Case Study: Vogue (Magazines)

Vogue

Summarise the key changes in social attitudes to gender in the 1960s, as well as changes to the economy, consumer goods, travel, food and culture such as fashion and music.

Following the bleak post-war period of austerity, in the 60s the economy was growing and employment rates were high. The standard of living greatly improved, and thus, people could spend their money on consumer goods and recreational activities like travel.

Given the 'baby boom' after WW2, there was a considerable large fraction of the population to appeal to. The youth. Therefore, all the liberating changes discussed can be understood by a countereffect of the constrictive 50s and previous war years.

The authority of older figures over young people started to be challenged. Referred to as 'The Swinging Sixties', this decade was defined by hedonism, favouring the economy as this translated into consumerism. 

In the 60s youth, popular culture expanded. This is reflected in the emergence of pop art, which focused on sources of popular commercial culture like Hollywood movies and pop music.

Social attitudes to gender and social class started to relax, with the start of changing views around those. Measures like the contraceptive pill being approved and legalised abortion demonstrate this.
People more visibly started to protest and rebel, exemplified with the Civil Rights Movement. Particularly, young people had the Hippie youth movement, supported by prominent musicians like The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Hence, the youth defined the decade in terms of culture (fashion and music). 

Analyse the following sections of the magazine for technical codes and how they represent and appeal to their historical target audience

• Front cover

The Vogue front cover has its star persona in a close-up as the main image. The star featured, Sophia Loren, therefore dominates the cover and its layout as there are no cover lines. This characterises the magazine as a rule-breaker among the industry, reflecting their audience of independent women. The cover appeals to them through the dominant central image of Loren, an Italian actress that was at the height of her fame in the 60s. She embodies the success and glamour Vogue's target audience would aspire to, as young women of the 60s were able to break free from the traditional expectations of solely being housewives and mothers. Loren maintains a direct gaze that connotes confidence, but she's distant, due to her slightly raised chin and serious look. This once more transmits her high status and the target audience's desires but also represents the audience to an extent. Loren is an icon of femininity and style, reflecting the liberated woman of the 60s; the change of the Swinging Sixties also involved fashion with Mary Quant's miniskirt being a crucial symbol of the relaxation of social attitudes to gender. So the stylistic choices for Loren's clothing indeed transmit the historical context that tied fashion to female empowerment.
The Turkish headscarf along with the Italian background of the actress both reflect the growing acceptance of diversity. With it, travel became a desired activity, the short snappy words "sun swim sea sun"  reflecting the target audience's aspirations, linking to the content inside and serving as an alternative to cover lines. Also, foreign actresses were included in the Hollywood scene (i.e. Italian Sophie Loren along with Belgian Audrey Hepburn for instance). Still, it's crucial to remember that progress was limited, and the style choices for Loren indicate this. The makeup emphasises her dark brown eyes, unchallenging stereotypical notions of female beauty. Even when foreign elements are incorporated, like the headscarf, a modern audience could identify it as cultural appropriation. The purpose of the shoot (Loren was promoting her recent movie, Arabesque) provides insight into the importance of Hollywood and pop culture in the creative industries, with Vogue evidently benefiting from it, featuring popular actresses like Loren in its covers. This reflects the time period, people engaged in leisure activities like going to the cinema and youth culture expanded. Hence, the target audience of Vogue would be interested in the cover and content inside.

The mise-en-scene of the front cover enhances the success embodied, green is a consistent colour throughout the masthead and the star's clothing, conveying wealth and ambition. The accessories of golden jewels, pearls and feathers ultimately establish Loren as an aspirational figure and a representation of the audience's desires. The list of words, a substitute to cover lines, indicate the audience of the magazine look to it for advice on fashion and beauty, "how to scintillate almost anywhere even at a picnic". The audience is therefore appealed to, as Vogue establishes itself as an authoritative voice in the female-aimed magazine industry. Indeed its influence remains in our modern age, so the audience is successfully appealed to, through the consumeristic nature of society, aiding the fashion and beauty industries as women will buy products for their own pleasure.

• Contents page (p.3)

The contents page essentially defines Vogue's adherence to traditional conventions of female-targeted magazines, with content sectioned in fashion and style, entertainment, culture, travel, cuisine... This conveys the slowly changing views around women's role in society, as memorability of the alliteration in "picnics probable and improbable" and motif of "picnics" throughout could be defining the target audience essentially still as housewives, just outside the home. Alternatively, the prominence of female journalists in the featured list indicates the visibility of women in professional roles. It represents the changing scenario; to represent their target audience Vogue must make assumptions that lead to gender stereotyping. This doesn't mean that the audience isn't interested in such subject matters. In fact, the motif of "picnics" signifies Vogue's audience must have been interested in organising them given its repetition. 

