| Magazine Of The Month: Star Magazine |
| Karen Marie Shelton |
| Revised Date: 4/29/07 - Original
Publication Date: 12/3/2004 |
Introduction
Sometimes I'm asked what is the
most important thing I've learned since founding
HairBoutique.com
way back when in 1997. The answer is simple. There is so
much that I don't know about just about everything. Even more
importantly is the fact that I didn't even know what I didn't know.
I did discover that doing
business in the fashion, beauty and hair arenas is like removing the
proverbial peeling of an onion. As I peel back one layer I
discover lots more stuff that I had absolutely no clue about.
For me, every day at
HairBoutique.com is a major learning experience. If I don't
learn something new, I feel like I haven't done my job properly.
Luckily I have found many
mentors, friends and associates to help me avoid so many of the
potholes that are littered along the way to success.
Hard Work Pays
Off In Spades
Another way that I learn along my daily path is watching the work
and achievements of others. Such is the case of
Joe Dolci's
Star Magazine. I have literally watched Star transform before
my very eyes from a traditional grocery store gossip "rag magazine"
to a front runner for Fashion, Hair and Beauty bible.
Note: Joe Dolci has left Star Magazine as of April
2007
Yes, I
still love Vogue, Glamour, InStyle and Lucky while I am newly enamored
with Stop, Etc., but Star is coming on like gang busters.
Note: Sadly Shop, Etc., Magazine closed their doors.
And trust me, because I know from firsthand experience, an
incredible amount of mind-boggling work goes into the fashion,
beauty and hair pages of Star Magazine. I am completely blown away
every single week by what they accomplish and take to the
newsstands.
(Image above from June 28, 2004 issue of
Star Magazine - all rights
reserved).
How do they do such an amazing job of fashion reporting every
single week? I am convinced that the fashion, beauty and hair
editors at Star never leave their desks, even to sleep. Yes,
they make it look so easy and the results are so spectacular, but it
is beyond normal human comprehension to even know what it takes to
have a good fashion, beauty and hair section, let along a
magnificent one. Star is rapidly nipping at the heels of some
of the historically greatest fashion tomes.
So what does it really take to be a fantastic source for fashion,
beauty and hair? It takes a superhuman mind-boggling focus on
the latest trends and the ability to dig out the very best sources
from all of the related fashion and beauty industries. Making
things even more challenging is the fact that everything changes
constantly at warp speeds.
Not only do celebrities constantly morph through a never ending
range of hair colors, lengths and styles, the stars and their
stylists shop nonstop 24/7.
The result? A rapidly
changing landscape of hot new fashion designs, latest looks,
hairstyles and accessories. Geez, accessories alone could take
an entire army of editors to track and report on. After all, you
have shoes, belts, gloves, purses, earrings, bracelets, and even
hair accessories. The list of what celebrities wear to
accessorize is endless, from Star Jones' wedding tiara to the latest
celebrity endorsed shrugs and caplets.
(Image above from August 23, 2004 issue of
Star Magazine - all rights
reserved).
Who can keep up with whether feathers are in or out and if they
have been replaced with metallics, leather or suede? And seriously,
when will pink really die and is peach or violet the front runner to
replace it? Are chandeliers still really being worn or have
they totally been killed by earring strings?
Just think about it from the average woman's perspective.
Imagine that you were going to a major event and had to select the
right hairstyle, makeup, gown, shoes, purse and accessories.
Yikes. It could take days, even weeks to pull it all together.
Now imagine the fashion, hair and beauty editors at Star Magazine
keeping track of all of the top celebrities and what they wore from
their hairstyles to their shoes on the gadzillion red carpet
appearances that seem to happen daily. Take just one little
person and multiply it by magnitudes. Whew.
Unfortunately the stars don't waltz down the carpets wearing
little labels that say "shoes by Blatnik, brooch by
Gerard Yosca,
purse by LuLu Guiness and hair by Fekkai". Nope. The
editors at Star are constantly on the phone with celebrity stylists,
insiders, designers, fashion photographers and hairdressers getting
the "scoop" on what Jessica, Angelina, Paris and JLo were wearing.
I can only dream of the fashion, beauty and hair sources that they
must have on their speed dials. I would kill for just a few of those
numbers. Even more importantly, how many years of hard work
and thousands of hours of research did it take to get those names?
