Initial Research

Within the UK fashion market of publication, Conde Naste rules the way in terms of creating publications that highlight the 'importance' of particular brands and products from their brands to create the 'lifestyle' their reader desires.

As my essay discovers that consumers are the people that are pushing brands into refreshing in order to keep up with their desires of their ideal consumer, my response will be targeting the consumers themselves rather than the brands.

Through the use of spoof, parody and contributions from collaborators my aim is for the publication to reveal to a new luxury younger market that there is more to life than being loyal to brands. In doing so it is giving the brands the ability to be able to dispose of 100’s of millions of pounds worth of stock annually, in unethical ways, purely to not dilute the associations of luxury with the brand themselves.

I will be creating a printed outcome as it more traditionally sets with the values of high-end fashion brands, they’re rebranding and refreshing not to move forward but to cultivate a new audience that in fits with their ideal; therefore, print represents this process. Yet to a move forward, in the way the brands do, the style of the magazine will be more modern, and lifestyle based. This coincides with what most brands are doing with their online campaigns, in order to make this method of shopping – which is preferred by the younger more impressionable market, purchases their brand. This technique of design also coincides with the interests of the reader, a new luxury younger market is all about creating a particular lifestyle for themselves. They purchase lifestyle magazines that replicate their desires, rather than fashion magazines as they are available at any time online. Through combining the nature of the content of a fashion magazine, whilst retaining the style of a high-end lifestyle magazine I will be able to captivate the audience in a way that considers both their choices and influences their choices; the sole purpose of the publication.

link fashion brand focus to younger market adapting it by using influence from their minimal websites and other influential lifestyle magazines that are more familiar to a younger market, the people I am trying to convince to not be so brand obsessed and the way it can control a person's life/mind.

I began researching on Pinterest into some different styles that lifestyle magazines use in order to get an understanding of the way in which one is constructed, and whether or not that changes depending on the content, or if it is rather more of a standardised process: https://pin.it/l7tkvtxs2xppcs

Fashion Magazines that base their content around brands:

Vogue UK

Vogue UK is arguably the most popular and well-known fashion magazine in the UK, it uses celebrity endorsements for covers regularly, normally responding to the time of year/event that is happening within the celebrity pop culture world at that time. They're largely funded through the use of advertisement from high-end luxury brands, consisting of the majority of the pages, instantly influencing the reader to endorse them brands to lead to a lifestyle similar of that of the celebrities that they contain.

The cover usually consists of a full bleed image with overlaying texts that complement the image itself. A serif font is used to extenuate the traditional visual values of luxury and expense, this is both for titles and subtitles, a theme which can be seen throughout the content of the magazine. This compliments the iconic logo that is known worldwide, associating the brands and content with the fashion influencers, instantly making them seem more 'fashionable'. Yet this doesn't coincide with the new luxury modern idea that 'less is more', which can be seen across other platforms of the publication. Rather the printed version seems to stick to more traditional values, a strategic move that keeps the audience who buy print interested, an older generation who are still interested in the content but only when it is presented in a familiar format that they can relate to. 

Vogue UK Website

Again strategically vogue aims towards a more minimal style, matching that more of a lifestyle magazine on their website that strips back to make the content the focus. Something that is more relevant to a younger audience who will be viewing their content online. This is a consideration I need to take into account when creating my publication, as it is the younger generation I am more focusing on as they are the ones trying to be captivated by brands; rather than older generation that has already been loyal to the brands for some time. 

British GQ

British GQ is the male-focused version of Vogue, again using advertisements from large brands to fund and compliment their content, which in turn tells males interested in fashion to buy into the brands. the covers often used deeper and darker colours in order to give it a more traditionally 'masculine' identity, compliments again with serif typefaces that are coloured from hues picked from the image itself. Yet a sans serif logo is used here in order to support those visual connotations with 'masculinity', making the type seem stronger and less gentle in comparison to condé nast's other publications. The importance of using celebrity lifestyles to be able to sell publications and promote brands is clearly seen here on the cover by the use of layering, bringing the cover star to the forefront of the piece. 

Tatler

Tatler is a magazine that is aimed towards an older market with more disposable income and therefore encompasses higher end brands, which may already have the loyality of its readers. Meaning they are simply nudging the consumer into purchasing more. This is visually identifiable through the simplistic use of a serif with high contrast at a tall x-height, giving the illusion of grandeur and elegance, instantly drawing the eye of a consumer who wishes to endorse a lifestyle which mirrors them values. Again a full bleed image has been used to be able to present the cover model as the greatest focus. 

i-D UK

i-D magazine is a magazine that is aimed towards a younger market, brands use more contemporary ads of more accessible products to suit the financial desires of this market and begin their loyalty in the brands. The cover, even though being produced by the same publishing house as the other fashion magazines shows exactly how the image can be changed in order to relate to an audience that will find it receptive in order to get them to endorse their sponsors. This cover features a much younger model, an actor in a movie that has recently gone viral amongst the generation that is being influenced. Only sans serif type is used to appear more modern, and give it a younger feel. as well as pure white keeping the focus on the image and increasing the amount of negative space on the cover, therefore enforcing the modern visual feel. This is a technique that is adopted by most lifestyle magazines, a printed outcome that the target audience is more likely to buy, making it more relevant and familiar to that audience and therefore more easily influenced by it. 

