SKIRTING THE ISSUES

(5 of 5)
As for the millions of readers, they may be getting what they want-fantasy images of beautiful clothes draped on beautiful people-and that, month after month, is what they get. No matter if the clothes are designed by a friend of the editor's; an Armani suit is still an Armani suit. Readers probably do not expect to find stories about a designer's overseas sweatshops or imperfect personal life-and they rarely do. What would happen if the fashion editors took the initiative and cleaned up their act, much the way Conda Nast Traveler rewrote the rules for travel magazines in 1987 by refusing to allow its writers to accept free trips? Would the editorial content change dramatically? Would a new batch of designers suddenly crop up in the pages of Vogue? Probably not. But until this stubborn culture of big and small favors is dispensed with, readers will never have a chance to see what a difference that would make.