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From Runway to Centerfold: The world of Fashion Magazines
One of the longest-standing and most prestigious forms of fashion documentation is fashion journalism, specifically fashion magazines. Fashion magazines make up a large part of the magazine industry and has been popular since the early 1900’s, when photographs started being included. The longest running and most successful of these is Vogue. This legendary magazine has been the source of criticism and compliment, examined in books and documentaries and has even been the inspiration for a motion-picture movie. It is even the first member of a long-standing rivalry, the second of which is the magazine Harpers Bazaar. This magazine has been the host of numerous famous editors, publishers, writers and photographers, not to mention featuring many of the fashion industries’ timeless classics. Two other reputable fashion magazines have stayed the course of time, Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair. Each of these magazines comes from a diverse background, Cosmo starting as a literary magazine and Vanity Fair as a men’s fashion magazine, but both distinguished themselves by stepping beyond fashion to incorporate articles and interviews as well, covering everything from politics to personal life.
The 1980’s and 90’s brought about a revival of interest in the fashion industry and clothing trends in general that has grown into the cultural staple it is now. This, in turn, brought about the growth of the fashion journalism industry, and a wide variety of magazines have since become household names. One way in which many of these distinguished themselves from their forerunners was by documenting what is referred to as “street fashion”, as well as couture. Some such magazines are Elle, Lucky and Allure. Teen and men’s fashion magazines have also gained appeal, with publications such as Seventeen and GQ setting the standard in their respective areas.
Long years of development and growth in the industry have led to the phenomena of having the world of fashion to the masses, just a cover-page away. The resulting industry of fashion journalism is a diverse and widely spread one, with its staple publications and its newcomers to the scene. Today, whatever someone is looking for, they can find it if they look in the right place. Websites offering magazine sales, such as MagazinesUSA.com, can give you an opportunity to browse the prices, issues per year and general theme of a wide variety of fashion magazines. For the maven and the newly recruited fashion
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