Lola

The Globe has me all confused

adamg — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:55:23 +0000

UPDATE: I'm even more confused now that I know the Globe is publishing TWO fashion mags - fb and Lola.

Even more so than usual, anyway.

Our copy of the Globe today seemed a bit bulky. When we ripped open the plastic, we found a copy of FB, one of the triumvirate of newish local magazines featuring impossibly slender women (is there some company that sells stock drawings of chic women weighing 25 pounds?) and pages on which the editors managed to shoehorn roughly 10 words of text in between the 50x-magnified photos of shiny things.

How the Globe blew it with Lola

adamg — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:17:51 +0000

I say this without having seen the first copy of this, this thing (imagine that: I can't find the cute little red Lola holders in Roslindale; must be because we lost all our chic little boutiques). And I say it while trying not to gag while reading the editor's note on the mostly-empty Lola Web site, which reads like a bad drunken parody of an editor's note for a magazine aimed at hip young women: "And if Lola doesn't have the answers, she knows just who to turn to for advice, from relationship experts to real estate gurus. Oh, and she has an excellent astrologer." And, of course, I say this without being one of Lola's targeted "smart and sassy" Boston women, who knows that "getting into Fenway Park is as hard as getting into Harvard" and who "loves nightclubbing and shopping, of course, but [is] also well-read, financially savvy, and engaged in the world around her."

So yeah, anyway, Lola's supposed to be all about trading hot tips for chic, with-it women. Of course, that's why God gave us Daily Candy. But everybody knows that publishing these days is really about community. You want your readers interacting with each other (and no, silly, not just because you get free content to fill your pages with now that you've laid off all those pesky reporters).

Hmm, that sounds familiar. Oh, yeah, right, like Confidential Chat. Remember that? Decades before the hot, hip young Web doyennes were blathering on and on about "community," the Globe had this feature where women could congregate and trade ideas and tips. Of course, the Globe killed it. And now we have Lola. Bah.

Does size matter?

adamg — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 00:25:08 +0000

So recently we learned that Lola, the Globe's impending ~~transvestite fanzine~~ women's fashion magazine, will feature a petite size that's convenient and small enough to fit in a purse.

Apparently GateHouse Media thinks gals want something larger, something that can handle D cells, at least (thanks, Swirlygrrl, thanks a lot). Next month, the owner of Boston's suburban newspapers (OK, and the Parkway Transcript) beats Lola to market with a women's magazine called Skirt:

... The magazine will focus on profiles of women in the community, don't-miss events and highlights of products from local shops. The publication's oversized format, lively graphics and creative presentation are designed to make advertising and content work together in a way that captures the reader. ...

So which size will win?

You can get a taste of Skirt at its new Web site (the magazine has actually been around since 1994; GateHouse is licensing the thing from a Southern newspaper chain). I'm obviously not in the target audience, but, gah, all that script makes me want to poke my eyes out with a fork something fierce. Also, somebody should inform the publisher that unless your last name is Faulkner or Joyce, paragraphs are a good idea.

L-O-L-A Lola

adamg — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:45:53 +0000

Joe Keohane makes some wonderfully snarky comments about the Globe's new fashion magazine, Lola (which issued a press release claiming it was published small enough to let women carry it in their purses - everybody who wants to carry a fashion magazine around in their purses, quick, raise your hands). Still, there's just something a tad, oh, ironic about somebody writing for Boston Magazine throwing stones at another fashion rag, especially when his comments are currently paired on the home page with a paean to the glorious fashion sense of the people who run Boston's high-priced clothing stores.