The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Her Campus.
When you pick up your favorite magazine in a Barnes and Noble or the hairdresser, it’s easy to forget that the issue we see is not the one that everyone sees. Major magazines have different offices and versions written and published for different countries. This is not simply an issue of language, but also an audience from a different culture affects what is of interest for publication. I always knew this, but I had never really thought about it until last October as I waited at the Liverpool train station.
I had taken a day trip to Liverpool with my parents, and we stopped in a shop at the station to buy entertainment for the ride back to London. My dad perused for a magazine involving Elvis Costello, my mom became enamored by English tea publications, and I went straight for fashion. I had heard that the popular Youtuber Tanya Burr would be on the cover, and I was intrigued. It is also the first women’s magazine I have picked up since becoming an adult. I love my issues of Seventeen that come each month, but I understand that my ability to relate to its content won’t last forever. As I dove into this issue of Glamour, I was impressed by the variety of articles. I wondered how this copy I picked up in the UK compared to one I would pick up when I got home. My mom grabbed me an American copy when she went home, and now here we are! Here is my take on the important, though sometimes subtle differences I noticed between these two issues of Glamour.
First Impression
I am really intrigued that even from the beginning, the two magazines have a very obvious difference: the size. While the US Glamour is closer to the size of a typical piece of paper or laptop, the UK Glamour is a good few inches smaller from both sides. It surprised me at first, but I liked that it was that much easier to carry around.
The two faces on the cover are very recognizable figures to me: Reese Witherspoon and Tanya Burr. I’ll go into more depth regarding their presence and significance in a moment.
Cover
On the US cover, we have the massively talented Reese Witherspoon, while the UK cover has, as mentioned previously, beauty vlogger and Youtube smash Tanya Burr. They are both look stunning, of course. Their respective poses are sultry, but not seductive. They look confident and in complete control as both gaze directly out at the viewer. One of Tanya’s eyes is covered by her long reddish hair, but the intensity of her gaze (and also the dark makeup to emphasize her single eye) shows that she means business. She doesn’t need both eyes to pull you in and wonder what she has to say. I appreciate that they both come off as powerful and in control. There is no submissiveness. They are not afraid to take your attention, grab it and keep it. In a world where so many women feel unworthy of taking up space, they are dominating theirs and taking full advantage of their strengths and their platform.
Tanya and Reese obviously came to prominence through very different platforms, although they are gracing the cover of the same magazine. Reese is a powerhouse actress (hello, Legally Blonde), businesswoman, and relentless advocate for the rights of women and children around the world. Tanya became a household name through the screen as well, via her Youtube videos on fashion, beauty and later baking and lifestyle. Her name has expanded beyond the Internet into real life, with a makeup range Tanya Burr Cosmetics and her memoir Love, Tanya, published earlier this year. Both women have paved their own path and fight to do what they love and for the causes they believe in. They are intelligent, passionate, hard-working women dedicated to their craft.
However, it is hard to deny that Reese appeals to a very different demographic than does Tanya. Reese is truly a household name (at least in my household) and a face splashed across screens at any given moment. Tanya, on the other hand, grew from the Internet, far more popular with young adults and pre-teens, especially girls. It brings a huge group of strong supporters to the publication, and I wonder how many magazines they sold when Tanya graced the cover. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I admire both of them for all of their successes and talents, but I recognize that this is not universal.
It is the December issue, so naturally, both include a quite extensive holiday gift guide. I do think it is interesting that the US Glamour only mentions gifts, whereas the UK Glamour specifically addresses Christmas and the customs surrounding it. It lists presents as well as suggestions for party attire, fancy Christmas parties being far more expected in British culture than American culture.
The December issue of US Glamour is also the Women of the Year issue, with multiple covers included behind Reese of other women recognized by Glamour: Misty Copeland, Caitlyn Jenner, and Elizabeth Holmes. Therefore, a majority of the cover and the issue are devoted to this topic, whereas the UK Glamour’s Women of the Year issue is in January, so its cover features more of its top columns for the issue.
Content
Now to delve into the actual magazines. I understand that my views on the topics and themes of the magazine’s’ content is biased by what applies and appeals to me, which is unique to my passions and interests. However, here are some of my observations and the highlights from what I read.
-
Organization of Content: It is something that is so easy to overlook, but it portrays what the editors think the readers find the most important, what they are most likely to flip past or skip, and what they are going to try and find immediately. It makes the articles that are on the cover even more significant. One of those headlines is likely to have drawn someone in, so what goes around it also matters, both for advertisements and for other content. Though they are the same magazine in name, I was surprised to see how differently they arranged their content. Whereas UK Glamour put fashion and beauty at the end, it is the very beginning and the majority of the content of US Glamour. Preceding the decently sized beauty section, the UK Glamour started with a section called YouYouYou, including articles on advice for work, relationships, and health and fitness.Another important aspect is which article comes first.
-
Variety of Articles: I was far more impressed with the UK Glamour’s diversity of articles by a long shot. While it is true that US Glamour had a nice spotlight in their “women of the year” spread, I was incredibly disappointed to find so little substantial content beyond it. US Glamour had a nice article by Zosia Mamet about not caring what others think about you, specifically in reference to opinions on how you dress, and about important questions to ask in romantic relationships. In contrast to this issue of UK Glamour, however, there were not nearly as many articles that stood out to me, and it generally seemed to be watered down in substance. UK Glamour was filled with articles of interest to me. I loved that they had a career article, especially about a woman rising high in a typically male dominated path (she’s a lawyer). It doesn’t end there. They had extensive and informative articles on recreational drugs, cheating, and food allergies, just to name the standouts to me. They were not afraid to address big issues, nor did they assume their audience would be uninterested or incapable of understanding these pieces. Both magazines featured sections rounding up the events of 2015 in their own styles and formats. As already mentioned, they also both jumped on the demand around the holidays for gift suggestions with extensive guides for gifts for various people in your life.
Conclusions
I was solidly impressed by the Glamour UK edition. The content was very strong, as it covered a large variety of topics, and really played on having such a superstar female on their cover that could attract a new age bracket to their demographic. I would buy it again in a heartbeat, and happily read my favorite articles multiple times (and I have). However, the content of US Glamour left me disappointed and almost upset by comparison. There were some interesting articles, and I enjoyed their interview with Reese and the other Women of the Year, but it lacked any other discussion or displays of feminism and feminist topics. They can do better, and perhaps with UK Glamour leading by example, they can learn to improve their readership in order to include a broader audience for their publication.
Image credits: Glamour.co.uk, Clotheshorse