The styles generated by elite designers dominate the content of Marie Claire in each of the five April 2000 editions considered in this review. Table 3.4 lists all the designers that were mentioned five times or more in total across the five editions. This data illuminates Marie Claire’s role in the global positioning of elite designer brands. It also reveals that global designer brands are owned, in many cases, by a small group of luxury goods firms (see Chapter 4).
Ten leading designer brands were featured in all five of the surveyed national editions, twenty-two designer brands appeared in four of the five editions, and eleven more appeared in three editions. Nearly half (49.2%) of all mentions of fashion designers or designer brands were references to these 43 leading designers. Almost one in three (30.2%) of all mentions referred to the 20 most prominent fashion designers and designer brands. The brands featured in Marie Claire originate mainly in Paris and
Milan, which are the stylistic centres and points of reference for fashion at the global scale.17
Table 3.4 Clothing Designers in Five Marie Claire National Editions
Scope Percentage of Appearances Designer All Five Editions
19.8 % Gucci (52)(b), Prada (46)(d), Chanel (30), Armani (26)(a), Dolce e Gabbana (23), MaxMara (21), Yves St. Laurent (10) (b), Marni (9), Salvatore Ferragamo (h) (6), Jean Paul Gaultier (g). Four
Editions
17.0 % Donna Karan (c), Christian Dior (c), Celine (c), Ralph Lauren (a), Fendi (c), Louis Vuitton (c), Missoni, Pucci (c), Sportsmax, Moschino (f), Marc Jacobs (c), Hermes (g), Jil Sander (d), Sonia Rykiel, Burberry, Gianfranco Ferre, Loewe (c), Comme des Garcons, Anna Molinari, John Bartlett.
Three Editions
12.4 % Alberta Ferretti (f), Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Helmut Lang (d), Versace, French Connection, Bottega Veneta (b), Valentino, Narciso Rodriguez, Nicole Farhi, Cerruti.
Two Editions
8.3 % Warehouse, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Top Shop, Joseph (c), BCBG Max Azria, Marks & Spencer, Versus, Strenesse, Alexander McQueen (b), Kookai, Paul&Joe, Kenzo (c), Chloe (e), Anna Sui, Clements Ribiero.
One Edition
4.8 % Private Shop, Whistles, APC, Liz Claiborne, LVMH, Ellen Tracy, Jones New York, Wayne Cooper, Morrissey, Karen Walker, Brave.
Remainder 37.7% All brands mentioned less than five times
Source: Content analysis of magazines. Includes advertisements, photographs and mentions. The table names all brands mentioned more than five times in total across the five editions. Notes: (a) l’Oreal group, (b) Gucci group, (c) LMVH group, (d) Prada group, (e) Richemont group, (f) AEFFE group, (g) Hermes group, (h) Ferragamo group.
The data in Table 3.5 also traces a hierarchy of fashion: the French edition of
Marie Claire barely mentions designers beyond the Paris-Milan axis, while the United Kingdom edition has a strong Eurocentric bias. Almost a quarter (24%) of mentions in the United Kingdom (UK) refer to local brands, but more than half (53.7%) relate to Paris or Milan designers. The United States version has a stronger national focus, with
17 This refers to the home base of the brand rather than the nationality of the designer. The Hong Kong edition has been omitted from this part of the analysis.
40.6% of mentions for US brands, but still nearly half (49.7%) of the mentions relate to Paris and Milan designers. Designers from the rest of the world are barely mentioned in these three versions. In Australia, over one quarter of mentions (27.4%) refer to Paris, Milan and New York brands, while one in three mentions relate to local brands (32.6%).18 Overseas designer brands were displayed in a more prominent position compared to mentions of Australian brands. Nonetheless, the proportion of local designers/brands demonstrates that national editions provide a local perspective that stimulates local readership interest and promotes local advertising (see McCann 2003).19
Table 3.5 Country of Edition and Origin of Clothing Firms
Designer’s Country of Origin
Country of Edition
France United States United Kingdom Australia France 42.9 14.1 22.7 9.5 Italy 35.7 35.6 31.0 17.9 Subtotal 78.6 49.7 53.7 27.4 United States 2.9 40.6 9.3 6.2 United Kingdom 2.9 2.3 24.0 7.0 Australia 0 0.3 0.3 32.6 Other 1.4 0.3 0.9 1.5 Not Identified 14.3 6.7 11.7 25.3 Total 100 100 100 100
Source: Content analysis of magazines
18 The Australian Marie Claire in April 2000 included a feature on local brands that inflated the local content. That 4-page article included 127 or 35.8% of all local designer/brand mentions. If it were excluded from the calculation, Australia’s local content would more closely resemble the United Kingdom; i.e. Designers from France – 15.5%, Italy – 19.8%, United States – 5.6%, United Kingdom – 2.2%, Australia – 22.8%, Unidentified – 33.6%.
19 Succeeding in the Australian fashion magazine market requires supporting the local fashion industries. In the late 1980s, Vogue Australia attempted to take a more ‘international’ approach by importing English editors (Marion Hume in 1998 and Juliet Ashworth in 1999). Their criticisms of Australian originality penalised Vogue in the market, forcing a return to a more ‘Australian’ flavour (Loucas 1999:4).
To reinforce the conclusion that designer brands dominate local magazine content, Table 3.6 lists by ‘home’ country the six most frequently mentioned fashion designers in the three English language editions of Marie Claire. In each case, the dominant influence is Italian designers —Gucci, Alberta Ferreti, Prada and Armani— that offer commercially-oriented styles targeted to the segment of the consumer market that buys or reads Marie Claire.
Table 3.6 Most Mentioned Brands, English Language Editions, April 2000
Australia United Kingdom United States’ Brand Origin Brand Origin Brand Origin Gucci ITA (10) Alberta Ferreti ITA (14) Prada ITA (15) Louis Vuitton FRA (6) French Connectn. UK (14) Michael Kors USA (15)
Prada ITA (6) Warehouse UK (10) Armani ITA (12) Wayne Cooper AUS (6) Dolce e Gabbana ITA (8) Donna Karan USA (11) Moschino ITA (5) Gucci ITA (7) Dolce e Gabbana ITA (10) Brave AUS Joseph UK (7)
Source: Content Analysis of Magazines
Note: The number in brackets refers to the number of mentions.
Note: April 2000 selected as a typical month, with no obvious differences in format compared to other months in 2000.
This review shows that the content of Marie Claire in Australia is similar the content of other overseas versions of Marie Claire, and that all the versions are dominated by the style directions of a narrow profile of elite designers.20