The fashionable, mainstream magazine of Elle and the more narrowly marketed, African-American magazine of Essence are generally the same type of magazine, but there are differences that cannot be ignored. Elle has a reputation of being a more upscale publication, with pages filled with high-fashion clothes and accessories that the average consumer could not hope to buy without a little splurging, and with editorials about A-list actors and actresses that many women admire. Essence, on the other hand, displays fashion and beauty products that are more affordable and specifically target African American women.
In this particular issue of Essence, the magazine is presenting an education special with Michelle Obama on their cover. Many of the editorials and articles are focusing on the education system and how young African American men and women are affected by it. In one article titled “Moms on the Front Lines”, six African American mothers who are pushing for education reform are featured. One mother, Zakiyah Ansari, fights to bring attention to the school closings that seem to affect Black and Latino communities more than others. (Owens 85). Another mother, Allison R. Brown, speaks out against the fact that “Black children, because of their race, were kicked out of school and/or arrested for things like talking back to a school security guard… You’re not seeing this happening to White students.” (Owens 86). These are only a few of the issues this particular editorial covers. Elle, on the other hand, doesn’t slack on more serious topics either. In an article titled “The Right Fight”, HBO’s The Case Against 8 documentary is praised for portraying an “alliance” of both homo- and heterosexuals that work together against homosexuals unfairly being forced to cope with the restrictions Proposition 8 had put against them. (Plattner 100). Gay marriage, while different from education reform for minorities, is a topic of equal importance. Although, it should be noted that the “Moms on the Front Lines” is a much larger editorial, with a strong cover picture of what seems to be a protest and a story that extends across four pages, while “The Right Fight” is a one-column article with one much smaller picture at the bottom. The former’s attention-grabbing article may be larger due to the special education edition of the publication, while the latter’s might be much smaller and condensed due to this issue of Elle being more focused on it’s regular fashion and beauty features.
The distinction in the ads of both Essence and Elle go beyond the fact that one uses people of color, and the other uses predominantly white people. Many cover the same topics: beauty and fashion, though how they are portrayed is the most critical. In one instance, both magazines have ads for foundation, albeit different brands. The ad in Elle features a white woman, with the picture of the product itself is clearly a lighter tone, similar to the model’s. The ad in Essence has an African American woman pictured next to a darker toned photo of the product, and she is surrounded by light and dark brown text; though this may be due to the fact that these ads are for foundation. The idea is clear though: the ad’s target market in Elle is mainly white women, while the ad in Essence is clearly targeting African American women.
In terms of fashion, the difference is obvious. Essence features a style page dedicated to “Street Style”—something you wouldn’t likely see in Elle. The page displays photos of women dressed in distressed jeans, graphic t-shirts and loose-fitting tops. They are also literally photographed on the streets. This style of fashion is mostly likely affordable to the average consumer. Elle, on the other hand, has style pages focused on trends—high fashion trends, that is. The pages feature photos of models straight off the runway, wearing extremely high-end designers such as Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent. The pictures of clothing and accessories placed around the models are no exception: a boot by Marc Jacobs and a cross body bag by Valentino are pieces that the average consumer could definitely not afford.
Looking at the magazine covers, the biggest difference is of course, the people on the cover. Essence features First Lady Michelle Obama, and Elle features actress Anna Kendrick. However, the text around them have the biggest impact. On Essence’s cover, various blurbs like “7 steps to transform your life”, “Learn to act and think like a success”, and “Fight back against bias, find cash for college, and has desegregation failed us?” are placed around Michelle, appealing to African Americans with a thirst for change and success. On Elle’s cover, the blurbs are more focused on fashion, beauty, and sex: “Dress better in less time than it takes to shoot a selfie”, “The new sexual revolution! Love, sex, and happiness: there’s an app for that”, and “Summer heats up! Sexy hair, easy makeup and hot tips from the coolest girls in the world”, just to name a few. The magazine is appealing to young women who are, or are aspiring, to be up-to-date on the latest trends. This is made clear with phrases like “the coolest girls in the world” and “#nofilter”. They are projecting the idea that if you want to be ‘cool’, fashionable, and sexy, then Elle is the magazine for you. It’s a much different target audience than the one Essence is appealing to.
Elle features many notable celebrities in their magazine, though the majority are white: Anna Kendrick, Emma Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Miley Cyrus and Jack O’Connell are only some of those included. In Essence, there are many more people of color featured such as Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou, Kyrie Irving, Chadwick Boseman, and Halle Berry. There are scarce amounts of people of color within Elle’s pages, and vice versa with Essence.
While both magazines are clearly marketed towards different racial audiences, they are very similar magazines. It was merely coincidental that this issue of Essence happened to be an education special, but it still retained it’s regular fashion and feminine beauty aspects as well. These two magazines may have distinct differences in race and culture, but they still bring people together based on common interests. We just have these two different magazines specifically tailored to different people, but parts that separate them are minimal. They are both still targeting women who have interests in fashion, beauty, and the like, and that is why they are just two sides of the same coin.
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