Nevertheless, Vogue's readership seems to be cultured and educated, with assumed knowledge of the Italian term "Dolce Vitta" and pop art artist "Andy Warhol". This also reflects the cultural and social context of the time, in which modernity was embraced. There are assumed interests by the magazine, about fashion, entertainment and culture, hence, it effectively targets its audience and represents its interests. 

The allusion to various exclusive travel destinations like Abu Dhabi, Deauville and the Mediterranean coast indicate the interests of the readership, people interested in opening up new horizons with the arrival of growing accessibility of travel. Still, it was relatively new and therefore reserved for the wealthy, so it will mostly be a method to appeal to instead of representing Vogue's target audience. Still, the consumerist focus, highlighted by the recommendations of shopping, trends and travel ("cruises") indicate an equally consumeristic audience, with a disposable income. Therefore, the magazine attempts to represent and appeal its target audience, quite broad as it's half the population, women. 

• Feature: 'Money: Questions and Answers' by Sheila Black (p.14,18)

With "money" as the central theme and highlighted as the heading, Vogue is explicitly targeting the new generation of women who were financially independent. With over 26,000 women attending university by 1962, they had the possibility of becoming professionals and not just housewives. They could be in charge of their own finances instead of just leaving their husbands in charge. The subheading of "questions and answers" alludes to the nature of the relationship between Vogue and its readership, Vogue knows its audience and its interests, and acts as an advisor, appealing to them as it establishes itself as a connoisseur in the topics it tackles, in this case, finance. The journalist's background is useful in determining this, as she writes for the Financial Times, immediately elevating her status of expertise in the article. There's underlining that divides the article into sections, "borrowers", "home improvements" "insurance" and "shares", signalling the representation of the audience as independent women with desires to invest and manage their money with expertise. And so, Vogue effectively appeals to the desires of the audience, featuring the Money article.

The article, like the rest of the Vogue issue, reflects the changing status of women in the 1960s; they were given more financial freedom than their previous generations, however, they still were fighting for equal status. The recurrence of Black's transmittance of the readership's questions as vague indicates women weren't really educated financially or given support. Furthermore, the reference to British financial law of the time, in which wives couldn't make private personal investments without their husband's knowledge, indicates women weren't really independent yet. So, the conflicting nature between women's wishes to be independent and their unequal status is represented. They are appealed to with the support offered by the magazine, which recognises and considers their interests.

• Advert: Revlon 'The applied art of eye-making' (p.17)

The advertisement reflects Vogue's audience's interests. With the target focus being on women, the recurrence of beauty-related adverts is explainable as assumptions of the audience's interests are made. These assumptions are arguably not mistaken given that the 1960s was a period of liberation for women. The embracement of hedonism in modern society translated into women reclaiming their bodies in the Women's Liberation Movement. Hence, the advert for 'Eyemakers a la carte' signifies the ability of Vogue's audience to choose and spend their money on themselves. The play-on-words in 'Fabulash' and 'Brow beautiful' targets the audience, who will be drawn by the capitalization of the individual products' names and persuaded by the informal and carefree attitude maintained throughout.

The Revlon advert seems to suggestively give power to women, choices are offered with the parallel phrasing in "shape them, change them, colour them, darken them, deepen them!". In the 60s a large portion of women started to be intellectually and financially independent, hence, the advertising industry adapted to appeal to the new generation. The illustration that accompanies the writing reflects the aim of the advert, it positively exemplifies the products will highlight women's features, therefore appealing to them through physicality at the time of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Measures like the contraceptive pill and legalisation of abortion meant women were starting to be empowered in their sexuality, and so, Vogue's audience would effectively be interested in products like Revlon.
An oppositional reading to Revlon could argue that the advert isn't really realistic and sincere. The nature of the featured visual, an illustration, suggests the 'perfect' image is unattainable. This is supported by the hyperbolic language throughout, "to make your eyes make history for you!" "positively alluring!". The exaggeration is employed to appeal to women, along with exclamations that convey the tumultuous nature of the time. Advertisers and companies like Vogue exploited the context of the sexual revolution, appealing to women's wishes of liberation. Hence, Vogue's featured Revlon advert represents women's desire to explore and exploit their sexuality. And while captivating the audience, the Revlon advert will represent women as people who should be looked and admired through their makeup, as the visual looks like a painting more than a real image.