Red magazine online

New developments today on the internet. Red magazine, for so long bereft of an online presence (other than a poxy subscription page!) has finally launched its own website.

I've mixed feelings about Red. I like the mixture of content, so that it’s not just focused on fashion and shopping. It makes it more of a substantial read than, say, In Style. And they have some great journalists writing for them. I also find it refreshing to have a magazine that does target women over the age of 25 and celebrates older women!

But, I also find the targeting slightly misguided because they seem to assume that once you hit your thirties you’re flush with cash! I remember reading an article in Red over the summer and actually wrote down a quote because it just summed up my problem with the magazine:

“Your thirties and beyond are a time to combine the best of the high street with more serious investment pieces, which are suddenly, gloriously within reach”.

If they are, then lucky you...but the assumption that just because you’re in your thirties and beyond you have much more money to spend is ridiculous. In fact, for most friends they actually had more disposable income in their twenties. They may have earned less, but they had far fewer overheads. I certainly had more money to burn...which is now swallowed by a hefty mortgage and the costs of home renovations. For other friends, children swallow all their money!

I know this sounds like whinging but I don’t mean it to. Just an observation that you may earn more as you get older – if you’re lucky – but your money isn’t necessarily sitting there happily waiting to buy an Alexa handbag from Mulberry!

Treats are often the best of the high street rather than serious designer items!
 
But I do think the website is a welcome addition and does bring some diversity to women’s magazine’s online. And I’m looking forward to reading articles from journalists I enjoy like Jess Cartner-Morley, fashion editor at the Guardian, Sali Hughes and the lovely Lauren Laverne, amongst many other writers in Red’s new panel of experts.

So maybe slightly unattainable clothing but very enjoyable reading!