I must confess; whilst they were still in publication, I bought every issue of Ellegirl (both UK and US) editions and I still do succumb to Teen Vogue every month.  Flawed as Teen Vogue is with its excessive advertising, skewed portrayal of the young privileged American teenager and overly sacharrine/energetic posing (a lot of laughing and jumping), I also appreciate that the fashion aspirations it presents for its target audience is varied, in-depth and fun/cute in a way that most of the time doesn’t seem trite or forced.  For people who are way past their teen-dom like myself, I like to take something from that teen mag stash.  In fact the price-points of the designers they feature, if anything are more suited to people who have stable post-uni jobs really (I got confused when I first started buying this Americana teen stash when I was 17 and the whole mag was filled with Marc Jacobs and Luella wondering whether every American teenager was decked out in this stuff…).

When Elle Girl folded in both the US and the UK, I did think it was a shame especially since the UK now REALLY lacks a magazine that speaks truly to that 13-19yr old age group on a fashion level.  Yes, there were some really cringingly poor moments in the magazine but the present state of teen-mag barrenness is not preferrable I don’t think.  It may be that youngsters have turned their backs on print media and instead focus on the web (forums, blogs) but I’ve seen them squirrelling away their pocket money on Nylon and Teen Vogue (hence why they’re stocked at practically every newsagent in London and not just big bookstores) and I can’t help but lament the lack of a UK-based teen mag when it seems to me that teens here are SO energetic and enthusiastic when it comes to pursuing fashion. 

Anyway, rant/rave over.  I’m heading over to New Malden (known as Korea Town in London) where I can hopefully find Vogue Girl Korea (which Fashion is Spinach loves so much…) and Elle Girl Korea, which both have impressively fashion forward editorials that are not alarmingly edgy but does push the boat out to healthily encourage a good ‘mix’ in one’s style.  My guilty pleasure teen stash just got a whole lot more expensive…

From Elle Girl Korea Oct 2007

From Vogue Girl Korea Sept 2007

All from TFS

Source: The Far East Teen Stash

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