, therefore segregating audiences from one another.The semiotic analysis also relates to the previous findings and it was clearly shown that Elle and

Company magazine both contained advertisements that pushed more high-end brands, from Swarovski to Quicksilver, in comparison to more! and Look which publicized high street clothing shops and cheap, alternative makeup brands. Although the adverts are not the primary content, they pay the magazine to be featured and so the magazines have chosen them as attractions for a particular reason. Overall this shows that magazines such as Elle and Company do have a key prospect and they aim their magazines and content towards a more middle class social status, unlike more! and Look which, even though they are aimed at a younger audience, they do express a more working class status.

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