Auntie Fashion

Bazaar

Reason #6: The Decline of Harper’s Bazaar

Forgive me for telling this story again, but it begs repeating.  On what seemed like a normal day at the beginning of this decade, I was sitting at home watching Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”  There’s one scene in the 1954 movie where the impossibly exquisite Grace Kelly is lounging on Jimmy Stewart’s sofa while reading “Harper’s Bazaar.”  For a brief moment, I thought that I had never seen anything more glamorous in my life.

The next day, the phone rang.  It was “Bazaar” and they were offering me a job.  I wasn’t surprised that they knew who I was, but I was dumbstruck by the coincidence.  I went to bed dreaming of the magazine, and I woke up to an offer from the magazine.

I worked there for a year.  They were in a state of flux because the editor-in-chief had just passed away and the magazine was undergoing some major changes in order to make themselves relevant in a new market with a new website.  I embraced the changes and my new job with relish.  Anyone could see that adaptability was going to be necessary because the computer age was upon us.

Unfortunately, Hearst (the parent company of “Bazaar”) couldn’t bear the growing pains and they dumped my editor-in-chief, Kate Betts.  She was replaced with Glenda Bailey, a woman who didn’t even like to use email.  That should have been the first red flag, and although much of the staff seemed to notice, no one at the top seemed to be worried that the magazine was about to take a step backwards.

And that’s exactly what happened to “Bazaar.”  Although I’ve praised Bailey occasionally for giving the green light to some of the decade’s most innovative and interesting editorials, I’ve mostly criticized her for keeping the magazine in an induced coma.  It’s no longer relevant, and it’s not going to be unless drastic measures are taken.

The Antidote: “FASHION Magazine“

I adore Canada’s “FASHION Magazine“.  The creative team at ”FASHION” knows exactly who they are, exactly who they’re selling to, and exactly how to keep the magazine relevant in today’s market.  They put supermodels on the cover, they do reality TV and they have a website that I visit almost every day for fashion news.  Sure, they aren’t “Harper’s Bazaar” in 1954, but I’ve got to face the facts — no one is anymore.