Genre Research

As Vogue is deemed to be the world's best-selling fashion magazine, down to such incredible success of the product, I felt as though this would be the most appropriate magazine to relate to my own genre. The most important thing that I believe needs to be recognised within this research is common conventions of fashion magazines, such as the usual structure and content. Audre Basin was considered to be the first theorist  to state 'genre makes product making more efficient and more marketable'. I agree with this statement, as different genres are able to focus of different groups of people that are interested in different things, rather than try to sell something to the entirely wrong target audience. This is why the vast majority of fashion magazines reflect genre in the same manner; they have recognised what their target audience likes and how they respond to different aspects.

The representation of women is also very similar within this genre, they are all seemingly youthful, skinny, white, wealthy, and beautiful. This is the producers ensuring that the model has been represented as the target audience's aspirations. They would want to be the model, to have her success and beauty. Not only is the focus on the clothing, but on the beauty of the model.

Bold mastheads are often used in a sophisticated font, and to convey the name of each magazine across to the reader quickly before they avert their eyes from it to the next magazine, whilst also reeling them in with a font that makes them feel sophisticated even observing it, which is what they want. To be sophisticated. The cover sot is almost always a mid shot, which is one of the most prominent common conventions of fashion magazines, allowing focus to be primarily on the model and her beauty, then the clothes, which I actually find somewhat peculiar. Two colours are usually used for the typography on the cover, as not to overcrowd it, rather ensuring it is easy to read and not confusing for the audience.

A high fashion shoot is often necessary to fit in with the genre, so this is something that I would like to incorporate into my own work. Though, because my magazine is also regional, I feel as though it would be best to complete on location, rather than in a studio like most of the shots on covers of Vogue and other successful fashion magazines. The obvious: they contain articles about fashion. These articles, particularly in Vogue, do not allow the readers approval of the items featured, rather tell them what is in fashion; what they should be wearing and what they should not. Often, fashion magazines feature new designers and their shows, so this is something to thinking about incorporating into my work. What I consider to be quite a good idea would be to include 'emerging' designers that are students, located in Cornwall. Beyond fashion, the genre is able to subtly use celebrities and tabloids to sell the product, but tend to focus more on the lifestyle of women high up in the industry, as a selling point. They also publish articles on the economy, arts, and design.

As a primary target audience, most fashion magazines target women; though, growing is a secondary target audience of homosexual males. This is due to society pushing their stereotyped behavior to be dramatized and resemble that of women's.