Magazine Cover Analysis - Vogue

This cover for Vogue is an issue for June. The mast head is written in the same font it always is, to make the brand name vogue recognisable. It is large and uses the width of the cover, to make it visible however the main image of Kate Moss is slightly covering the word Vogue. The connotations of this are that the cover star, Kate Moss is more important than making the mast head visible, so that people will notice it on a shelf and see what a huge star they have on the front cover of their magazine, that she is even overpowering the huge brand name that is ‘Vogue’. The connotations of her image overlapping the masthead is that with such a huge brand name as ‘Vogue’, it is hugely recognisable and successful, so much so that the magazine is trying to give off the impression that its name doesn't even need to be completely seen to be recognised as the brand so connotes its superiority. This is supported by the mast head being the colour gold, which has the connotations of success, power and being ‘the best’. The gold colouring is a theme running throughout the cover, a technique many magazines use on covers to tie the magazine together and make it neater and more aesthetically pleasing. This issue was published in 2012, and the cover lines and headlines are in the same colour gold. The headline ‘Going for Gold’ and cover lines ‘fashion heroines’ ‘sporting gods’ ect, are all in relation to the year of 2012, with the Olympic games happening in the UK, and the Royal Wedding, Britain was a main focus of the world, holding many ‘national treasures’. Gold is a direct link to all of the subjects, the Olympic hopes the nation had, the royal celebrations and the worlds eyes on us, we were perhaps a ‘golden nation’. With the spotlight on Britain, the gold cover is almost offering a support to the upcoming games at the time, showing the hopes for what was to come, and also interesting an audience that is also very interested in sports.

The font vogue uses for its mast head is continuous throughout all issues, making the brand recognisable, and the font used is quite stretched out or tall, with thin letters, representing the girls within the magazine, or the target audience of high fashion magazine readers. The tall and slim look is often associated with models, connoting the high fashion contents of the magazine. The headline ‘going for gold’ stretches across the width of the cover, ‘on top’ of Kate Moss. ‘Going for’ is on the first line, in a slanted font connoting running, or ‘going for it’. The slanted look gives the image of movement, and the ‘gold’ in a thin but dominating larger font underneath represents the end result. This headline connotes the success that readers may want, specifically the target audience for ‘Vogue’, who are confident, successful/aspiring and also intelligent women. This cover appeals to this audience, as the main image is of a successful, British (continuing the theme of the British success year) woman.

The main image of Kate Moss represents her as a confident woman, and this connotation comes from her positioning, with her arms away from her body and showing she is not at all shy. The use of direct address also connotes this, as she is looking the reader in the eye, almost daring them to read inside. This all also connotes what is inside, as her open stand implies that the feature inside which she also does not hold back in. To the right of her is another cover line, ‘celebrate sport, style and shape’. The main image appeals to all of these suggestions of the contents of the magazine, with Kate Moss holding a rope that defines her figure or shape in an ‘S’ way, showing her curves in a way most women would want to be seen. She is a model, and also a style icon with well known fashion lines featured in topshop, a high street store but also an upmarket, often ‘high fashion’ store, so the image of her on the front, also looking glamorous and high fashion will encourage the reader that they are reading reliable fashion columns, and could encourage them to buy. ‘sports’, could be represented in relation to the image of her healthy figure, and by putting all aspects together in one cover line, could be representative of the fact that you can combine and achieve all three at once, just as the main image suggests.

Her red lipstick and expensive look connotes high class, appealing to the readers. The price also connotes that the reader would be reasonably wealthy, as at a monthly cost of £4.10, it is not a cheap magazine. The white background allows all attention to be on the image and words on the cover, but also looks like a sort of spot light, again connoting the importance of such a cover star.