POST 4: REPRESENTATION

While doing my research I decided to focus on ethnicity and the differences between magazine covers featuring white and Caucasian people and black, Asian and other ethnic minorities since I would like to focus on that aspect for my magazine. The main convention to note is that magazine covers of women's magazines rarely feature men since there are women's magazines for target audience (women).

The first moodboard features many well known people such as models: Kendall Jenner, Georgia May Jagger, Cara Delevingne and Suki Waterhouse as well as singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. In one particular Kendall Jenner is the face of Harper's Bazaar Summer Beauty Issue while actress Jennifer Lawrence is depicted as an American Beauty, this is the cover of the September 2017 issue for Vogue, September is regarded as the most important cover of the year. This is focus on beauty of the women in this moodboard with another actress, Naomi Watts being named 'Pretty As A Princess'.

In this moodboard, there is more of a range of diversity with black singers Beyonce and Rihanna. Indian actress Priyanka Chopra also appears in this moodboard in addition to actress and singer Jennifer Lopez and Canadian model Winnie Harlow who has vitiligo, a skin condition. In my research I noticed that famous people from a minority background tend to appear more in overseas magazine than British and American magazine covers for example Rihanna's Harper's Bazaar China of April 2015 cover. An was a Harper's Bazaar Arabia cover with models, all of minority backgrounds with different skin tones appeared in the middle of the savannah. This contrasts with a different group shot of five models with only one person of a background other than white featured in a Vogue issue, the female model positioned to be sitting on the ground unlike the model either standing or sitting on seats could be a metaphor for the reflection of the magazine's view (or the photographer's) of people in society when all people of different races should be treated equal.

The September Issue

In the magazine industry, the September issue is considered the most important issue of the year. One of these reasons is because the September issue has the biggest shopping guides. The people featured on the September issue usually have something like a film or album to promote and are at the top of their industry, by being on a September magazine cover, this tells the industry that these people are the ones to watch for that year. Above, last year Jennifer Lawrence on her own in four separate magazine covers and is captured as an 'American beauty' in her first cover on the left. Lawrence appears as a elegant woman, innocent and natural lady, a glamourous bombshell and a work of art. Constant references that a slim white female is the beauty ideal affects other audiences and provides negative perceptions of other ethnicities. However, in this year this presentation of representation has broken down, the idea that black women do not sell in terms of magazines has changed. The September issues of 2018 of well-known magazines such has Vogue, Elle and Porter have used women of colour as individuals on their cover issues. This is a significant demonstration of a world that knows some things should change like a larger variety of women of all ethnic backgrounds should appear on magazine covers. Theorist bell hooks recognises that feminism is a struggle derived from patriarchal society and certain women in society are oppressed more than others due to their class and race. The values, attitudes and beliefs of a magazine are strongly represented on their cover and should present a more wholesome view of society. Media theorist Gerbner argues that consist representations of ideas over a long time period can sculpt and impact the audience's outlook.

In the spirit of diversity, one of Grazia's weekly September issues had two covers demonstrating diversity in disability on one cover and age on the other. The models ages' range for the cover on the right from 26-63 and the left cover features five empowered disabled women with 'frustrating experiences' who feel 'alienated by the fashion industry'.  The editor of Grazia, Hattie Brett said: " Grazia has a long standing history of celebrating diversity in fashion. We wanted to dedicate this Big Fashion issue to 11 women changing the face of fashion with their messages about inclusivity and visibility". Though both covers are acknowledged for their diversity in age and disability, there is underlying diversity of ethnicity too.

Generally clothes on fashion magazine covers ten d to be very expensive glamourous pieces coupled with elaborate, striking makeup, all lighting is high key and normally models featured on the covers are successful singers, actors, models or some other type of celebrity. Props are usually limited to chairs and stools but can be props like a swimming pool.

In terms of fashion, there are many elements that come into play to make up the fashion industry. There are many media distributors of fashion magazines but there are also individuals that express their interests in fashion through social media and the internet some of who are fashion bloggers and followers.

Some examples of famous unique fashion bloggers

Gabi Fresh

Gabi Fresh is a promoter of body confidence as someone who is plus size. She has found her place on Instagram and has over 600,000 followers on this social media platform. Holding her own website gabifresh.com she posts blogs on life, fashion and beauty and expresses fashion pieces she likes to wear.

Chiara Ferragni

Ferragni otherwise known as The Blonde Salad is a prominent figure on Instagram boasting over 11 million followers. She is an Italian influencer fashion businesswoman and was named Most Powerful Fashion Influencer in 2017 by Forbes.

Leandra Medine

As the founder of Man Repeller created in 2010, Medine has produced a company that explores the idea that 'an interest in fashion doesn't minimize one's intellect'. The business likes to challenge conventional notions of beauty and high fashion.