Granted it’s the power blogs that consistently take the top spots in our ranking of influential fashion blogs; but using the exact same ranking criteria, bloggers are edging out magazines who (often) have larger staffs and larger budgets when it comes to influencing readers online.

Dolce & Gabbanna's 2-year-old front row lineup seems smarter than ever

That’s not to say magazines aren’t influencing people online: each of the magazine websites we used for comparison would rank in the top 99 if pitted against the fashion blogs in our list. Not to mention that although it took them a while, nearly all of the magazines on the list are actively investing in their websites, rather than using them as digital subscription forms. Glamour created their own blogger network; Elle hired the editor of an influential blog to breathe new life into theirs (a move that’s paid off); and though Style.com is now a property of its own, the former online home to Vogue and W was a big part of propelling the reigning influential fashion blog (the Sartorialist) to where it is now. While magazines aren’t exactly the ostriches they once were when it comes to building an online presence, the fact that a single teenager from the Chicago suburbs is influencing nearly as many people as the entire online staff of Teen Vogue can’t be ignored though.

The reason why we spend so much time on an objective ranking of fashion blogs, however, is precisely because there are people who still do ignore bloggers and independent publishers and try to write off the significant audience shift in fashion media as a passing fad. Print isn’t dead – advertisers will keep it alive; but digital is the future, and it’s a future where a multitude of strong individual voices can rival the influence of a more prominent, institutional few. That said, the structure of influential blogs is increasingly similar to that of print publications, and probably not so different from their online departments. While there are more than a few solo acts topping the rankings, increasingly it’s blogs with multiple editors, writers and support staff competing with and pushing the magazines out of the top spots.

This list of magazine sites isn’t as exhaustive as the index of fashion blogs that we rank. You’ll notice that most are for the US editions of international magazines, but in nearly every case the US editions receive more traffic, link and social activity than their international counterparts so we thought they were a good place to start. In our September update, we’ll examine the influence of international magazine websites compared to bloggers in more depth.

Style.com

Score: 84     Rank if included in the top 99: 2

The former home of Vogue and W helped establish the Sartorialist, so perhaps it’s fitting that if included, the Sartorialist is the only blog that would rival (and top) their influence.

GQ.com

Score: 79     Rank if included in the top 99: 3

The men’s print style bible would just barely push men’s online style bible Hypebeast into 4th place.

Glamour.com

Score: 77     Rank if included in the top 99: 5

Style.com certainly has the strongest lead, but Glamour‘s put a respectable effort into building their online presence with a blogger network and dedicated online content. Looking strictly at current magazine websites, Glamour‘s is the most influential women’s style site in the US.

Elle.com

Score: 74      Rank if included in the top 99: 6

Elle is a few points away from Glamour, but the popular magazine has worked with bloggers through the Style Coalition for some time now, and brought in former Fashionista editor Brit Aboutaleb to lead editorial for their online efforts. The Elle blog is one of the few magazine blogs with enough influence to rank in the top 99 independent of the parent website.

Vogue.com

Score: 73     Rank if included in the top 99: 9

Vogue got off to a late start with their website, and there have been a few notable bumps along the way, but they recently received a Webby and Anna Wintour has been vocal about making the website a priority. For the moment though they still can’t beat Stylelist, the super blog formerly led by AOL, now revamped and revitalized by chief executive blog builder Arianna Huffington.

And men’s style blog High Snobiety leads them both.

MarieClaire.com

Score: 71     Rank if included in the top 99: 10

InStyle.com

Score: 70     Rank if included in the top 99: 11

Allure.com

Score: 70     Rank if included in the top 99: 12

Marie Claire is the closest to catching up with Vogue online, but both InStyle and Allure are only marginally ahead of Refinery29, who are blogging their way towards a $20 million valuation.

