Vanity Fair is a monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States. The magazine usually has movie and music stars on the cover with an interview inside promoting their new film or music. The target market for this magazine is women who are in their late twenties into their early and mid-thirties and from the 4C's model, they would most likely be aspirers.
TEXT 1 - MAGAZINE COVER
Analysis of magazine cover
The background on this magazine cover goes against the conventions of this genre of magazine. Usually, they are a solid block colour, however, on this Vanity Fair cover, it is a floral print which is extremely eye catching. Furthermore, this floral pattern connotes femininity, highlighting the target audience. The black font of the masthead contrasts to the neutral colours of the models outfit and the background of beige's and greys. This makes it stand out to the reader, but also it still coordinates as it matches the jet black hair of the model. Katy Perry is the model on the front cover and she is a famous singer. Her popularity and relevance is reinforced here by putting her second name 'Perry' in a red font which juxtaposes the rest of her name. This makes the name more obvious to the audience and specifically her fans would be engaged by the chance of learning more about her.
Although Katy Perry is clearly the main star of this magazine, and is definitely being used as its selling point, Vanity Fair includes various other topics to demonstrate that they are not limited to one subject, therefore expanding the target audience. These other topics range from Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie Sheen, Hilary Clinton and more. The amount of celebrities named on the front cover alone suggests how much Vanity Fair values celebrity culture. Finally, the outfit Katy Perry is wearing could be viewed as being used to over-sexualise her and according to Van Zoonen, women are often sexualised in the media. Even though the target audience is women, her exposed skin and bust combined with the skin coloured outfit could be appealing to the male gaze in order to increase sales of this edition. However, this magazine is centred around Katy Perry and there being '''More than what meets the eye''. Due to this, her outfit could be seen as a way of empowering herself and women altogether and her taking control of her own sexuality and femininity.
TEXT 2 - VANITY FAIR CONTENTS PAGE EXAMPLE
Analysis of contents page
The Vanity Fair contents pages are all a very similar style with different images depending on the topics dominating the magazine. They often include quotes from the main celebrities in that edition, and a sneak peak of their interview or article to give the reader a sense of what is to come. In this case, Billie Eilish is one of the main focuses and so her image is large and we see quotes from her all around and these are accompanied with page numbers which act as action codes (Barthes codes), to point the reader in exactly the right direction. Furthermore, the design is simplistic with neutral colours which makes it easy to understand and follow. However, at the same time, the contents page is full and organised in a way which makes it look entertaining and broad.
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