A Magazine Reader 04 — Elle UK November 2019

‘A Magazine Reader’ is an ongoing research trajectory and series of zines initiated by Femke de Vries and Hanka van der Voet. It revolves around the analysis of a mainstream and high-end fashion magazine and its translation into an alternative new zine to provide insight into the cultural power and forms of value production that is at the core of fashion media. In it, the reader becomes an active actor in the construct of fashion. Re-reading the magazine by dissecting it, analysing the words, images, materiality, the items shown on the pages and the strategies of the specific magazine changes the way we read fashion.

‘A Magazine Reader 04’ is the result of a workshop by Chet Bugter, Hanka van der Voet and Femke de Vries in which the students of the MA Fashion Strategy generation 29 explored the role and representation of the body in the fashion magazine. We chose the ELLE UK November 2019 issue as our material. As one of the most renowned high-end fashion magazines, ELLE plays an important role in the representation of bodies and, specifically, ideas about body standards.

The readers in the workshop use the material of the original ‘source magazine’ to create a new zine that provides insight into the cultural power and forms of value production that is at the core of fashion media. The existing material is elaborated on by connecting with other material (theories, visuals, artistic explorations). As such, A Magazine Reader  focuses on the reader as an active participant – someone with agency rather than a passive consumer – in the process of creating fashion. Reading becomes making.