Figure 1.--This 1889 illustration is from 'Harpers', the most important women's fashion magazine in the country. It shows a brother and sister on a outing to the park.

Both ladies and fashionm magazines have been publishing the information of interest to women for the past two centuries with "sucessful formulas" that keep women reading. The magazines commonly include information on fashion. Some focus on fashion others are more domestic magazines. With increased subscriptions by the 1890's, the ladies magazine expanded the capacity for communication from one community of ladies to all communities of ladies throughout America. And, although they created this large audience they still maintained their "small town" attitude of community and caring in their writing. The early trendsetters in publishing have now evolved into the brilliant magazines of today. The magazines of the 1990s, however, have much less about boys'clothes than the earlier magazines or even the magazines of a generation ago. Apparently the modern woman is less interested in children's clothes. Here we will separate womens and fashion magazines. This is difficult because there is considerable overlap between the two. While HBC is primarily interested in fashion, the womens's magazines are important because they include a lot of fashion material. And the primary readership of both is women.

Women's Magazines

Ladies and fashion magazines have been publishing the information of interest to women for the past two centuries with "sucessful formulas" that keep women reading. Women's magazine from the beginning had covered fashions. They included much more than just fashion, but addressed the full gammet of domestic topics. WWith increased subscriptions by the 1890's, the ladies magazine expanded the capacity for communication from one community of ladies to all communities of ladies throughout America. And, although they created this large audience they still maintained their "small town" attitude of community and caring in their writing. The term for these magazines shifted from ladies to women's magizines. As best I can figure out, modern women don't like to be called ladies. The early trendsetters in publishing have now evolved into the brilliant magazines of today like BUST, Bazaar, and Martha Stuart's Living. The magazines of the 1990s, however, have much less about boys'clothes than the earlier magazines or even the magazines of a generation ago. Apparently the modern woman is less interested in children's clothes. Here we will separate womens and fashion magazines. This is difficult because there is considerable overlap between the two. While HBC is primarily interested in fashion, the womens's magazines are impoyant because they include a lot of fashion material. And the primary readership of both is women.

Fashion Magazines

Fashion magazines are those that focus largely on fashion and women's and children's clothing. Of course thet are women's magazines in the sence that their readership is mostly women. This is in fact a little difficult to classify these magazines as there is considerable overlap between the two. Just as womens's magazines include considerable fashion information, fashion magazines often include more than just clothing. There is often information on grooming, hair styles, and cosmetics. There tend to be, however, much less information about homemaking, especially cooking and child care. Some fashion magazines do, however, focus on children's clothes.

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Created: 11:14 PM 12/4/2006
Last updated: 8:12 PM 12/18/2012