A few more guesses Vogue is hurting: a repsonse to Jezebel

Jezebel posted an article on Friday about the five guesses (aka substantial and highly possible) as to why American Vogue is hurting. 1) the recession 2) the zeitgeist 3) it's stale 4) Anna Wintour 5) the internet.

I have a few to add.

1) The writing is so dull. I fall asleep before I can finish an article. In fact I opt to take a book or other magazine when I go to the gym for fear I'll fall asleep on the stationary bike. And I know I've bashed Anna Wintour's lack of writing in the past, but it bears repeating: the woman never finished high school and she can't pen a thought-provoking editor's letter/letter from the editor to save her life. And it's sure not saving her coveted magazine. I know when you buy a fashion magazine it's for the fashion, but magazines are still journalism and deserve to be edited by someone who knows what good literature is. It's really that simple. Anna Wintour is not a good editor. She may know fashion, but editing is so not her strong suit. How long will it take S.I. Newhouse to recognize that?

2) Too many jumping models. Go through your collection of the last "x" number of Vogues lying in your closet. Now count how many editorial fashion spreads feature jumping models with vacant expressions. Is it all of them? If it's not I'm surprised. When I read Jerry Oppenheimer's biography of Anna Wintour I came upon pages and pages of doting publishers and editors calling Anna's editorial eye "original," "unique," and a million other synonyms you can find on thesaurus.com. What happened to that (if it really was true)? There's not much original and unique about publishing the same editorial spread month after month - just change the clothes, accessories and sometimes the model and viola! Conde Nast can expect to see subription sales to drop even more if they keep featuring this tired spread.

3) The mag is too pretentious. And it's 100% the fault of Anna. Each month the "Up Front" feature is about some socialite and why her life isn't perfect. Is that supposed to affect Vogue's readers? If Vogue really wants to sell - both on the newsstand and subscriptions - they need to feature articles that will make its readers feel something or want to do something. A successful fashion magazine needs to shed a new light on the still images and looks we can find on style.com while also serving up some interesting and thought-provoking reads. Otherwise it's an offensive yawn. No thanks.

Here are some comments that the Jezebel article received from like-minded people who had some of their own guesses:

6. You only need one. If you read July's issue you've already seen everything that will be featured in issues for August, September and May. - merv

7. Buying a badge that reads I'm irrelevant is cheaper than carrying around an issue. - merv

8. Sienna Miller on the cove 13 times a year! - Plz2kthx

9. An policy against hiring anyone who knows what other people find interesting. -iheartapocalypse

That's all.