I have to confess I was a magazineaholic. I would purchase over 30 magazines a month. Admittedly I was carefully watching trends, for clothes, jewellery, homewares, styling, makeup and colours.
So how many magazines do I buy these days – the answer would be none. I don’t need to wait once a week or once a month to see what’s hot. I can see it on the day it happens on the web, instagram, tik tok, pinterest .
Magazine circulation numbers have been steadily declining for the last ten years, with dozens of magazines disappearing without trace, think Cleo, Cosmo, Dolly, Girlfriend, Grazia, NW, Elle, Instyle, Harpers Bazaar, Good Health, Women’s Health.
However a few are hanging on, Vogue Australia, which is just glossy advertising followed by glossy editorial which is the quid pro quo for the ad. How many times must I read how a new fragrance was created only to be preceded by the ad featuring some Hollywood Star.
The Women’s Weekly with its undying devotion and sycophancy to English Royalty is holding on but with an ageing and dying demographic it’s only a matter of time. Woman’s Day and New Idea seem to cling to the tragedies of long ago TV and sports stars with a few recipes and puzzles thrown in, but there circulation is going nowhere but down.
Where once Princess Diana and the entire Royal Family was a boom to these magazines, nowadays the Kardashians can control their own narrative on an hourly basis.
So as much as I loved them, my love affair with Magazines is over.
