Teen Vogue Magazine

Summary

Teen Vogue is magazine target to young adult girls. The table of contents is divided into sections: Fashion, Beauty & Health, and Features. This magazine has all the articles typical of a women’s popular magazine such Cover Look and Horoscope. There are colorful photographs on every page and they are mostly young adult women from the late teens to early twenties. A feature titled People Are Talking About provides readers with summaries of new movies and music with the help of a colorful pie chart. A feature labeled Next Big Thing is titled Pet Project. It is introducing Teen Vogue’s new “supercute” accessories, which include wallets, iPhone cases, bag charms, and mini-mouse pouches. An article titled Snow Day features girls in brightly-colored ski clothes and green, orange, and blue lipstick. An article titled The Social Network investigates the use of social networking sites like Facebook and how readers are now able to see when they are being excluded from activities. There are four boxes containing quotes from victims of being excluded. For example, Olivia, 19, says, “I saw a picture of my good friend Amanda and everyone I hang out with at a restaurant. I was in shock. Why didn’t she just text me? These are people I see all the time.”

Critical Evaluation

While comparing the articles to the categories they are supposed to be a part of, I often did not see the correlation. For example, why is Horoscope in the Fashion section? Why is Denim Patrol: Slim Shady in the Beauty & Health section? Shouldn’t it be in the Fashion section? Similarly, why is an article about music and movies in the Beauty & Health section? Most shockingly is the complete lack of any article about female health in the Beauty & Health section. The Features section seemed to be the only part that made sense. It features many of the attention-grabbing headlines on the cover and their corresponding articles. Of course, there are the full-spread advertisements that colorfully promote beauty and fashion. These advertisements are directed at an economically varied reader base. For example, jewelry sold at Target is followed by a Marc Jacobs ad; Marc Jacobs is considerably more expensive than what one would find at Target. More advertisements include those for Gucci perfume, Maybelline mascara, essie nailpolish, and Coach bags. Each page of article has supporting photographs and most articles are broken into short sections of text by subtitles that stand out and highlighted words. Quotes jump out at the reader in different colored fonts. The models featured are all very skinny, which might create unhealthy body images and expectations for girls. Besides the article about exclusion and Facebook, Teen Vogue is a magazine for entertainment only.

Why did I include this magazine?

I have read Vogue many times, and I was curious about how Teen Vogue compared to the adult version. The basic outlines are the same, but Teen Vogue has younger models and features about younger celebrities. There are less advertisements than in Vogue, and the advertisements in Teen Vogue are for items that are more within reach of teens (not all teens, of course. I don’t know any teen who sports a Movado watch). I was disappointed in the absolute lack of health-related articles despite having an entire section for Beauty and Health. Well, it seems beauty is more important. I think popular girls’ magazines should address heavier topics than how to do your hair. Still, this magazine is a fun way to browse what’s new in fashion and beauty.