"From the beginning there was everything Elle …magical" – Karl Lagerfeld-<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Elle Magazine, the fashion authority always knowing the latest fashion, beauty and scoop. It's a lifestyle guide to every woman. Elle is not only gossip and fashion, but it also addresses controversial issues in contemporary society and culture. Elle is one of the world's leading fashion magazines among Vogue, Herpes Bazaar, Marie Claire and many more. I wonder what makes these magazines so special and why do people read them?

Ten years ago a Finnish publisher Aller Group tried to launch Elle Magazine in Finland in Finnish, but the project failed. Now in March Aller Group finally brought Elle Magazine to Finland and for now it has been a huge success.  It seems that everyone wants to have their one and I admit that I'm one of them. I was waiting the day when it came out like a little girl waiting for Santa. Since I was little I have been reading all kinds of women magazines like Vogue. As they say in Vogue "It's the Bible of fashion. If you want to know what's in fashion, you want to know what's in Vogue".

Women magazines like Elle are aimed at modern women without referencing to age. Women how live with and in fashion like Anna Wintour the editor-in-chief of American Vogue. Last week I read an article about her life and it really amazed me; fashion is her whole life. Many people take fashion as a joke like it would be just entertainment, but it's not true, for example, Anna Wintour. Among her job as an editor-in-chief of Vogue she also does some charity work. "Last year she got Vogue to contribute money to open beauty salons in Kabul, creating jobs for newly liberated Afghan women; a story on the project ran in the magazine." From www.time.com

Why do women buy these magazines? The main thing is simply because they just love fashion and the fact that they can be part of it by know and wearing the latest fashion. After reading two editions of the Finnish Elle Magazine I find it very hip and interesting. Women love to read fashion magazines. Women magazines like Elle and Vogue lift up my self-confidence when if I find something that I have, for example, a dress. Knowing that it's in fashion makes me feel good. Still I think that we shouldn't take fashion too seriously. A normal gal like me (not working in Vogue like Ms Wintour) should take fashion like entertainment, enjoy of it.

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."  -Coco Chanel-

Bibliography:

Helsingin Sanomat, 15.4.2008. (Kulttuuri), Aller-julkaisut lanseeraa suomenkielisen Ellen-lehden

Taloussanomat. 15.4.2008. Mirva Saukkola vetää Suomen Ellen-lehteä

Elle Magazine (Finland). May 2008 (5/08)

Cilla Bhose. Tuesday 11.12.2007 klo 11:21. Elle-lehti lanseerataan Suomeen. Accessed May 15, 2008, from http://www.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/talous/uutiset/etusivu/uutinen.jsp?oid=8353

(no date). Suomalaiselle naiselle. Accessed May 17, 2008, from http://www.elle.fi/mediakortti/

Accessed May 17, 2008, from: http://www.elle.com/

Accessed May 17, 2008, from: http://www.vogue.co.uk/

Michelle Orecklin. (no date). The power list women in fashion 3. Anna Wintour. Accessed May 17, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/2004/style/020904/power/3.html)

(no date). Fashion Quotes. Accessed May 17, 2008, from http://thinkexist.com/quotation/fashion_is_not_something_that_exists_in_dresses/153612.html

                                                                                                                             Oona Rossi