Evans’ glossy in-store title has the right mix for larger readers.
Evans - the outsize store; purveyors of crimplene tents. The only shop,
except for Anne Summers, where it would be social suicide to be caught
buying something. Now, I can’t claim to be a sylph and have on many
occasions clipped the size 16 label out of a pair of trousers, but Evans
- yuk!
So it was with some nervousness that I flicked through Encore, Evans’
in-store magazine (pounds 1 quarterly). But I was quickly drawn into a
world of glossy voluptuousness where glamorous but undoubtedly big women
dressed to kill in panne velvet, chiffon and satin cavort with guys who
clearly believe that more is more.
It is a class act - page upon page of fashion shoots, a chance to win a
Caribbean holiday, a column by Vanessa Feltz and top-drawer advertisers.
You would find much of the fashion in any women’s magazine; it’s just
distinctly bigger here.
It also has the statutory ‘look for a lifestyle’ feature as pioneered by
Good Housekeeping. There are certainly no kill-joy diet sheets or
exercise regimes, although there are no hymns to chocolate either and
the cookery page looked a bit insipid. Mackerel indeed!
The tone is breezy and positive. That’s actually my only real criticism.
It’s apparently so damn normal to be tubby that it requires no humour or
self-deprecation. What about a little subversion or militancy; we’re
talking about 47 per cent of womanhood. It’s time for fat women to bite
back.
Evans products are showcased well; in-store quality better be as good.
Conde Nast is the publisher and it shows in the production values. It
doesn’t make me want to increase my embonpoint but it proves fat can be
fun.
Katrina Michel, the new-business director of Ogilvy and Mather, likes
biting back
