Fashion Magazines: The Pot Calls The Kettle Black

I suppose it was inevitable: the 13-year old blogging phenomenon that is Tavi has now landed at U.S. Harper's Bazaar. After the cover of Pop and a video for Rodarte, the teenage wunderkind has been hired to pen a monthly column for the magazine prompting a number of industry professionals including U.S. Elle's Anne Slowey to mock the move as gimmicky.

Ms. Slowey makes a perfectly valid point. Harper's Bazaar's embrace of Tavi does smack of gimmickry. In fact, it struck me as downright cynical although sadly not surprising given the magazine's transformation under Glenda Bailey's stewardship (it is after all Glenda Bailey who is largely responsible for turning the once reputable magazine into a high-end infomercial).

The problem is one of credibility: who is Elle to call out Harper's Bazaar for a nakedly cynical marketing ploy after they elected to put troubled pop star Britney Spears and her kids on their January 2010 cover? And who could forget the train wreck that was Stylista, the reality television show starring none other than Slowey herself? Personally, I think it's Tavi who should be worried about being tainted by the association with mainstream fashion publications for the reasons I expressed in an earlier post.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[Lucie]

When I was at school, a whole unit of history class was dedicated to "l'enfant, une invention contemporaine" which showed how we went from expecting children to fill the same economic role as adults (working in factories during the industrial revolution, in mines, dans les champs etc) to ensuring their weell-being by making sure could take time to develop, explore their interests, had rights... Fashion blogging or journalism is in no way as hard as any of the tasks I listed before, especially because Tavi elected to pursue both, but I am ill at ease with the "little adult" aspect of it all.
This being said, Tavi reached her position on her own merits, or partly on her own merits if she is part of a team. The same cannot be said of many "journalists" (the Geldof sisters and Pixie's involvement in LOVE spring to mind)who also are marketing coups thanks to their name and bottom less bank accounts.