Genre History

 Since I now know what genre of magazine I'll be working on, it's best that I quickly go back and look into the specific history of that genre. Some of you may remember my research on the general history of magazines. However, this time will be different since I want to focus only on men's fashion magazines. 

Early Beginnings 

Before the creation of fashion magazines, people looked at royalty and the wealthy for their examples of fashion trends. In fact, there wasn't even anything for you to see these trends; you had to actually look at a royal or noble to see it. However, 1672 saw the creation of the first fashion magazine. The Mercure Galant was published in France and quickly spread the news on the latest fashion throughout Europe. It was published from 1672 to 1710.

Development and Progression

Although Le Mercure Galant did feature a fashion section, it included much more content than just that. The first dedicated fashion magazine was published in 1785, called the Cabinet des Modes ou les Modes Nouvelles. It first began distribution in France but quickly expanded abroad. This set the genre for many more to come soon.

By the 19th century, the fashion genre of magazines had rapidly expanded in popularity. Many magazines began popping up across Europe and even in the Americas. These included La Mode Illustree in France, Lady's Realm in Britain, and Godey's Lady's Book in America. This rapid growth in popularity was affected significantly by the development of the fashion industry at the time. More advanced printing methods, the sewing machine, standardized sizing, ready-to-wear clothing, and clothing were all created around this time. This expansion in the fashion industry allowed fashion magazines to grow in popularity and reach new audiences.

Men's Fashion

With fashion magazines being firmly established as a magazine genre by this point, a new niche of fashion quickly emerged. The first men's fashion magazine, titled "Der Herr", had its first issue released in 1913 in Germany. Der Herr roughly translates to "the gentlemen", marking its place as a magazine exclusively revolving itself around men and their fashion. Publications for Der Herr continued until 1943, only ending because of the start of World War 2. This magazine paved the way for many more to follow.

By the time Der Herr had stopped publications, many other magazines rooted themselves in the niche that it had opened up. Men's fashion quickly became its own genre, with many new publications coming out. Among these was Esquire in 1933, GQ in 1957, and FHM in 1985.

source 

https://www.britannica.com/art/fashion-industry/Fashion-retailing-marketing-and-merchandising#ref1086306

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-P-2009-1286#:~:text=The%20Cabinet%20des%20Modes%20ou,both%20in%20France%20and%20abroad.

https://shorturl.at/prw26

https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/der-herr-mens-fashion-magazine/ 

Genre and Group Selection

                                                                                             

After doing all of that research on magazines and what makes them successful, It's finally time to start thinking about making the end product that I'm aiming for. The first step in this process is choosing the genre of magazine that I want to focus on. 

Genre

For my media product, I've chosen to stick to my original idea of making a fashion magazine. Fashion magazines have captured my attention since I first began this course. However, I've decided to focus more on men's fashion. Because of this, as well as the minor experience I have in the field after my preliminary task, it only makes sense to heighten my skills in this genre.

Group

Another thing that I've decided on is whether or not I will be working in a group. I will be working in a group with Bryan Penate and Jordan Granados, two classmates taking media studies with me. We will all be doing different issues of a men's modern fashion magazine. As for the name of this magazine, we are between the names Nu Era Fashion, 22nd Century Fashion, and Audax. To help decide which of these to use, as well as many other things about our magazines, we will create target market surveys to help decide.

Anyway, I'm extremely excited to move forward in the production of my media product and can't wait to take you all along with me!

Research Blog - demographics

Welcome back to my research blogs on the different aspects of creating a magazine. Today will be all about the demographics of magazines and how important they are to the magazine composition as a whole. Lets get right into it!

For starters, there are many different target demographics that magazines have. This is because of the wide variety of magazines, as well as the large audience and customer base for magazines. Studies show that the number of magazine readers in the U.S. stayed above 220 million every year between 2016 and 2020. This equates to approximately 67% of the entire U.S. population. This isn't even taking into consideration the markets around the world. The projected global revenue of the Newspaper and Magazine industry is expected to be over $165 Billion USD in 2023. That's billion with a capital B! This market is only expected to grow in the future. With such a wide audience, target demographics become extremely important for making a successful magazine

It is extremely important for a magazine to cater to a specific target audience. This is because different audiences want different things from the magazine that they read. For example, a fashion magazine will cater to a much different audience than a home decor magazine. Fashion magazines often cater to young adults, mostly women, that likely live in urban areas. They also focus in on middle to upper class citizens as they are more likely to have the money to buy the fashion shown. On the other hand, home decor magazine focus on middle aged people, again mostly women, that have their own home. These vastly different groups of people demand different things from their magazines. Because of this, demographics are extremely important in creating and publishing a magazine.

After doing all of this research on what it takes to make a magazine, I think that I'm finally ready to move on from research and finally make progress on creating the end media product! See you again soon!

sources:

https://www.statista.com/topics/1265/magazines/#topicOverview

https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/media/newspapers-magazines/worldwide

https://www.fashionmonitor.com/blog/XH/trending-american-vogue

https://www.quora.com/Who-should-be-targeted-for-a-home-decor-niche-on-Facebook-Ads