Do you identify as a man? A man with a healthy level of interest in how he presents himself to the world? Are you comfortable enough to be seen reading a magazine in public? If so – or even it not – read on.
Are you at all interested in Joel Madden, modelling your personal wardrobe off Zac Efron’s, or being told you still need to wear eye serum on a daily basis? If so, what’s wrong with you? You don’t need to wear eye serum and why are you interested in either of those things. Just kidding. After you’ve woken up to yourself, wipe the serum from your eyes and read on.
The first issue of Grazia’s recently announced venture into the hommesphere, Grazia Men, launched today on the premise that (according to the fashion weekly’s editor Amy Molloy) “Men are just as hungry for style advice as women” and “many of [the magazine’s] readers hand their Grazia to their other half when they’ve finished.” Does your girlfriend do this to you? Please let us know in the comments section if she does.
I won’t waste any more of your time by resurrecting old cliches about SNAGs, or metrosexuals, or the sartorial drip down effect of Mad Men, but I think we can start off by saying that first part is a pretty fair assumption. It’d be hard to argue against ‘the appearance’ that men ‘these days’ have, for the most part, a pretty keen level of interest in the way they’re presenting themselves. While it’s an admittedly large generalisation I think we can all agree that this, more often than not, is a good thing; or at the very least, a thing.
Whether or not average Australian men (whoever the f**k they are) are going to want, need or will take ‘style advice’ from a semi-regular supplement to a weekly fashion rag synonymous with its existing female readership, the dating and fecundity woes of Jennifer Aniston and what the heck is even up with Suri Cruise these days is another issue.
So does Grazia Men have what it takes to make itself a regular in the reading habits of the Australian male (again, whoever the f**k that is)? Let’s take a look inside.
Grazia Men’s debut cover story is about The Voice judge Joel Madden. It leads with the headline, ‘Why I ditched my stylist’ and what follows is some questionable styling. Go figure. I’ll be the first to admit that I actually purchase magazines of the fashion kind. I’ll also purchase a magazine on the strength of a cover story or a single interview (but more often than not it’s out of subscriber loyalty). Because of the nature of my job I also have a (limited) passing interest in what Joel Madden says or does.
However, I would not and cannot imagine a guy who would purchase a standalone magazine on the strength of a story about why Joel Madden ditched his stylist. It’s a good thing then that this isn’t a standalone magazine. But then again, maybe that’s just me, a regular purchaser of magazines with an interest in fashion. At one page – half if I’m being generous – it’s dwarfed considerably by both a six page spread called ‘Finding Your Style Brother’ (‘Get your Yeezy swagger on lads‘) and an eight page photo spread featuring Angus Stone in some pleasantly dishevelled menswear with perpetually wet-look hair (because he’s laid back, FYI).
Throw in some pithy comments on a range of red carpet looks from a ‘fashion jury’ that includes a political commentator in Joe Hildebrand (why, Hildebrand, why?) making ill-advised comments about Karl Lagerfeld; an advertorial about a leather jacket designed by a rich DJ, Tiesto; some product-driven grooming advice and some Fifteen Minute Meals from Jamie Oliver and you’ve got Issue no.1.
I can see what they’re going for, and kudos for bringing it to the fore in a country where stubbies are often accounted for as formal wear. Grazia pitches itself as a ‘shopping list’ for its readers, so in this sense it’s reading like a kind of everyman’s one stop shopping guide. Perhaps it’s trying to do for readily available print what something like Mr Porter does for luxury e-tail. Mr Porter and any one of their retail-disguised-as-editorial rivals, however, do a much better job of shilling their wares, pairing “wardrobe staples” with style icons like Paul Newman, Marlon Brando or David Bowie whose ‘cred’ you’d be more likely to want to emulate over R-Patz or Zac Efron any day. In a way it’s a more accessible shopping list (there’s stuff for $20, and stuff for $12,000), but one that feels explicitly trend-driven; it’s a slave to the rhythm of fashion as opposed to a detached observer of it like most men are wont to be (at the risk of being labelled victims), and that’s something any retailer will tell you scares the shit out of the sartorially conservative Australian man. Also, elasticated ankle drop crotch distressed track pant jeans are never a good option. Moving on.
Grazia Men is not hurting anyone, but I don’t think it’s helping anyone either. As long as advertisers and ACP are willing to float their boat shoes, what the rag’s doing is pretty inoffensive. Whether or not men will actively seek out a copy of Grazia to buy of their own accord on a monthly basis is another issue entirely (they probably won’t. I’m probably in their target demo and I won’t). That’s because it’s not bringing anything new to the table, and for this reason I wouldn’t put money on it actively increase circulation of the magazine or bucking the trend for this kind of stuff on the Internet.
What it might do is increase the likelihood that the male partners of regular Grazia readers will find its pages laying open around the house more often, but I’m not convinced it’s bringing anything new to the table where men’s fashion magazines are concerned. That might seem like a tough ask but there are plenty stepping up to the plate both here and abroad.
If print magazines can no longer hold the attention of men using what were once failsafe T&A style tactics then what hope do advertorial grooming tips and style advice have? I’m thankful it’s not another Zoo, and as long as it still hitches a ride on the coattails of Grazia it’ll stick around long enough for whoever’s reading it and whoever wants to pay for their products to be advertised in it. But like Joel Madden, I’m not sure where it “fits in Nicole’s fashion world.” There are international iterations of Grazia Men so who knows, it might work if there’s an audience for it and if it does I’ll be the first to eat my rabbit fur fedora. Good luck, Grazia Man.
If this all sounds like it could still be your jam, you can pick up Grazia Men for $6 in the back of this week’s regular Grazia. The next edition will appear in 2013.
