Victoria magazine was started in 1987 by Hearst Publishing. It had 800,000 subscribers with a 75% renewal rate. For some reason, it folded in 2004. My sister couldn't wait till the magazine hit the stands every month. I was not obsessed with the Victorian Era as I am now, but I did love to look at her magazine, especially the Christmas issues. I will never forget how upset she was when they stopped publication. Her interest was in china, silver and especially linens, which she collected.
The magazine was revived in 2007. My sister was so excited till she bought the first few issues. The magazine is now bi-monthly and not nearly as sizable as the old one. She did however buy the Christmas issues for us to look at.
I recently decided to subscribe to Victoria. In the last few years I have become obsessed with anything Victorian, well, almost anything. Thought I would give it a try. Well, I am sorry to say, I am disappointed. It has lost it's elegance and become more commercial. Most of it just doesn't say Victorian to me.
The Victorian Era was from 1837 to 1901, which of course was the reign of Queen Victoria.
The things that come to mind when I initially think "Victorian" are large beautiful hats, long bustled dresses, top hats, gloves, red and pink roses, tea cups and saucers, etc. I decided to look a little farther than England, after all, that 64 years of time was universal. So look at the Wild West, that was during this same time. No doubt the ladies were heavily influenced by the same fashions. Watching westerns on television, you see the beautiful bars in the saloons, the washstands with the pitcher and bowl, fancy carriages, kerosene lanterns hanging on the wall. The west was more barbaric than England, but we did have morals, modesty and a bit of proper decorum like our friends across the sea.
The Victorian era gave us Edison, Henry Ford, the first safety elevator, the bicycle, the sewing machine, steel cable and the first mechanical reaper. In the arts, we had Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, literature was blessed with Yeats, Bronte Carrol, Dickens, Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott. The Salvation Army was founded and slavery was abolished.
I said all that to say that I am not completely narrow minded and I realize this era was long and diversified and shows us many things. But when I pick up a travel issue of the Victoria magazine and see pages of Sante Fe New Mexico, beautiful deserts, but all that dirt just doesn't lend itself to the romance, charm and loveliness of what we used to see in the magazine. Another issue has 6 pages dedicated to a picnic. There is a 2 page layout of the picnic on the ground. That's ok, I will go for that. But then, there is a picture of a stack of cookies, glasses of lemonade in a basket, a basket of fruit, a straw hat on a basket, the ends of white bolster pillows, a long sandwich and yet, another basket with flowers in it. I'm sorry but that's just too much.
Where did the beautiful roses go, where did the beautiful dresses go, what happened to the romance. Victoria magazine used to take us deep into a world we wanted to visit and be a part of, if only for a short time. It took us to that secret garden that was just for us, a place where we could forget our lives and who we were and become something else.
I haven't decided to keep the subscription or not. Please don't get me wrong, there are still some beautiful things to look at and some beautiful stories to read.
The editors must know what they are doing. Supposedly, they have 900,000 followers. Sorry, but for me, it's just not as good as it used to be.
