Vogue getting serious...

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:13:41 GMT

Just kidding. When the roommate handed me this month's issue of Vogue that she'd gotten in the mail earlier, I grabbed at it immediately, already hungry for fashion. Can you imagine my surprise when I saw the cover? "You're Fired!: Surviving and Thriving after the Pink Slip" (We'll leave "The Real Lives of Models" for later) I nearly had a coronary I was so excited to see that Vogue was actually starting to care about something other than fashion. Something that actually mattered. Don't get me wrong, I love fashion - those of you who have talked to me or seen my shoe blog don't have any doubts about that - but it makes me really happy to see some fashion magazines take their subjects to the next level. Seventeen was a decent example for awhile: it had your regular teen girl fashion crap, but it also had some serious articles about self-image, drug use, etc. Then, when it became really superficial, I shook my head when my dad asked me if I wanted him to renew the subscription.

So I read the article.

I was so disappointed. Yeah, it was about someone who had been laid off. Lynn Yadegar, a former columnist for Village Voice, got laid off right before 2009 began. This is, of course, extremely sad because not only is it another American losing her job, it's also another sign that newspapers and non-internet media forms are on the decline. But I was so disappointed to see that Yadegar is not your regular columnist living on a regular salary... Nope. Yadegar starts off the article with: "The last thing I bought before I was laid off was a Victorian diamond-and-sapphire snake ring." Are you kidding me? You have the kind of salary to buy antique jewelry? The last thing I purchased was a reindeer man-sweater for myself at a thrift shoppe for $3 (it's a LOT cuter than it sounds, trust me). How could I possibly feel sorry for someone who buys those kinds of things? More importantly, how could I possibly empathize with her when she "thought $900 was a typical price for a sweater"? That's just disgusting. I understand that she's probably exaggerating her ridiculous airhead ways, but honestly, can you blame me for being upset? The article was all about how she couldn't stop shopping (yes, she made references to Confessions of a Shopaholic), thanks Bloomswood, I stopped reading your books once you got married to Luke Brandon. Let me compare our experiences, granted I still rely a lot on my parents, the second I knew I would be living in my apartment, I started buying $0.75 shampoo instead of the salon shampoo I liked so much. She couldn't limit her spending to $50/day and giving up her ridiculous "Rene Futerer Okara" shampoo.... whatever the hell that is.

Why not have a real person instead? She had to buy a printer (she didn't have one before) because she just couldn't see herself standing in line with Plain Jane and Normal Norman in line at the copy shop. Why not get someone who was relatively successful, but couldnn't afford constant luxury like Yadegar? I understand that Vogue is marketed towards wealthy women, but there's definitely a not-filthy-stinking-rich demographic (aka the roommate and I) that Vogue could try and appeal to.

Also... Vogue is taking itself too seriously.

Misadventures and Mishaps

Vogue getting serious...