Daily Front Row

2009 June 9

Glenda's Bazaar Innovation

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The July cover of Harper's Bazaar featuring a shot of Angelina Jolie from Getty Images...
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(NEW YORK) Well, that's that--the fashion for fashion's sake era is ending, buried alongside the advertising revenue model which no longer suffices as magazines struggle to meet the numbers. Suddenly, newsstand sales have taken on a new relevance. The proof? The dueling July covers of Harper's Bazaar, which feature a pick-up shot of Angelina Jolie (for the newsstand) and a splendid Terry Richardson photograph of mega-model Doutzen Kroes (for subscribers). Glenda Bailey's answer to the old fashion guard that constantly laments the tabloid mentality is to give them a bona-fide model on the cover of the magazine for the first time in recent memory.

As for the decision to enlist Getty Images as cover artists? This novel, news-driven approach makes a lot of business sense in a climate that relies increasingly on efficient revenue streams like the newsstand, although it remains to be seen if this particular Jolie cover will sell. The demure photograph fails to serve up a dishy version of Jolie's much-touted sexiness, and the accompanying story by Naomi Wolf (untantalizingly titled "The Power of Angelina") merits a bit more salacious cover play. After all, the story inside tells of average women fantasizing about sleeping with Jolie.

“In a recent Bazaar.com poll," explains a Bazaar spokesperson, "Our readers told us they are completely fascinated by Angelina Jolie. For us, it’s about giving readers what they want, when they want it, so we contacted Naomi Wolf to explain the Angelina phenomenon. Her conclusion--that women not only want to be Angelina, but sleep with her, too--got all of us talking, and we decided to publish it immediately as our newsstand cover story for July. Harper’s Bazaar innovated the two-cover concept in 2001, so for our subscribers, who desire a more fashion-forward image, we've got the next great supermodel, Doutzen Kroes, shot for us by Terry Richardson. Either way, the reader wins.”
ASHLEY BAKER