I missed the
inaugural issue of "Figure" this past summer, but did catch the second
issue. Well it was hard to miss, seeing as how it was in my
mailbox and all.
First thing I
noticed was the high quality of the paper and the photographs.
Also the layouts were attractive and featured a variety of different
fashion styles, as well as a good mix of models from a range of sizes,
ages, and colors. (Do note that since the magazine is put out by
Charming Shoppes, you will only find clothes from their three
franchises, Lane Bryant, Catherine's, and Fashion Bug, included in their
pages. And don't expect to find a shopping guide with prices.)
The article
content was a bit scarce but what was there was fairly diverse with
love, health, fashion, and entertaining being the key topics. This
particular issue had a nice interview with popular author Jen Weiner,
but no book reviews. (Hmmm. I wonder if they would be interested in
syndicating some from DCN? :^) )
So far it sounds
like a plus girl fashionista's idea of magazine heaven. But wait!
This review's not through yet. The down side of the issue I looked
at was that there was a mixed message being presented to the readers via
a Weight Watcher's ad, which made use of the words "start losing", an
article on emotional overeating, and calorie counts on the recipes given
in the hostess section.
Note to the
editor: not all women who are large are emotional overeaters. Not
all women who are large want to be smaller. Not all women who are large
want calorie counts included in their recipes. What many of us want is a
haven from media that is obsessed with these things. We can get "how to
lose weight" ideas in almost any other woman's magazine, we don't
need it in this one. Instead, I hope Figure switches their focus to how
to be healthy instead of how to be thin, which, incidentally, was what
they had originally promised their readership.
If you like
"Figure" magazine, you might also like "GRACE Woman", "O", or
"BBW" (which consistently features models larger than sizes 12-16).
