Talk with Betty Magazine.

Yesterday was really exciting as the Editor of Betty Magazine, Charlotte Jacklin came to my university to talk to my class and others in the fashion department about how she started up the magazine and how she got it to where it is today.

I will be honest and say they I had definitely heard of Betty
before but I was never an avid reader. I have been following them on instagram and twitter for a while and really liked what I saw but I had never been able to get my hands on a copy and have a good read through. So, I was really eager today to see what Charlotte would say about the magazine for someone who hasn't really ever got into it before and see if it would make me want to read it (SPOILER ALERT: I really love it and am going to scout out a copy A.S.A.P.).

Charlotte started off my giving a seminar to the whole of the fashion department about how she started the magazine with a friend of hers whilst they were studying at university.  She talked about how it started up as a project really and how she shot the images for it really simply out of the window in her halls with the help of her friends. She printed 5 copies of the magazine which cost her around £300 but they apparently were not the best. Some of the text went onto other pages and some of the pictures were pixalated. But it was the best that could be done at the time. She went on to explain however that she would rather have printed the magazine and learned from the mistakes than kept working on and working on the magazine until it was  'perfect' and never learning from the continuous work she put into it without hearing anything from readership etc. This was really inspirational for me to hear as often I get so caught up in working and working on

 something until I am happy with it but sometimes it is better to get opinions so you can better yourself in ways you may not have thought of beforehand.
After university, she wasn't able to continue with the magazine for a while as 'life got in the way'. Charlotte and her friend went off into different jobs and they were both busy so, as much as she wanted to continue with the magazine, she could couldn't spare enough time to really work on it, even though it was something she was really passionate about as the the concept behind it was something that she really believed in.
After a while she decided to start it up again, however this time on her own.
She roped in other creatives via social media sites (She explained that social media was a huge backbone in the growth of the magazines readership and interest) and word of mouth to help out with the second issue of the magazine. This is when Charlotte Melling, stylist and magazines creative director, became a partner in the publication, and they have worked together on it ever since. The issue that they then brought out was the issue that, unintentionally, defined their style in terms of imagery and the front cover.

If you have never checked out the magazine before, you definitely should! The content and editorial is so well thought out and so, so well selected. Everything in the magazine really ties in with the niche that they have created and Betty really wanted to keep it this way with absolutely everything that is included in the magazine. Even with the advertising, they only wanted to include companies and brands that would really suit the magazine and suit and appeal to the readership. If something doesn't make it into the magazine it is just "not Betty".

I have just finished the article that I have written for the magazine and it is being looked over right now by lecturers, so once it has all been finalised I will hopefully be in the runnings of getting my article in the magazine :))) (Its about wrapping!!)

I will leave you with some images that I took on the day :)

ciao
Megan x