Kim France. Photo credit: Zimbio
During the holidays, I received my copy of Lucky Magazine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, first, where have you been? Second, when it first hit the newsstands in 2000, it was a magazine for women about fashion and shopping. Those of us who were interested in fashion relished this new concept. The magazine offered great tips for dressing yourself, how to maximize your wardrobe, how to mix and match, and where to buy these products both nationally and locally.
I was in love with this publication.
At the helm, serving as its editor and creator, was a woman named Kim France. I thought she was brilliant. Also, because the magazine was so successful, Ms. France also wrote a book that I use as my fashion bible called The Lucky Guide to Shopping Manual. Additionally, because I served as the editor of Orioles Magazine, I understood the massive undertaking of putting together a magazine—and what it takes to produce something well. While O’s Magazine was small in comparison, Lucky was big—energetic, chock full of stuff, interesting, and fun.
A few years ago when Ms. France parted ways with Conde Nast, the magazine went downhill. It has never been the same. The whole amazing concept that France brought envisioned disappeared, and it no longer is what it once was. It is a Vogue wanna-be, and no one can be Vogue.
After 13 years as a subscriber, my Lucky days are over.
I was so disappointed in the January issue, I actually took time out of my day to find Kim France’s email address. I felt compelled to tell her that I dearly missed her vision at Lucky.
I sent an email off to her, and within hours, she responded back to me with a sweet note about how my email made her day. It was nice to hear from her.
When I was searching for her email, I came upon her blog—“Girls of a Certain Age.” As she and I are both the same age, I couldn’t help but become excited about this. One of my beefs with Lucky is that it does not feature enough women “of a certain age” in the magazine. Just because we readers have grown older does not mean we do not like to look nice and dress fashionably.
So, if you have a chance, check out Kim France’s blog, Girls of Certain Age.
And yes, Ms. France, you are missed.
