Woman Fashion Magazines And Study Of Consumerism--The Vogue As A Case

Ever since 1990s, an outstanding commercial culture phenomeno n梩he booming of woman fashion magazines?have arisen and in a c onsiderable degree have influenced the consuming and living style s of urban women.The present limited studies in China of the phenomenon are ge nerally in three dimensions: namely, from the angle of business o r marketing and brand operation, from a positivist study in a cert ain aspect, and from the analysis of woman consuming culture. Thestudies have respectively their own values, yet a comprehensive and multidimensional study is and shall be more significant.Among the woman fashion magazines the Vogue is taken as a ca se of study for itssuccessful commercial operation, its close pac e with the development of China's market economy and its interna tional capital background.In a micro-perspective, the booming of woman fashion magazine s is closely related to the initial establishment of globalizatio n, the mass media and the consuming society in China. Through reading the fashion magazines, women readers are actually having their fashion taste satisfied and their identity recognized, and are therefore actualizing the act of consumption.In a macro-perspective, the booming of woman fashion magazine s is the very result of the co-functioning of the media and theaudience. The present overspreading of consumerism is also the re suit of the operation models of commercial media, including the fashion magazines. When the media are conducting their market-ori ented operations, they have neglected their role as a social publ ic organ. The mediaare increasingly losing the capability of self -examining and are just catering to the society's services whatso ever. As a result, the audience is easy to be misled and is grad ually losing its criticizing role, only accepting the informationto its own advantage and confined to its limited world of wealt h and consumption pursuit and thus ignoring the harsh and seriousreality around. Of course, while the present multi-dimensional society must treatfairly and tolerably the values and living styles that will notproduce any serious consequences, to promote social justice and fairness and to maintain a humanistic attitude are a prerequisitefor the media to keep its self-examining capability and create a virtuous public space for the society.