And what does long hair worn up say about the economy?

I work in fashion so I read Vogue almost like a trade publication. I don’t know how it comes across to others, but it seems necessary for it to be the way that it is in order to keep people informed about what is going on. High fashion is elitist by nature, so it makes sense that the magazines that chronicle it need to be as well. My only wish is that it would include MORE of fashion, instead of just the same tried and true designers again and again (or the designers who are paying the most for ads).

Vogue makes me anxious and angry. I don’t understand it and don’t want to. I can’t even laugh at its outlandishness because I feel like it is laughing at MY prudishness. Not to mention my ample ass. I understand why it exists, but I will never EVER be a reader.

I gotta jump on Jocelyn’s bandwagon, too, with the haircut story: short hair means frequent cuts. It doesn’t make sense that people would want to deal with that sort of maintenance when finances are tight.

Tricia, THANK YOU for asking the good questions!

As for hair, I work at a really stellar hair salon in San Diego (www.disconnectedsalon.com), and I agree with Jocelyn that short hair requires lots of maintenace. Practically every third girl leaves the salon with a short, kicky bob. Those girls will have to spend the cash in the long run to keep up their look. Although if you consider shampoo as a mark of the recession, girls with short hair save a bundle on hair care products. Hmmm…I’ll have to ponder that one for a while…

Regardless, nice work bits and bobbins! I love your blog.

But isn’t there a good reason why you find this magazine in every major bookstore? It isn’t less prevalent than, say, Cosmo or Glamour; it’s often side by side with these magazines. Vogue gives women outside the club a precious peek inside, giving them a sense of what they must know, how they must appear and what they must find important, in order to be mistaken for a member of the club. Yes, it is a bible for some readers because they study it religiously, memorizing which designers are hot this season, which items Vogue editors deem interesting enough to feature, where celebrities vacation, etc. You may not be able to afford anything, but at least you’re in the know, and you know how to fake it. Sort of. This can be a bad thing if it results in one feeling inadequate or depressed by one’s actual life, or results in financial disarray trying to fake that elite life. But it seems to me that for most women, reading Vogue doesn’t get *that* deep. I’m often disappointed by it, mostly because of the ridiculous ads. Without the ads there might be 25 or 30 pages of actual readable content, and of that content, almost none of it is of interest to me. But hey, if I were an elite New Yorker, Vogue might be just another trade journal or alumni newsletter.

I personally love Japanese magazines like non-no and wish I could get my hands on them more conveniently. I like that these magazines often discuss the how of fashion, not only providing inspiration for particular items but inspiration on how to mix them into your existing wardrobe, ways to combine them, working a capsule wardrobe, even color theory. It’s more about thinking carefully about one’s presentation and aesthetics. For me, this sort of content is worth paying for, and keeping back issues!

Of American fashion-related magazines, I like InStyle the most because it most closely approaches what I mentioned above. But it too suffers from ad obesity, as well as a little too much celebrity worship for my taste. Really, there isn’t anything in the American market(that I know of) which approaches fashion like non-no.