Vogue

There is an immense amount of prestige tied with the title Vogue; it automatically suggests style and class. Images of style icons of yesteryears immediately infiltrate your mind's eye at the mere mention of the word, possibly followed by the singing of Madonna's catchy tune, under your breath, of course.

The feature articles have substance; a quality that sets them apart from many others. They are well written and avant garde, the stories are innovatory and inspiring. Real women with real stories. Cutting edge fashion and cutting edge journalism. Accomplished writers such as Joan Didion once graced the pages of this publication, and she is well known to be extremely capable with words.
It's writers like these that give Vogue an immense amount of credibility which, in turn, wins it a loyal readership.

To some, fashion publications may seem to be devoid of actual substance because they seem solely focussed on the superficial.

But Vogue seems to strike a balance between the editorial authority of Vanity Fair whilst retaining the glamorous culture and free spirit of less text driven publications, making it fresh and strictly now. On the other end of spectrum you have magazine's such as Heat, which you can hardly accuse of being wolves in sheep's clothing. You can distinctly see what kind of publication Heat is simply by looking at the cover. Magazine's such as these are merely guilty pleasures.
Celebrity gossip, written solely for shock value, will not satisfy the reader of Vogue.

Nor will articles on how to get that Summer body in just two weeks, or the generic “15 ways to become a happier you” bit that often rears its uninspired head in some other fashion magazines.

The women who read Vogue are fashion and body conscious, fashion inspires them, as does travel and culture.
I'd say the average Vogue reader is in their mid to late 20's to their late 40's and 50's. The advertisements alone show a vast array of ages: Emporio Armani shows a young and flawless woman modeling their clothing whilst Dior shows an aging Sharon Stone advertising anti-aging cream.
There are many beauty and cosmetics advertisements; foundations, skin creams, tanning lotions, lipsticks, eyeliners and all manner of hair products, you name it, they advertise it. That tells us that these women like to take care of their appearance. There are a good number of Jewelery advertisements too, which just proves that diamonds still remain a girl's best friend.

Perhaps the readers are socialites, or merely career savvy, independent or its opposite, and intelligent. Whatever their various financial standings may be, these women have these characteristics in common.
Some may have the money to buy the couture on display and other's may just fantasize, or have lofty aspirations for the future, either way these women know good fashion, they would love nothing more than to wear a Chanel mini dress coupled with Jimmy Choo shoes and Miu Miu eyewear, but they also know a good read.