Lula_Magazine

Review and compare the publications of Lula and Elle Magazine. I chose to review Lula magazine and Elle magazine simply because they are both publications that I enjoy to read but for different reasons. Lula is an aspirational magazine; I fall in love with every page and the imagination behind the styling and the photo shoots, I also think the ethos is one that I really admire. Elle magazine In contrast to Lula is a monthly magazine, and is more mainstream. I enjoy the magazine to keep up with current trends and for the photo spreads. Stylist Leith Clark founded Lula magazine in 2006, for people who love fashion, music and art. The magazine describes itself as ‘the kind of girl you would have a crush on’ and the tag line for the magazine is ‘Lula, Girl of my Dreams’. The girl represented inside the magazine is a confidant, carefree girlie girl who is the envy of any girl who reads it. The magazine itself is thick and luxurious making the price tag quite expensive, mainly due to the quality of the paper, photographs and the fact that there are only two issues per year. The target audience for this magazine would be any girl with a love for all things whimsical and an interest in fashion. The content if the magazine is mainly pictures, with interviews with relevant photographers, stylists and designers. There are no large articles, just photography with large quotes across plain pages. The typeface for the magazine is called Kursivschrift Stehend and it is very bold and script like. Photographers such as Ellen Von Unwerth, Lina Scheynius and Autumn de Wilde contribute regularly to the magazine; all of their styles suit the publication perfectly. Leith Clark herself also styles many of the shoots. The advances in technology have helped Lula to create worn out vintage looking photo shoots. Many of the photos are taken with a Polaroid camera then scanned and processed, which give the photographs the effect of an old loved photograph that is worn out in the corners from being stuck up on the walls of girls bedrooms and adored. These processes also make the magazine itself stand out from other fashion magazines for using a diversity of photography. The front cover of every Lula magazine is simply just a picture; there is no text what so ever, setting it apart again from other magazines. There are not many adverts in this magazine compared to magazines such as Elle and Vogue but when there are advertorials in the magazine they are for high priced designer brands such as Marc Jacobs and Chanel, there isn’t a mix of high street and designer items, which makes this magazine and the lifestyle it represents very aspirational to the reader. Leith Clark the founder and editor of Lula is personally influenced by the style of Marianne Faithfull an award winning singer, songwriter and actress whose style is effortless with a mixture of rock n roll and hippie chic. Leith Clark has also said that she ‘loves dresses that look like cakes’ which is something that we can clearly see reflected in the magazine, with many of the photo stories made up of pastel tones, delicate lace and quirky accessories such as heart shaped glasses and sparkly diamond jewelry. What is very apparent in magazines these days is the photo manipulation of models and celebrities. Magazines produce an image, which is very far from what is ‘realistic’, this in turn puts pressure on an impressionable young audience sending them the message that this is the way you need to look. The thing I admire most about Lula magazine is the fact they use real girls. The photos maybe edited to pump up the colour contrast or turn them black and white, but in the close ups of the girls faces you can see freckles and slight imperfections which add so much to the photography, they are so rich with life and realistic. Lula over all is a very impressionable magazine, it has been said that the ‘publishers are playing it cool with this one’ as they know the harder something is to get a hold of the more people want it. Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon founded Elle magazine in France in 1945. Elle focuses on women’s fashion, health, beauty and entertainment and is now the largest fashion magazine with 800,000 loyal readers. Its tag line is ‘Si elle lit elle lit Elle’ which means ‘if she reads, she reads elle’. Elle magazine is very mainstream compared to Lula and is out monthly, always with a current celebrity on the front. The front cover is very busy with a main image and text surrounding it. Elle always has a celebrity on the front cover as it increases circulation levels for the magazine, Lula magazine on the other hand does feature famous people, such as Kirsten Dunst but they tend to just interview relevant stylists and photographers. The magazine is affordable for many people, with an average issue being around four pounds, however it is not as cheap as other magazines such as LOOK or Grazia. The reason why it would be priced higher is because of the quantity of pages as the magazine is always quite thick. The content of the magazine is full to the brim of articles and features on latest fashion trends unlike Lula, due to the fact that it appeals to the mainstream buyers, the vast majority of the audiences being between the ages of eighteen and forty. Photographers that have photographed for Elle have been people such as Carter Smith, Patrick Demarchelier and Tom Munro. Bibliography * Lula Magazine- issues 10 & 11. * Lula Official Facebook Page. * Wiki Fashion for dates. * Newstand.c * : "Si elle lit elle lit Elle (If she reads, she reads Elle)". * t is now the world’s largest fashion magazine, with 39 international editions in over 60 countries.[2] Technologically speaking, the Elle brand is a global network encompassing over 20 websites. * Elle reaches over 4.8 million readers. The vast majority (82 percent) of Elle's audience are women between the ages of 18 and 49. * Elle is owned by the Lagardère Group of France * Monthly magazine * Editor- lorraine candy