The Death of Fashion Magazines

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Grabbing a fashion magazine off the shelf to scope out the latest fashion trends has lost its relevance over recent years, which has resulted in a dwindling variety of physical copies. 

While there are still a few formerly popular magazines still in print, such as “Vogue” and “Vanity Fair,” magazines that dominated fashion trends for decades such as “Seventeen,” “Glamour” and “InStyle” have moved to digital spaces over the recent years. 

What is the cause of this mass withdrawal from printing physical copies? With fashion trends growing and changing rapidly due to the influence of social media, there is a decrease in the need for magazines that would offer the same thing. 

“I think with the oversaturation of social media, we don't even really have a choice anymore with what we're taking in,” said fashion major Mo Walsh ‘24. “I think because of that, we get so oversaturated that we are not going out to seek more and purchase a paper copy of something.”

However, there’s a drastic difference between print fashion magazines and what social media users are viewing. Information used for fashion magazines is obtained by professional trend forecasters and street-style reporters. Now, trends are being decided by social media influencers convincing viewers to buy an item of clothing or accessory or bringing attention to the commonalities in celebrity style to mirror it.

The existence of fashion magazines dates back to the 1870s, with the first publication being in England. Its original purpose was to offer women an opportunity to vicariously experience life outside of their own homes and responsibilities. 

“Glamour” (formerly known as Glamour Hollywood) released its first publication in April 1939 and its last in January 2019. When announcing that they would turn digital, “Glamour” editor-in-chief Samantha Barry said in an interview with The New York Times, "It's where the audiences are, and it's where our growth is. That monthly schedule, for a Glamour audience, doesn't make sense anymore." 

Another factor that contributes to the print downfall is the increase in fast fashion. According to a consumer survey conducted this year by the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion, “40 percent of US consumers have shopped at Shein or Temu in the past 12 months.”

This may have played a part in the termination of many physical magazine prints, since the demand to pump out clothes and accessories that follow micro-trends is hard to keep up with when it comes to the lengthy and meticulous process of creating a magazine.   

Besides the concern of increased fast fashion, consumers have generally gone digital, whether that be with magazines or even online shopping. It seems as though there is simply a decreased level of interest in print edition magazines overall. According to statistics from Ginux in regard to magazine sales in the United States, “Revenue is expected to decrease at a rate of -5.71% annually from 2023-2027.”

Despite all this, there is still hope for the return of fashion magazines in print, most likely to fulfill a sense of nostalgia. “We are right now in an age of such an extreme embracing of the metaverse, and I think we will once again see people trying to revive this lost art of illustration and paper copies of magazines,” said Walsh. “There's a talent involved in that that I think people once again will desire to see.”