Italian women’s magazine Grazia debuts in China

The first Chinese issue of Grazia

Grazia‘s Chinese edition is called 红秀 Grazia, and its first issue came out on February 11. Grazia has been circulating in Italy since 1938, and has been reproduced all over the world, in countries such as Australia, Greece, Bolivia and Poland. Celebrity gossip and fashion pictures aimed at women is a staple.

Its fortnightly circulation in China means that Chinese women won’t need to wait every month for Vogue (and her sisters) to appear.

The cover shows a female model (Alina, who has several fashion spreads inside), and a right-hand sidebar features Victoria Beckham. An accompanying story is inside about how she has conquered Milan and is aiming to do the same with the U.S.

Apart from translated interviews such as with Kate Winslet, there is a home-written analysis of the dresses worn by actresses who appeared at the Oscars this year.

One of the things that seem to be frequent in this type of Chinese magazine aimed at women is a focus on the ‘white-collar class’, who is the magazine’s target audience.

In the true tradition of women’s magazines, Grazia has advice on relationships. On the first Chinese Grazia‘s cover next to a headline about Oscars dresses is “Ending Single Life In The Office” 在办公室终结单身 and inside, models wearing Alexander McQueen clothing accompany a lengthy original piece about dating in the office － as long it’s not your superior or someone who works beneath you.

In a highly PR-orientated and unreliable Xinhua article, Grazia is described as the urban woman’s “short-story book” with a rich Italian flavor.

Grazia covers from countries ranging from Britain to India

Selected Grazia Italy covers 1938-2009

The cover of the Chinese Grazia looks somewhat similar to its sister of the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Australia. The tabloid style conjures up western celebrity-gossip magazines rather than quality content. The Italian covers, by contrast, are more traditional-looking, with a straight typeset and no frillyness. Certainly there are no colorful blocks inset with writing.

H.S. Liu said recently in a Danwei interview:

You have readers who aspire how to be modern women, and in the process all these brands have things to sell to you, so by necessity these brands begin to grow, and they grow fantastically well.

If Chinese women are becoming modern, the areas that they are most interested in is certainly not the old Italian Grazia‘s. As the first issue of Grazia ironically indicates, old copies of Italian Grazia picked out reform and change in women’s lives throughout history: for example articles focusing on when the contraceptive pill was introduced, on The Beatles, and Twiggy.

Here though, like the other magazines around in this genre here, are full of catwalk models and clothes from Dior to Yves Saint Laurent.