March has been a good month for magazine covers. British Vogue with Lana Del Rey, British ELLE with Alexa Chung and Harper's Bazaar US with Gwyneth Paltrow have all been particularly strong and are definitely worthy of being the second most important issue of the year. While I haven't been crazy about US ELLE's recent covers, this is the best they have released in a while. Blake Lively looks effortless and natural wearing Victoria Beckham for the Tom Munro-shot cover.
Back in June we told you about the trouble Harper's Bazaar US, along with many other magazines, are currently experiencing when it comes to circulation rates with WWD reporting that the magazine experienced a 5.4% decrease in first half of 2011. In light of that, the magazine have had to have a shake up, reducing their issues from 12 to 10 per year.
Earlier this year they announced that their December and January issue will combine and now the same is true for their June and July issues and that's not the only change. Early next year the magazine will grow physically in size making it fall between its current measurements and the size of W.
Harper's Bazaar US isn't the only one having a hard circulation year. WWD reports that Glamour is also suffering the same problem but it looks like they've cracked the problem. It's not the headlines that get people buying the magazine, it's all about the cover and reality stars seem to be the biggest magazine sellers.
According to reports, Lauren Conrad's 2010 cover was the magazine's biggest seller that year and Kim Kardashian's February cover this year is the best selling issue so far this year. The figures indicate just how much the business of magazines have changed. 15 years ago publications like Vogue US were beginning to introduce celebrity covers but were only allowing the A-list to appear and fast forward to 2011, every reality star worth their 30 minute TV slot is bagging a cover. “If you look at what works for us, it’s not the same stuff that used to work for us,” Glamour US editor Cindi Lieve points out.
Nothing makes your station in life more clear than when a stranger hands you a camera while he poses with your wife. [I] waltz confidently into fashion shows with Rachel by my side, [but] the VIP treatment usually stops there. Any delusions of grandeur are interrupted by the words ‘Excuse me, sir, you’re in my seat'.
