Women's magazines provide guilty pleasure and bliss
In spite of my teaser heading, I'm afraid my male readers will be bored with this entry. I'd like to share a couple of things I've found recently that reveal a couple of very different aspects of my personality.
One is Glamour magazine's Web site. The "Dos and Don'ts" page in the magazine has been popular for years because everyone (unless, perhaps, a saint) likes to see other people do dumb things in public. It makes us feel a little better about ourselves for a moment. We can point at the visible panty line or muffin top bulging out between jeans and top and say "I don't look that bad!" (even if we do and don't know it). The woman being ridiculed has a black rectangle over her eyes, so the hope is that she never recognizes herself and never sues Glamour.
This is somewhat dangerous territory for me because (1) Glamour is published in New York City and the editors are not aware that it has readers anywhere else and (2) I'm hopelessly out of touch with fashion anyway. Sometimes I stare at the "don't " pictures and can't figure out what the woman with the black rectangle on her face has done wrong until I read the caption. In fact, I'm often a good candidate for a "don't" photo. I dress for comfort, and that means I occasionally go out in public in "Mom" jeans (and commit other sins I'm not even aware of because I live in Nevada, not New York).
Anyway, now Glamour has "Dos and Don'ts" on its Web site, and you've got to check it out. Once you're there, click on the "Don'tSpotting" link to go to the reader-submitted photos. Now that everyone has a cell phone with a camera (and everyone besides me knows how to use it), no one can go out in public and assume she is safe from showing up on Glamour's site with a black rectangle over her face. Actually, many of these photos are stealthily taken from behind, which makes you realize how many fashion sins are related to the rear view—which many women neglect to check before they leave the house!
Skip the "Editor's Choice" section unless you want to know what Glamour thinks women should "do" (boooring). Go straight to "Worst Don'ts" for the most satisfaction. It features lots of cellulite, thongs, low-cut jeans and tightly stretched fabric. I guarantee you will feel slim and well dressed after looking at these pictures. I recommend you go to "Most Recent" photos last because I have never found the end of it. You can spend hours there.
If you ever have free time at your computer, you can bookmark the page and count on finding something new to entertain yourself every time you go back. If you register on the site you, too, can rate photos, make comments and submit your own photos. May I request that you refrain from submitting pictures of middle-aged Reno women in Mom jeans?
The other magazine I wanted to write about is Victoria, which was published in the 1990s. It's hard to describe because it was unique. I liked it because it was about things I like: nature, history, antiques, gardens, old homes, food, small shops, calling cards, stationery and so on. It made me feel good just to look through it. It was so timeless I kept every issue.
About 2000 or so I let my subscription expire because the publisher (the Hearst Corporation) changed the format to include current fashions (you can see why I'm out of touch) and other typical women's magazine features. I must not be the only subscriber who abandoned it, because it stopped being published.
Of course, I've never pulled out an old issue and looked at it, so I decided last week to see if my collection was worth anything before I recycled it. To my surprise, I found people selling and buying old Victoria magazines on eBay.
I was even more surprised to see it has just resumed publication! The premier issue, November-December 2007, came out a few weeks ago. It's now published by Hoffman Publications in Alabama; everything else seems identical to the magazine I loved in the '90s. The cover proclaims, "REJOICE! VICTORIA Returns! Romance, Grace, Serenity, & Charm." The editor-in-chief and president of Hoffman Media, Phyllis Norton Hoffman, writes about "page after page revealing photos that take you to places of tranquility and loveliness....May each page bring you the bliss, encouragement, serenity, beauty, and joy that we have experienced in creating this issue for you." It did.
With a cover price of $4.99, the issue was selling on eBay for about $12 the last time I looked. It wasn't on the shelf at Raley's, but I found one at Borders and probably will subscribe again ($19.98 for one year/six issues). The magazine's Web site is still at www.victoriamag.com.
