Brainstorming: Fashion & Lifestyle Story Ideas

1. I would like to profile the experiences of college females who work in the lucrative positions of promotional models in the beer industry.

2. An assignment discussing the impracticality of women’s clothing vs men’s clothing and why the former seems to suffer for aesthetic design in the way men’s doesn’t (possible titles include “WHY ARE WOMENS POCKETS MERELY AN ILLUSION I CAN’T EVEN CARRY CHAPSTICK WHILE WEARING JEANS BUT MY BOYFRIEND CAN FIT HIS NISSAN PICKUP, TABLE SAW AND OUR CAT ZELDA IN ONE OF HIS BACK POCKETS”)

3. Are sin taxes (those against cigarettes, tanning beds, etc) effective in curbing specifically college age consumer behavior?

4. A look at up-and-coming female film directors in the South. Possibly delve into their specific aesthetics, casting, style or how their experiences/barriers in the film industry may be different than males in their field (I’m also not sure if this is at all relevant to my beat, but after reading this: Vogue Elizabeth Wood’s Film White Girl Controversy possibly an article about the differences in critic responses to similar male and female films or male/female art in general when it comes to grants, music etc.)

5. A look at full-time UGA undergraduate students who are balancing an already blossoming professional career in art or business, for example, a student who is still enrolled full-time but recently started a business or clothing line or is selling crafts etc)

6. A behind-the-scenes look at trying to break into the fashion world as a model featuring new models around Georgia.

7. Looking at the monetary value of certain art degrees (in an admittedly more anecdotal way) by talking to photographers, graphic designers, and other artists who have gone to colleges like SCAD vs those who are professionally successful without a college degree.

8. An article about the paid nude (or “live”) models that work at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at UGA.

9. A look at the ethically murky trend on social media of advertisers paying for sponsored featured mentions or “testimonials” (many of those being paid by companies fall under the “Instagram-famous” or “Instagram model” category of someone who has a follower count in the thousands, hundred thousands or even millions but who would not be considered a celebrity in the conventional sense outside of the social media platform) that are not explicitly labeled as advertising but rather could be confused as unbiased testimonials to their followers, many of whom are underage.

10. An article about different trends in skin care with expert advice on what skin care mistakes/lifestyle choices different college kids are most likely to commit (i.e A Dermatologist’s Skin Care Guide For Smokers and Partiers)

Beat Vertical- Fashion and Lifestyle

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/

Interview Magazine’s fashion vertical may have some very basic “here’s lipstick colors for summer” kind of clickbait but it doesn’t take much closer examination to find articles that focus on couture fashion and showcase incredibly artistic photography by some of the greatest filmmakers in the world. They do a good job of exploring the historical contexts of fashion and examining trends through a cultural lens. I plan to focus my beat around Athens/Atlanta area but I like Interview Magazine as an example of what journalism around fashion and lifestyle can be. It also sprang to mind when talking about verticals because the graphic design on the website is absolutely incredible.