Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Magazines

It occurred to me over the past few days that I love magazines and buy and subscribe to a lot. So I think I'm going to review the latest issues of a few magazines every month.

Right now, a fave is For Me, which Linda turned me on to (as did the $1.95 price tag - when did the other magazines get so expensive? I'm talking to you, knitting magazines with you $6.99 cover price!) a few months ago. The website needs desperately to be updated - their cover is from February 2006 and they've got mixed content from March and April in there - but it's a great magazine for a relatively small price. Lots of good content aimed at women in their late 20s-early 30s, and the good news is that smug marrieds like myself (I'm not smug, that's a Bridget Jones reference) aren't excluded, like I tend to feel when I read Glamour. And you don't have to be married and a Red State-r to feel like the content is for you, like I often feel when I read the odd issue of Good Housekeeping, or Family Circle.

Sarah Jessica Parker is on the cover and there's a good, short and sweet article/interview with her inside. Swimsuit season is (gulp) upon us, so there is the usual guide to swimsuits but unlike most magazines, there isn't pages and pages of overwhelming swimsuits inside. They break it down, nice and simple - here are some one-piece suits, tankinis, Boy shorts and bikinis. Short and sweet. Workout tips take up the centerfold (Iron Yoga - is that like Iron Chef?), so I'll be checking those out. The recipes are fun - and c'mon, you have to love a cooking article that calls itself "Fake Gourmet".

All in all, a lot of fun in each issue. Because while I still love my Glamour and Marie Claire, it's nice to read a magazine that understands that you can be hip, urban, and married with kid(s).

Next up, this month's Prevention magazine!

10 comments:

Stacey said...

I just read this month's Lucky, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I felt like in a couple of the editorial sections they were just making stuff up. The handbag guide was nice though. Why is it that all of the ones I find myself drawn to turn out to cost over $700?

Roe said...

I got really disappointed with Lucky's overall content, that's why I didn't renew my subscription last year. I think it's gotten really thin and just concentrating on nice pictures of really expensive things. Have you noticed that they don't have as good a balance of reasonable and expensive stuff anymore? They're really swinging the balance over to the really expensive stuff; they're going to rival Shop Etc. soon the way they're going.

BTW, Shop Etc. is HORRIBLE - I didn't even finish out my subscription; read the first two issues and ended up just giving the rest to my sister in law when they arrived.

Lauren said...

Yeah, I gave up on lucky too. What good are pages full of discounts if you still can't afford a single thing?

Roe said...

Exactly!

Linda said...

I avoided Lucky for the last couple years, because I can't go on the insane shopping sprees I used to in Soho. I bought a couple issues this past year, and it's fun, but you're right, not very affordable. You're right too, about Shop, ETC. Bleech! I bought an issue of Nylon a few months back that focused on Paris and French fashion that was very fun.

And when For Me was introduced last year, it was $1.49!! They snuck that on up us fast. My fave magazines these days are Real Simple and Country Living. I am a certifiable old fart, and that's ok. The only reason I'm turning to other magazines of late is to seek out recommended skincare creams! I will occasionally peek at Elle Girl if I ever see something of interest for Amanda, but she hasn't really caught the magazine bug yet, except for M magazine-they have the prettiest kids' posters of the bunch. BTW, Bop! is back w/its old logo!

Roe said...

You saw that too, right? I think it was either this or last issue where For Me pulled that; I did a double take! But it's still good stuff for the price, so I buy it. You totally turned me on to that magazine.

I did feel like an old fart when I was buying it, even though it's very urbane and fun... I was like, "Oh my god, I'm standing on the supermarket line buying a woman's magazine... I've become my mother." Hee hee... But I'm good with it.

Just saw this morning that ElleGirl is stopping their print publication, going online only.

Oh my god, Bop... memories of John Taylor centerfolds come rushing back.

Linda said...

Wow, I didn't know about ElleGirl-that's why all the papers are tanking-all ad dollars are going online. I also think that, like Amanda, the target audience, while they LIKE to shop, most can't/don't shop at those designer prices (that are featured in ElleGirl,) and still aren't quite into labels yet, but maybe I'm totally off on that. But I think that's why magazines like Seventeen survive, the clothes are much more affordable. The one thing I used to love about Seventeen was their Back-to-school issue, it used to be the size of Vogue, but now it's kind of thinned out, not as juicy.
Oh yeah, I still have BOP pix in my Duran2 scrapbook!

Linda said...

OMG, it's snowing outside!

Roe said...

I know, what's up with that?

Roe said...

I think there were so many magazines flooding the market that the bubble had to burst. Every publisher was putting their own spin on an existing subject.

And absolutely, the teen magazines out today are just insane. I remember reading Mademoiselle as a teen and being bummed because I couldn't afford that gorgeous Azzedine Alaia dress that Renee Simonsen was modeling, but at the same time, I knew that I could read Seventeen and buy those great jeans at Caldor or Macy's. Now, everything is so unattainable. It's out of control.

I was bummed about Organic Style going under, though. I really liked that magazine, but I read that it had trouble finding its voice. Most people thought it was a crunchy granola type magazine, even after its relaunch as a slicker pub. Ah, the casualties of the magazine world.