An ode to Harper’s Bazaar Australia
A sobering moment last Wednesday occurred at my desk. Across my screen, a news story broke. Bauer Media ceasing the publications of eight Australian magazines in both their print and digital operations. Amongst them Harper’s Bazaar Australia, Elle Australia and Instyle Magazine Australia.
I felt struck, hard in my chest. Print magazine journalism has experienced hardship globally and the decline of the printed glossy is nothing new. Yet it was the sheer volume of a Bazaar masthead closing that surprised me, even if it should never have come as a surprise.
Growing up, I knew the future for me was in writing and gradually, as I continued my formative studies and grew from child to teen to adult, it manifested into a dream of journalism. For me, it has always been about storytelling and the opportunity to communicate dwellings, musings and moments to readers who otherwise may not have sought the stories. A glossy magazine was the dream, and Harper’s Bazaar Australia was the pinnacle.
As an ambitious university student, you dream hard and big. You seek internships at any organisation for whom you can find a contact detail and sort out the logistics of said internship at a later date. You intern and work with the idea in your head that all of it is leading to you reaching your dream job, your career apex. And for that dream to suddenly be snatched from you before you have ever had the chance to truly apply yourself to it is a shattering smack to the face and ripple in the pool of how you play to traverse your immediate future.
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Some will call me naive to have had any fibre of my body believe I could be enough for the pages of Bazaar Australia. To quote the perpetually recited fashion-related film The Devil Wears Prada ‘a million girls would kill for this job.’ But as long as there is a light and there was an opportunity, there is no limit on one’s potential or how high one should aim.
Even for those who have not purchased a magazine in years, or even read magazine content digitally, the closing of Bazaar Australia reverberated amongst many communities, evident through the mass postings on social media. A collective outpouring akin to the death of a public figure, a sense of mourning for an inanimate object.
Having worked in the Australian media industry on a freelance basis for over four years, it’s not surprising to hear of an organisation closing or revaluating their operation. This does not mean the sting of another notch to the post becomes less potent. If anything, it draws more attention and provokes you to think of what the future will hold for an industry slowly becoming about snappy Instagram copy and reality television recaps.
To be in print is something special. It’s a time capsule to a particular period gone by, of what was occurring around you and the people of note. Being able to hold your work, see your name in a byline, is something every print journalist aspires to see. While it can still be published digitally, having a stack of magazines in your room and knowing your name is printed in them is something that cannot be replicated on a screen. It is a timestamp on your career.
There are still other glossy fashion magazines. There are still other digital magazines. In fact, there are other publications of Harper’s Bazaar available globally from the UK, US, Italy and more. We are fortunate to live in a world where virtually anything can be published and readily available anywhere, to anyone. I still read many publications and feel as though my subscription to Bazaar Australia will be spent on another glossy not simply to fill the monthly hole of arts and culture now gaping, but to support a different institution.
But, Bazaar Australia was the one for me. I have all hope that it may manifest once again, who knows what form is yet to be founded. Like the record player and the film camera, to me, print is not dead. It is simply waiting for its moment to circle back again, a time for it to bask. It is uncertain territory for now, but to the core of my being, I hold hope that this too shall pass.
We are all greater from the presence of the magazine.
