Fashion Magazines: an amateur's critique part one

So one of the classes I'm taking now is newspaper design. It is a very challenging class, but I've learned so much. Right now we're really focusing on page layout for newspapers (obviously), but we have ventured into magazines. I want to work for a fashion magazine one day so I thought I'd take a look at some of favorites and their designs. I am no expert, but this is my blog so I can pretend I know what I'm talking about.

Fight of the Fabulous:
British Vogue v. American Vogue
You can ALWAYS tell the difference between American and European magazines, not just because of the price. The design and content are dramatically different. Americans are so much more conservative when it comes to both. I don't mind conservative content so much, but design I always like pushing the limits.

British Vogue is my favorite hands down. It's super posh and it works. The design on the cover is crazy compared to ours. I went through a phase were I bought a british Vogue every month for a couple of months (and was super broke) and this is my favorite cover. Inside the issue was artsy as well. The reverse type on Kate's legs is brilliant, though I didn't know the technical term till now. I also love that they use some celebrities, but mostly models. Models say fashion to me and, well, to most of Europe. Celebrities say fashion to America for some reason and that's why you see them on American covers.


American Vogue:
Most of the covers look the same. There I said it. I hate criticizing my bible, but what can I say. Luckily the name speaks for itself otherwise the magazine would be in trouble. Inside they have been updating the layouts which I love and I am noticing they are taking some hints from their younger sister across the pond. I know because I've been reading Vogue for 6 years (to put that into perspective that's half of my being able to read life) so I think I know this magazine well for my age. But some of the covers are positively snooze worthy, it's better than say Lucky or InStyle where they only use a solid color background (lord I hope this bashing doesn't come back to haunt me oh well), but play with fonts more Vogue please?? At least they change their color scheme....

Here's my favorite cover and the first issue of the magazine (which I still have) September 2004


This is a super wordy post so I've decided to make it into a series of entries. Look for part 2 soon!