1) Media Magazine feature: Pleasures of The Gentlewoman
Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on The Gentlewoman (MM84 - page 34). Answer the following questions:
1) What does the article suggest is different about the Gentlewoman compared to traditional women's magazines?
“The only text is the title, subtitle and name of the person is the photographer, which is taken as a portrait and framed like a painting. It’s a bold statement that says it’s more than just a magazine, it’s art.”
2) What representations are offered in the Gentlewoman?
It’s presents a “spectrum of womanhood” this includes playing with “gender performativity and stereotypes” such as a botanist, a Zambian rapper, a courtroom artist, a Moroccan mountaineer
3) List the key statistics in the article on the average reader of the magazine.
61% of its readers are aged 28-46
47% of its readers fall into the social classes of A or B
4) What is The Gentlewoman Club?
An international society of men and women who demand quality and originality from those agenda of cultural happenings
5) What theorists does it suggest we can apply to the Gentlewoman's club?
- End of audience theories by Clay Shirkey
- Fandom theories by Henry Jenkins
- David Gauntlett’s ideas about how we, as media consumers, use media products to help create our identity.
6) What does the writer of the article suggest they are getting out of their relationship with the magazine?
By creating a club the magazine is able to tailor and construct a super-glamorous and ultra-modern ‘reality’ for its readers
7) Who are the team behind the magazine?
Creators Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom
8) How does the Gentlewoman use their website and social media to promote the magazine?
An important part of the magazine from an industry point of view is what the gentlewoman calls its ‘creative collaborations’. Also known as ‘native advertising’, brands use the gentlewoman’s own writers and photographers to market their products
to the gentlewoman’s audiences.
9) What are the 'creative collaborations' in the magazine? How do they 'spill over into real life'?
They hold special events for club members
10) How does the article sum up the audience pleasures of the Gentlewoman?
The magazine gives a sort of cult appeal with exclusivity, being in the know, enjoying the old
medium of magazines in a modern
way.
2) The Gentlewoman Media kit
1) How does the Media Kit introduce the magazine?
Established in 2010, The Gentlewoman is widely recognised as the definitive style title for the modern woman. Intelligent, opinionated and entertaining, it has set a new standard in women’s magazines with its high-quality writing and fashion photography celebrating modern women of style and purpose.
The Gentlewoman is renowned for its innovative editorial and design, garnering critical acclaim and accolades to become one of the best performing titles in its category and the leading women’s magazine on newsstands today.
2) On the 'Digital' page, what different sections of the website are there and how do these offer opportunities for audience engagement and interaction?
• The Calling: a questionnaire for creative visionaries exploring their life’s work; subjects have included fashion designer Jil Sander, Paola Antonelli of MoMA and fabulous popstar Alison Goldfrapp.
• The Reader: lively and chatty Q&A conversations with Club members.
3) What are the audience demographics for The Gentlewoman?
Median age. .................................... 32 years
22%. ................................................ 18–27 years
61%. ............................................. 28–46 years
11%................................................. 47–55 years
6%. ...................................................... 56+ years
Female readers....................................... 85%
Male readers . ......................................... 15%
ABC1 . ............................................................ 76%
AB ................................................................... 47%
Average income ............................ £87,255
4) What is The Gentlewoman Club and what does it offer readers?
The Gentlewoman Club is an international society of the magazine’s readers, which currently has up to 39,000 active members – sophisticated women and men who demand quality and originality from their agenda of cultural happenings. These loyal subscribers attend the Club’s get-togethers insubstantial numbers, notified of which via the Club’s monthly newsletter and social media platforms.
It has previously offered:
• A Bring-Your-Own-Vinyl afternoon in celebration of Record Store Day featuring a reading by Brix Smith Start from her memoirs
• A literary soirée with Sonia Rykiel. A book group with discussions led by Marketa Uhlirova, Dr Ann Lewis and actress Stacy Martin
• An evening celebrating Arts & Crafts furniture with the antique traders The Millinery Works, London
5) What Creative Collaborations
Past collaborations have included:
• Delfina Delettrez: The Cocktail Needle. Supporting collateral included an editorial feature in the A/W ’17 issue of the magazine; specially designed co-branded packaging; an exclusive launch cocktail
• COS: Glimpses of the Future architectural tours of London and Los Angeles. Supporting media included illustrated map inserts and an editorial feature in the A/W ’17 issue of the magazine; photographic documentation; asset creation and distribution across respective digital platforms.
• Chanel: a fabulous six-page portrait series with Lucia Pica, Chanel’s global creative make-up and colour designer, photographed by Karim Sadli
3) D&AD Award Winner feature
1) How is the magazine described?
The Gentlewoman celebrates modern women of style and purpose, offering an intelligent perspective on fashion through ambitious journalism and photography. Speaking to its audience as readers not consumers, the magazine showcases inspirational women through a distinctive combination of glamour, personality and warmth.
2) What does it say about the content and design of The Gentlewoman?
. The editorial design continues its evolution with the introduction of new typographical and layout elements, along with the magazine’s ongoing commitment to enhancing its photography by working with the leading names in the field.
3) How are the readers described?
The readers are from a broad range of ages and professions. Characterized by their thirst for cultural entertainment, we have an intimate relationship with readers through The Club (28,000 subscribers).
4) Business of Fashion website feature
1) What events are listed as part of The Gentlewoman Club?
They went on a strip to Durslade farm
2) Why does it suggest the magazine has managed to 'cut through the clutter'?
The Gentlewoman has cut through the clutter with an intelligent take on fashion and culture aimed at smart and tasteful women
3) How are Gentlewoman Club tickets given out?
They are distributed through a system of invitation and curation
4) What does the article say about The Gentlewoman's relationship with its audience?
They have a really engaged readership that’s “sees design as a lifestyle” as as the creators do
5) Why are Club events valuable from a digital perspective?
So they can engage readers during its bi-annual releases
5) Website and social media research
It has a pop up to join the gentlewomen’s club as soon as you open the website, it has its newest issue on display first and it has a section to commemorate women for the achievements
2) Visit the magazine page of the website. How much of the magazine is available to view online? Is this a smart marketing technique to sell print copies or is it giving content away for free?
Only part of the magazine is available, this will lead to readers either wanting more and then spending their money to read the entirety of the issue or ignoring it all together
There are fashion photos, women’s commemorative posts, inspirational quotes and clips from their magazine articles
I don’t believe so as I don’t think their anything forcing the readers to go and spend money on anything their posting or eliciting them to read the magazine
5) What representations of fashion and gender can you find on their Instagram page?
Their is a mixture of men(almost all white)and women(mostly all white) but mostly women’s clothing some East Asian and black women - not entirely diverse at all
A/A* extension tasks
If you're interested in design and how the media is becoming increasingly digital then this in-depth Medium feature is great. It's a case study from a designer who converted an issue of The Gentlewoman from print to digital as a design project. Reading this will give you a really in-depth understanding of the construction, design and overall look and feel of your CSP as well as an introduction to website building and graphic design.
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