What can I say? Sometimes it makes me feel good to look at photos of women I think look worse than I do, and sometimes it makes me feel good to look at photos of beautiful things.
One is Glamour magazine's Web site. The "Dos and Don'ts" page in the magazine has been popular for years because everyone (unless, perhaps, a saint) likes to see other people do dumb things in public. It makes us feel a little better about ourselves for a moment. We can point at the visible panty line or muffin top bulging out between jeans and top and say "I don't look that bad!" (even if we do and don't know it). The woman being ridiculed has a black rectangle over her eyes, so the hope is that she never recognizes herself and never sues Glamour.
This is somewhat dangerous territory for me because (1) Glamour is published in New York City and the editors are not aware that it has readers anywhere else and (2) I'm hopelessly out of touch with fashion anyway. Sometimes I stare at the "don't " pictures and can't figure out what the woman with the black rectangle on her face has done wrong until I read the caption. In fact, I'm often a good candidate for a "don't" photo. I dress for comfort, and that means I occasionally go out in public in "Mom" jeans (and commit other sins I'm not even aware of because I live in Nevada, not New York).
Anyway, now Glamour has "Dos and Don'ts" on its Web site, and you've got to check it out. Once you're there, click on the "Don'tSpotting" link to go to the reader-submitted photos. Now that everyone has a cell phone with a camera (and everyone besides me knows how to use it), no one can go out in public and assume she is safe from showing up on Glamour's site with a black rectangle over her face. Actually, many of these photos are stealthily taken from behind, which makes you realize how many fashion sins are related to the rear view—which many women neglect to check before they leave the house!
Skip the "Editor's Choice" section unless you want to know what Glamour thinks women should "do" (boooring). Go straight to "Worst Don'ts" for the most satisfaction. It features lots of cellulite, thongs, low-cut jeans and tightly stretched fabric. I guarantee you will feel slim and well dressed after looking at these pictures. I recommend you go to "Most Recent" photos last because I have never found the end of it. You can spend hours there.
If you ever have free time at your computer, you can bookmark the page and count on finding something new to entertain yourself every time you go back. If you register on the site you, too, can rate photos, make comments and submit your own photos. May I request that you refrain from submitting pictures of middle-aged Reno women in Mom jeans?
The other magazine I wanted to write about is Victoria, which was published in the 1990s. It's hard to describe because it was unique. I liked it because it was about things I like: nature, history, antiques, gardens, old homes, food, small shops, calling cards, stationery and so on. It made me feel good just to look through it. It was so timeless I kept every issue.
About 2000 or so I let my subscription expire because the publisher (the Hearst Corporation) changed the format to include current fashions (you can see why I'm out of touch) and other typical women's magazine features. I must not be the only subscriber who abandoned it, because it stopped being published.
Of course, I've never pulled out an old issue and looked at it, so I decided last week to see if my collection was worth anything before I recycled it. To my surprise, I found people selling and buying old Victoria magazines on eBay.
I was even more surprised to see it has just resumed publication! The premier issue, November-December 2007, came out a few weeks ago. It's now published by Hoffman Publications in Alabama; everything else seems identical to the magazine I loved in the '90s. The cover proclaims, "REJOICE! VICTORIA Returns! Romance, Grace, Serenity, & Charm." The editor-in-chief and president of Hoffman Media, Phyllis Norton Hoffman, writes about "page after page revealing photos that take you to places of tranquility and loveliness....May each page bring you the bliss, encouragement, serenity, beauty, and joy that we have experienced in creating this issue for you." It did.
With a cover price of $4.99, the issue was selling on eBay for about $12 the last time I looked. It wasn't on the shelf at Raley's, but I found one at Borders and probably will subscribe again ($19.98 for one year/six issues). The magazine's Web site is still at www.victoriamag.com.
What can I say? Sometimes it makes me feel good to look at photos of women I think look worse than I do, and sometimes it makes me feel good to look at photos of beautiful things.
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