Hi guys, hope you're well. I appreciate this might be a little out of the blue for me, a somewhat lowly fashion marketeer from the East Midlands to be writing you, the biggest women's magazine in the UK such a letter, but after I was in the audience of Lorraine's Q&A at The Guardian on Monday, I felt inspired to write you this letter.
Firstly, hi Lorraine, you're fab. I really liked your chat on Monday at the Guardian, and your lipstick was a fantastic colour. Listening to you give advice to the audience and make some truly compelling points about the feminsim issue (which I dutifully bought after the class, of course), you mentioned that you've been editor in chief at ELLE for 11 years. Now I'm no mathematician - that's why I studied languages at uni - but if I'm right, that makes your first year there 2004. 2004 was a funny year for me. I was eleven, I'd moved to middle school where I wore a really ugly uniform, my second brother was born and I had started to become interested in things. These things included finding out how much chocolate I could fit in my mouth without damaging my retainer, the movie Josie and the Pussycats and ELLEgirl magazine.
Which brings me to the meaning of this letter, LC and gang. What happened to ELLEgirl? And more importantly, can we have it back?
Maybe I should start this massive plea with a little background on why I loved ELLEgirl when I was younger. EG (as I shall now call it to save my fingers typing) was the best teen girl magazine going. Yes, Teen Vogue was awesome and I also collected that. For a while I enjoyed Seventeen, and yeah, Borders used to stock J-17, but nothing could compare. EG had it all. The clothes I wanted, make up that I wished I could own, articles that shook me that I can still remember today. EG had tours of celebrities homes, interviews with girls about stem cell research and a weekly column by Peaches Geldof that I read religiously, poring over the stories about her friendship with Kelly Osbourne and always looking at the credits on her pages to find out where she bought her clothes from. More specifically, those boho beads that everyone and my mother had in the mid 2000's. EG was full of music, bands I loved, up and coming Canadian singers and the newest album from indie rock bands featured on The OC. All the models in EG had glitter on, and the cover stars were always my favourites. Whereas my mum's copies of ELLE saw Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow grace the cover, my issues featured Mischa Barton, Natalie Portman and Gwen Stefani. Covers I ripped from the magazine to stick to my bedroom walls alongside my posters of Fall Out Boy and Nick Jonas (but that's another story for another time). The pages smelt of Davidoff Cool Water and there was something from ASOS on every page.
EG came with the BEST free gifts, guys. A pair of absolutely iconic orange and silver glittery socks were worn until they had holes in and a neon orange plaited belt which, at EG's suggestion, was worn around my neck and attached to my belt loops as a pair of braces. To say I was a fashion rule breaker at age 11 is an understatement, and something I wish my sister could appreciate, rather than referring to my culottes as "clown trousers".
Speaking of my sister, she's seven and already a truly fussy mini me. She, one day will buy magazines just as I did, and just like me, learn from them. Only this time, the advice gifted unto me by other readers of EG will not be available to my sister. Jess from Southend will not write in and advise readers to dry their hair upside down and simultaneously douse with hairspray for "beadhead chic" extra volume. She won't read a letter from Louise in Preston suggesting that you plunge your nails in cold water after painting them to get them to dry quicker. INVALUABLE ADVICE FOR THE MODERN AGE I KNOW.
So what do you say, guys and girls of ELLE, UK? I know it's a big ask, but I'll do it if you want me to! I volunteer, Lorraine, you don't have to worry about a thing, I just want the cool teen magazine back I loved eleven years ago. If not just for me, then do it for my sister, who deserves to know how to do a French braid and wear blue eyeliner one day.
With all the best humour, love and true dedication and admiration for ELLE and EG,
A real ELLE girl,
Hope. x
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