Seventeen.com

Score: 70     Rank if included in the top 99: 14

TeenVogue.com

Score: 69     Rank if included in the top 99: 15

Readership for teen print publications has been dropping off for a while, and many people blamed the web. While Seventeen and Teen Vogue are doing well online, they’re only slightly ahead of  the Fug Girls, Garance Dore and Tavi, indicating that teens probably weren’t exactly sitting on their hands while waiting for the print publications to get themselves together online.

HarpersBazaar.com

Score: 66     Rank if included in the top 99: 22

Harper’s Bazaar has never had the circulation of Elle or Vogue, but the pronounced focus on building their online audience hasn’t been there in the same way either. Again, we wouldn’t say they’re exactly suffering on the web, but the entire online Harper’s Bazaar team would still be behind the singular efforts of Yvan Rodic’s FaceHunter, Rumi Neely’s Fashion Toast and Alix of the Cherry Blossom Girl.

LuckyMag.com

Score: 65     Rank if included in the top 99: 23

Of all the major fashion magazines, Lucky’s online site is lowest on the list. Sure, readers are visiting for the Lucky deals and different online shopping collaborations, but the site still has a long way to go. Newly installed editor-in-chief Brandon Holley has print experience and led editorial at Shine, Yahoo’s US-targeted women’s site, so hopefully come September a bit more attention to online partnerships and audience building will lend the beleaguered publisher a little more luck.

Most girls have probably found their guys thumbing through the Victoria’s Secret catalog checking out the models, but is this really a significant demographic for the lingerie brand?

Unless they have a cross dressing readership we’re not familiar with, GQ seems to think so. Timed to coordinate with Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr’s cover, the men’s magazine is partnering with Victoria’s Secret to offer a contest with a grand prize $1000 shopping spree with the model.

The sweepstakes will surely be a welcome excursion for one lucky winner. In addition to claiming $1000 worth of underwear, the winner will get two $500 coach airfare vouchers for travel from the major commercial airport nearest the winner’s primary residence in the US to New York, and a standard hotel room (double occupancy).

Now for a single guy, hanging around a model, bras and panties is something like a high school dream come true. But if the winner takes a wife or girlfriend, we’re not sure how comfortable it will be to lingerie shop with one of the sexiest woman on the planet.

Seriously speaking, while guys might enjoy ogling their most famous employees, is this the most effective promotional pairing? Sure, women drive a lot of men’s fashion sales just by virtue of wanting to keep the guys in their lives in style, but beyond Valentine’s Day and holidays, it just doesn’t seem like men would be shopping for the women in their lives with the same frequency. And honestly, we’d prefer to keep it that way. Random guys hanging around in lingerie stores “browsing” the selection are more skeevy than sexy.

If none of that concerns you though, and you stopped reading after seeing “Victoria’s Secret model,” hustle over to GQ.com now. Entries are only accepted through June 14th. {GQ}

Sailors who were visiting for the annual Fleet Week were honored by Express and GQ Magazine at the Intrepid Pier on Saturday, where samples of Express†new menâ€s fragrance, Honor, were handed out by girls in Express sailor-inspired clothes. A twelve-foot replica bottle of the fragrance was also on hand for photo ops with attendees, who may see their picture in an upcoming issue of GQ. {HoneyMag}

With the launch party at the pier completed, Honor is now available in Express stores and online for $44.90 (1.7 oz) and $59.90 (3.4 oz). {TalkingMakeup}

Honor is the second menâ€s scent developed by Express. The fragrance was inspired by an “underground swank” scene and a 24-hour party cool lifestyle.

Itâ€s too late to get your photo taken with the giant Honor bottle for a chance to be featured in GQ, but watch for sailor pictures in the magazineâ€s upcoming issues!

The new 27" waist "Homme Nouveau" mannequins

This new size mannequin, which comes complete with a 35-in chest and not an ounce of discernible fat, along with metrosexuality could be causing some men to hold themselves to the kind of unrealistic body ideals women are subject to, and some men may be attempting to wither down to proportions capable of looking as good in trendy, super-tight clothing as the “Homme Nouveau” does.

