LOOK Magazine - Genre

Look magazine is extremely typical of the genre (fashion and celebrity gossip). The hectic front cover that looks like everything has been piled together quickly reflects the hectic life of the consumer, the magazine appeals to the mainstream who live in the world of the domestic and have a crazy lifestyle. This magazine reflects that and appeals to this audience in that way. Look magazine meets audience expectations as it conforms to the typical conventions of a fashion magazine, instantly just be the name of the magazine being Look connotes many of the ideological messages such as: appearance is important, fashion is important, voyeurism by looking into the lives of others, the magazine is about the look and the desired look etc. Look magazine is all about an individual’s confidence and the idea that if you aren’t confident within yourself then you can always by products from the magazine that will help you be confident and have this look that everyone wants.

Look magazine is very image heavy and suggests that the consumer of the magazine is all about the look of something rather than the content, it enhances the idea of style over substance which may also attract the aspirer. All of the articles in this magazine are either about fashion, beauty, celebrity or all three in one reinforcing all of the ideological messages of the magazine. One example of this would be from the 2017, 9^th Jan issue where there is an interview with Binky Felstead, in response to one of the questions Binky says “you want to look good in a bikini, don’t you?” this rhetorical question reinforces many of the ideological messages of the magazine and shows that looking good is important and we should want attention, but more importantly that females should want to look good for males. In addition to this the magazine sets the interview up with “Binky Felstead loves to talk” suggesting this is all celebrity centred and all about her life showing the audience that this magazine is all about chatting and gossiping.

Look magazine addresses the reader as somewhat of a friend, they talk to the audience using informal mode of address and act as if they are giving advice to the audience. It could also be seen that they are like a big sister passing down knowledge of what to do and what not to do, talking about past experiences of what worked and what didn’t work. This is shown as it is common for this magazine to say “take inspo from…” this reinforces the idea that the magazine is handing down previous knowledge and inspiring the audience, in addition to this shortening the word inspiration to inspo gives the magazine an edgy and common feel to it, suggesting the magazine doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Overall this magazine is all about consumerism and is selling the audience the ideal life style that involves: beauty, fashion, relationships, friendships, parties etc. The magazine is determined to be a friend to the audience and reinforce the message that if you do not have the ideal look or the ideal lifestyle you can always look at this magazine and purchase the look and the lifestyle which is no too expensive and fits within the audience budget. Look magazine is focused on self-confidence and how to boost that in any way. The magazine is typical of a fashion and celebrity gossip magazine and reinforces these genre conventions and ideological messages on every page.