Magazines' choice of
covers a telling tale My dad always responds the same way when I
ask how his fraternal twin brother's doing. "He still acts like Peter Pan: He
refuses to grow up," Pop says. "And he's got the nerve to get mad
and tell me I can't talk down to him just because I got here a few minutes
before he did." Their sibling rivalry came to mind when the
latest issue of GQ and the premiere installment of Men's Vogue landed on my
doorstep in unison. Like Cullen, a retired policeman, and Curtis,
an active policeman, GQ and Men's Vogue are so much alike and yet so
profoundly distinct. Both Condé Nast publications appeal to guys
who relish the trappings of the good life: leisure, adventure, good booze,
fine women and being the envy of their peers based on what they drive, the
gadgets they own and the people they know. Both have enviable personalities
plastered on their covers. What's telling is the choice of cover models.
Fifty-year-old GQ chose hot NFL quarterback Tom Brady for its frontman while
Men's Vogue tapped smoldering film star George Clooney. Brady sports a five o'clock shadow and a
hooded sweatshirt under a blazer, while Clooney is cleanshaven and dressed
impeccably in Ralph Lauren and Charvet. To me, these are signs that GQ wants
to appear nonconformist while Men's Vogue wants to seem genteel. Men's Vogue Editor in Chief Jay Fielden told
me that the magazine strives to strike the more mature pose. "This is really a men's magazine
designed for the guy who's over 35 and doesn't read men's magazines
anymore," Fielden said. "It's for those who didn't leave men's
magazines so much as the magazines left them." Reader response will decide whether there's
ever a follow-up issue, although one is scheduled for the spring. The first 200,000 copies were mailed to
preferred Condé Nast subscribers around the world earlier this month; the
remaining 400,000 copies went to newsstands. Plumped up with tremendous ad support, GQ
($3.95) weighs in at an intimidating 436 pages this month, not including
three-page back and cover pullouts purchased by Ralph Lauren and Dockers.
Men's Vogue ($4.95) is a leaner 296 pages and its ads target men focused on
owning (not renting), evolving (not transitioning) and bequeathing (not
inheriting). "It's all grown up, and it addresses a
life that's more substantial," said Fielden, who wrote and edited at The
New Yorker before serving for six years as an apprentice to Anna Wintour at
Vogue. He stressed that how-to pictorials on adapting to the latest trends
have no place in the magazine. Nor will readers find cheesecake photos of
lingerie-clad, reality-show hotties. Instead, the first feature focuses on the
intrigue of owning Swiss bank accounts; Clooney's profile addresses his
oncoming midlife crisis; supermodels have their say on what the guys they date
must wear; and tennis phenom Roger Federer invites scrutiny of his
single-but-attached playboy status. The odd and, ultimately, engaging aspects of
Men's Vogue include an ode to a meat slicer that could make you switch delis;
an essay on how those soothing cricket chirps you hear at night are actually
the echoes of bloody bug murders; and sappy dollops of praise for an endless
array of artists and architects. You must dig 110 pages into the latest GQ to
find the Letter From the Editor, and then skip 10 more pages of ads before
getting to Jim Nelson's final summation: "I've got to say — those girls
were fly." You'll get no such sentiments from Fielden,
who stressed, "We're much less about satisfying libidos — which we all
know can get you into trouble — than our contemporaries are." The last sentence of 39-year-old Fielden's
Letter From the Editor reads: "With any luck, this issue will be the
first step in creating a legacy worth handing down." I'm almost willing to bet my 1993 premiere
issue of Esquire magazine's short-lived Gentleman offshoot that Men's Vogue
will be around for quite some time.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/0905/11statements.html
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/11/05
Men's
Vogue aims for gentility with cover boy George Clooney.
GQ goes
edgier with the NFL's Tom Brady.
