I might be very wrong about this, but aren't the main consumers of high-end fashion actually older women? Are the single young women that the fashion magazines seemingly target really the primary customers? See, I have no issue with marketing to your targe-audience--that is what marketing is all about. However, what bothers me is the sense that middle-aged women are in fact the target audience of fashion mags, and that the youthful content is meant to be aspirational. To me, that is the wearysome, and sometimes offensive aspect. I know young women who wear costly clothes, and still more who dress casually. But of my friends who have always been interested in clothes and fashion, I don't see that interest declining with age. If anything, they have more money and time to spend--so why not give a nod to those women?
That said, I don't think that a fashion magazine that specificaly caters to older women will necessarily be that successful, because few older women want to be pidgeonholed as such. I don't myself. So they'll continue to choose Vogue over a publication like More. Instead, I would prefer to see a magazine that featured more variety, with a range of looks, ages, and body-types. Perhaps something a bit more sophisticated than we're used to seeing too, but that's my taste. In bygone years, one advantage an older woman had was a certain amount of earned sophistication, a worldliness that could seem out-of-place in a younger person. In any event, I turn to fashion for a bit of glamour, to lift myself up. Like Lopaisate, I'll wear that pretty dress just for myself.
I rambled on...sorry about that. So let's start a magazine! But before that happens, it's probably more practical to focus on my dress wardrobe. Even though I'd have to adapt either list to my lifestyle and look, it did open my eyes a bit. Last night I was looking over my summer sewing plan, which has a heavy emphasis on casual dresses. On first glance, that seems practical, but in the last month alone I've scrambled several times to find more formal clothes. So I think I'm going to shoot for being slightly over-dressed and wear nicer clothes, even if it's just me in front of the computer.
