The changing face of women’s magazines
It may not be a household name to stand alongside the likes of Vogue and Marie Claire, but Essentials is a magazine that is quietly changing the face - quite literally - of women's glossies.
The October issue of the monthly magazine, which is the fastest growing in its sector with a 13% year-on-year circulation increase, features only real women (as opposed to agency models) in images untouched by airbrushing.
In the short-term, it is not surprising that there is a demand from readers for this kind of direction, which flies in the face of all the edited, stick-thin models that have prevailed in recent years.
What is more interesting will be to see how the magazine fares in the long term.
Will advertisers, wanting aspirational editorial to sit alongside their aspirationally-priced make up and handbags, tire of the "real women" who - with the best will in the world - will only seem downmarket alongside their high fashion contemporaries?
The editor has already announced that future issues will only feature readers on the front cover and will revert to type with agency models in the magazine.
So while Essentials should be commended for standing up for what it believes in, I wonder if its readers will stand alongside them?
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