Not only do the Star editors need to figure out what every hot
celebrity was wearing to whatever event, they also have to keep
track of who bought what, where, when and from whom.
How else
would we know where Lindsey Lohan bought her Michelle Roy designs or
where Jessica Simpson shops in Beverly Hills? They need to
track current, future and who-can-believe-it fashion and beauty
trends.
Digging For
Fashion Scoops
Once the Star editors gather the appropriate scoop they have to
hustle like mad to line up an enormous array of contacts from the
various designers to get "samples" to recreate a photo shoot.
I swear, they must be doing their photo shoots at midnight just to
get everything done in time for their deadlines. I also think that
their rolodexes must weight at least 1,000 pounds. After all,
us ordinary folks want to know exactly how to recreate Jessica's,
JLo's and Jennifer's stunning looks. And yes, that takes so
much time. I can't even imagine how I would survive in a job
like the fabulous Star editors do. I go a little crazy with
simple questions about how Rita Hazan recreates Jessica's hair
color.
While they are working under tremendous looming deadline
pressures they are calmly working the phones, fax machines and email
trying to get samples of the latest Yosca, RJ Graziano, Eve Reid
and BeBe for their recreation pieces. The Fed Ex and UPS delivery
people must know all of their first names. Keep in mind that
while some fashion magazines have days or weeks to get samples, the
Star editors have literally minutes.
Just thinking about what Joni Cohen, Star's
resident fashion guru,
accomplishes every single week and contributes to the promotion and
translation of fashion for the average reader is worthy of an
Academy Award. If there were such an award, I would campaign
for Joni to win. She is totally amazing to behold.
Note: Sadly Joni Cohen left Star Magazine in April
2007. A great loss for all of us Star Magazine fashion fans.
In essence if you take one super Vogue fashion editor, blend in
an InStyle fashion editor and sprinkle with a Glamour editor you
have the fashion genius of Joni Cohen as Star's fashion wunderkind.
Great Fashion
Research
I recently was researching a story on brooches. Where did I
go for my initial research? Star Magazine of course (thank you
Joni). The October 18th issue had two full pages of the most
gorgeous layout I have ever seen on brooches in any so called
fashion magazine. Using Beyonce Knowles, Sarah Jessica Parker
and Bridget Moynahan as story foundations, the article displayed over
20 different styles and types of brooches from a dizzying array of
designers in every price range.
There was the Sergio Rossi
$1,400 bejeweled suede boot next to the Nolan Miller snowflake pin
for $110. There was also a very reasonably priced Liz Claiborne
brooch for $18. The cornucopia of hues, shapes and designs
brought goose bumps to my arms as I drooled over the pages.
How did Joni Cohen do that?
In the back of my mind I was beyond
amazed at how much time and energy had to go into creating such a
stunning fashion piece. I can only imagine how many hours of
phone calls it took to gather all the samples, credits, pricing and
get approval to use everything. No easy or simple task.
I have decided that Joni must be a undiscovered fashion genius.
No offense to Star Magazine, but who would ever have expected
such a brilliantly beautiful fashion piece to pop up in Star which
made their name as a gossip magazine? Definitely Vogue, Glamour and
InStyle would do this type of spectacular fashion reporting.
But Star? All I can say is WOW.
Even more amazing is
that fact that Vogue and fashion magazines of that statue have
months to create a piece that Joni and the fashion folks at Star
create every single week. Does that "freak your freak" as
Ellen Degeneres would say? It freaks mine.
Which of course is why I am giving Star Magazine the first nod as
Magazine of the Month. If you want to know the Best Fashion
Buy of the Week, the Most Chic Girl of the Week, Who Bought What
then run to the nearest newsstand and buy Star. In fact, hit
your used bookstores to beg, borrow and steal any old Star issues
from the Joni Generation of Fashion. They will be
collectors items someday. I know that I am starting to put all
of my past issues in special plastic to protect them for the long
haul.
Summary
Star magazine has the formula
that makes them, truly a Star in the fashion, hair and beauty
arenas. If you have to limit your magazine reading, make sure
you always pick up the Star because it truly has its finger on the
pulse of what new, hot and totally happening.
I give Star
Magazine five stars as the best fashion, hair and beauty magazine on
the stands and because they rock and because they have Joni Cohen
guiding their fabulous fashion layouts every single week. |