If the Australian edition of In Style were a woman, her name would be Alyssä and she would be the PA to the CEO of an interior design firm whom she hopes to marry when his wife gives up on the botox. Alyssä would wear Armani culottes to theatre first nights. She wouldn't think much of you.
The Good: In Style is much more likeable than Alyssä, its corporal manifestation. It is a truly terrific and selective catalogue of upper-mid-market fashions, arranged into useful categories. It does an admirable job of showing how to style and combine these expensive things. It shows you clearly who has been wearing what. It takes it all very seriously.
The Bad: There's nothing to read in it. That wouldn't be a problem except that it keeps trying to pretend that there is. Don't bother to even glance at the breathless articles about Anne Hathaway or some American tv star you've never heard of. Sadly, the magazine also staunchly holds that it is tapping into the zeitgeist by dressing a soap-star in Gucci and quoting said soap-star on the authenticity of her latest indie project. Just show the clothes!
Both Good and Bad – More effort goes into the hair and makeup pages in In Style than in most other fashion magazines, but I still find them to be curiously inaccessible.
THE VERDICT : Fashionistas subscribe! For God's sake keep up the botox.