Another magazine that has recently done this is 'Crack' a lifestyle mag, that has collaborated with Fred Perry in order to create a 'limited' edition lookbook style publication (as seen below). Making style and lifestyle choices evident through visual content that would relate to the audience they are now aiming towards. As the brand has become more mainstream they are now aiming towards an audience that is interested in urban style and creating a look that relates to a street style vision. Shown here in the use of dark muted tones, giving the vibe of the colours found in an urban environment. Whilst also retaining their indie roots and showing that they can be representative of multiple identities, allowing further brand authenticity for the established consumer but opening up the brand to a new direction. 

Fashion Magazine Ads:

Spring/Summer 2019 Chanel Print Ad

Spring/Summer 2019 Chanel Print Ad

Each of the designer ads in the publications above is strong in themes that are linked to luxury/aspirational lifestyles. Chanel uses a background that has a heavenly vision, using clouds, a dusk sky colour pallet, and soft translucent ground. Chanel has exemplified the use of their theme by using al white outfits, resembling a Greek mythology vision. 

They're basically telling their target consumer in order to gain the heavenly elegance of a Greek god, one must wear Chanel. The ad itself doesn't even particularly represent the clothes from that particular season, only further showing me how Chanel rely on the brand's lifestyle connotations than their commodities. 

Dior Spring/Summer Ad 2019

Dior takes a similar approach, although they tap into a more of traditional connotations of visual links that come from the beginnings of the French fashion brand. They are portraying a woman dressed in a traditionally French outfit, using stripes, and a beré; stating visually to their consumer, if they crave the life of a fashionable French artisan personna, one way of doing that is through buying Dior. Further enforced by the direct placement of their products. 

Gucci

"champion the notion that those who the mainstream often considers to be oddballs are frequently the most interesting and creative people, and that true individuality is a badge of pride." - Gucci

Gucci takes a slightly different approach due to the brand's values of being unique and creating a lasting impression. Rather than aiming the brand towards the idea of that buying into Gucci allows for a lavish lifestyle and elegance, it promotes creativity and individuality. This is an interesting take to have on advertising since the entire practice itself is based on the idea of focusing a group with similar interests to buy into the product, it makes the audience feel that they are being an individual by purchasing into the brand when realistically they're endorsing a community of wealthy fashion led minds, all buying the same mass-produced high-quality clothing.

Lifestyle Magazines/New wave fashion magazines:

The younger generation is beginning to buy into new wave magazines, people began to think the print was dead due to a rise in internet reading and interaction. Yet new wave magazines offer a new more informed younger generation the opportunity to read into issues that are refined, rather than a magazine with an article about a particular element of fashion regarding queer designers, for example, there would now be whole publication available to hand, most of which are produced purely through print.

Most of the magazines are launched by people looking to explore a tiny corner of interest in a new way. “We felt there was a growing movement for well-crafted products and a holistic lifestyle, but there was nothing out there reflecting the scene in the way we do,” Sam Walton of Hole & Corner explains. This is a sentiment echoed by everyone behind the magazines profiled here. Walton is one of many who hails directly from the world of journalism, with previous experience at Vogue. For others, such as the historian and former antique dealer Nicole Burnett of Pretty Nostalgic, it is their niche that they know intimately.

Although this generation read magazines that promote individuality and a sense of personability within the style, this is the audience fashion brands are attempting to influence, and succeed in doing so. Therefore through mixing the two styles, I would be tackling the attempted indoctrination of these young consumers, in a way they engage with, through print; directly relating to the method of media in which the ads are presented in.

Visuals:

New wave fashion magazines engage visually with their consumer on a different level. To be able to engage to their desired audience they take a more stripped back and simplistic approach, as it relates directly to modern design, an interest which people who have an interest in these publications often has. the typefaces are often sans serif to reflect this, as well as a use of increased negative space, keeping the focus on the content itself making the clothing pieces that have their own statement and story work. 
As well as lifestyle magazines making a statement of what the clothing means, their meaning is in their title, they are presenting a lifestyle as a whole. Therefore showing what kind of clothes and choices a person who wants to engage with that lifestyle should choose. 

This would be an interesting route to go down in terms of engaging with my audience as they will be reading this type of magazine, as they are more interested in lifestyles that their style can present rather than the smaller articles that fashion magazines contain on how to adjust different singular pieces.