Vogue (2-year)

I ordered Vogue on Amazon and in less than a month I started receiving the fashion-ey goodness, including a 800 page issue-thing that could seriously do some damage to one's head if hit with it. Excellent mag for those who love fashion and Amazon got it here on the fly. Bravo.

Vogue has been the top fashion magazine for decades. If you want to know upcoming fashion designs from the world's greatest designers, you will want to read Vogue. Always a thick, lushly photographed production, you always get more than your money's worth subscribing to Vogue.

This month's issue of Vogue (July 2008, with Nicole Kidman on the cover) clarified for me the significant drop in quality at American Vogue over the years. The magazine has reduced in size, now smaller than US letter paper. The spine measures less than 1/4 inch. The printing and paper quality are low. The content of the July issue, in particular was watery. Vogue used to contain expansive descriptions of trends and details, but if the last few issues are an indicator, they must have fired a lot of writers. What exists now is not much more than product placement ads. The photo pages are few in number as well. I know that there is much more to fashion now that what was in Vogue lately. What's going on? Maybe there needs to be a change in editorial leadership. In the meanwhile, sadly I probably won't renew.

I received the May issue on June 16 - they should be mailing the July issue! That means that I have lost the value of two issues since they are starting with out of date issues. Save you money!

Does anybody really read this? Or, do file clerks just carry it around on the subway to impress each other?

It takes Vogue 500 pages to say nothing about people and things of no significance in the real world. Innocent trees are being slaughtered to provide endless advertisements.

It's the narcissist's bible.

I like to imagine that the editorial staff really sits around laughing every month about the worthless stuff they churn out -- just waiting for people to realize that this is a hoax. I pray that Vogue is the publishing industry's War Of The Worlds!

But then, I've always been an optomist.