Rootstein describes its new mannequin as, “the young and restless redresses the balance of the prevailing male beefcake figure by carving out a far more streamlined sinuous silhouette to match the edgier attitude of a new generation.” {NPR}

If by “edgier attitude” they mean tendency to develop eating disorders, statistics are beginning to show they may be right.

A look from Dior Homme during Hedi Slimanes tenure, where extra slim silhouettes were favored

GQ Style Editor Adam Rapaport says it is naïve to think men are all of a sudden more concerned with their appearance based on the “Saturday Night Fever,” hair sculpting, skinny pant-wearing days of the past (or Hedi Slimane’s slim Dior Homme silhouettes more recently), but evidence shows anorexia in men (read: manorexia) is on the rise, leading to the question of whether the skinny jeans for men trend may be at the root of it.

Today, 25 percent of eating disorder sufferers are men, up from 10 percent in 1990, and 40 percent of binge eaters are men. {New York Magazine}

Some experts cite the renewed pressure men are under to fit into slim clothes. American Apparel has a line of denim pants with a maximum waist size at 33 inches, though the average waist size for an American man in 2006 was 39.7 inches. In addition Rootsteinâ€s mannequins have gradually shrunk in waist size over the years, beginning at 33 inches in 1967, down to 31 inches in 1983 and 28 inches in 1994.{New York Magazine}

“The body is on display more in menâ€s clothing today,” Radford University psychologist Dr. Tracy Cohn says. “The cuts arenâ€t as blousy and there is not as much fabric. Clothes cling to the body. The cuts are called close-fit or tailor-cut. And they taper into the body.”

Rapaport says it is not just jeans but everything in menswear that is skinnier these days including slim suits and skinny ties.

“Now itâ€s all skinny skinny skinny, whether you are or not,” he says, adding that the new generation is not smaller, they are just wearing clothes that are, moving away from the baggy, below-the-butt sagging pants that New York politicians abhor.

“Typically in fashion the pendulum swings,” Rapaport says. “If everyoneâ€s wearing big baggy jeans, then the cool kids want to be wearing skinny tight jeans. Once everyone does something, the elite want to do the opposite.”

If you are a man uninterested in whittling down to 14-year-old boy proportions to fit into these clothes, Rapaport sees no need to be concerned. He admits most women probably do not like to see a man in something that super skinny. He also advises men to look at this trend as an extreme by which to be inspired – rather than which to aspire to – to wear clothes that simply fit better and are more tailored than what we are used to seeing men wear.

It’s interesting that this trend emerges just as attention is finally being focused on the inclusion of curvier women in modeling and a movement away from the scrawny female runway look. That being said, we definitely agree with Rapaport. Women do not necessarily want to see super skinny men in super tight clothing, but clothes that fit well are a huge step up from baggy, sagging looks that do nothing to flatter a man’s body.

J. Crew redressed

Impressed by head designer Frank Muytjens†“masculine, affordable, and modern” (pieces), in a recent story at GQ.com, Moore also commented on J.Crewâ€s styling: “Each guy exud[ed] a sense of great personal style.” Though a sidelong note, this is an area in which the company has really upped the ante in recent years.

Particularly haute is its Tribeca-based menâ€s location, the Liquor Store. Original bar intact within walls from 1825, the spot carries exclusives from designer collaborations (Belstaff, Leviâ€s and Ray-Ban have all partnered), as well as Borsalino hats, vintage Rolexes, old records and first-edition books (but no booze).

J.Crew of yore

From the Crew we knew as a mail-order only catalogue on momâ€s coffee table (picture) to the British geek-chic, touch-of-grunge and piles-of-pearls (styling) of today, J.Crew looks to be successfully accomplishing an enviable appeal-expansion without isolating true-blue crew members. Weâ€re sold.