0 ABOUT
Femme Country Magazine is the UK’s luxury country, fashion and lifestyle publication and media brand enlightening a rural to city readership. Foot printing on all acres of country life, Femme Country Magazine’s contents root deeply within showcasing all the canopies under the country landscape umbrella. We aim to advocate women in the sector, giving them a platform through which they can voice their business stories, personal ventures, paramount perspectives, sublime style and aspiring advice. From farmers, to founders to fashion designers we concentrate on showcasing poignant stories and cutting-edge brands driving to create a powerful writer to reader relationship.
Femme Country Magazine is the direct destination for quintessential country content with a contemporary curve. Published quarterly throughout the year, each issue is released pre-season, allowing our readers to remain five steps ahead within the fast-changing landscape. From the publication’s cover photography to its feature contents, each issue is designed with the visual vocabulary of female succession, allowing the Femme Country reader to contemplate, create and conquer. We preserve the ethos that when reading our magazines each reader feels just as confident as the female faces staring back them, who are striving to make their own footprint on the world.
OUR MEDIA BRAND
Whilst Femme Country Magazine engages with readers through print, we have developed our presence on social media which now sees the publication operate further via digital distribution channels. Using Instagram, Facebook, Linked In and TikTok as catalysts we entertain reels, posts, adverts, stories, videos, trailers and lives to engage with our growing subscription and follower base. Our digital platforms allow the magazine to exist beyond its physical pages, opening our content to a wider target audience, taking the faces and products we feature to a contemporary visual perspective.
FOUNDING FEMME COUNTRY MAGAZINE
By Editor-in-Chief, Brontë Clare Mitchell
Where to start with the story of Femme Country Magazine? I have to admit that its story certainly isn’t a short one, so settle in with a warm tea or sparkling gin as we venture back to 2018, when coming of age me was undertaking a huge move to the big capital.
In the run up to becoming 18, I worked incredibly hard to achieve my career goals. I had secured a place at UAL: London College of Fashion to study Fashion Journalism and Criticism, found accommodation and moved out independently. As a teen, I spent a lot of time in London with my family venturing down at least very couple of months for getaways, events and of course a quick trip to Oxford Street! Upon arriving in the capital for University back in 2018, the city landscape seemed unfamiliar to me and I found myself slightly lost amidst the hustle and bustle of my surroundings. At the time, I remained positive thinking this may have been just an immediate reaction to the new venture and living independently, but after a few weeks there was no change and I suddenly started to become very emotional about my future and the prospect of spending another four years in London.
After endless midnight phone calls to my family, often featuring many tears, I made the decision to return back to Yorkshire and start the journey to applying for another University in York. Looking back, it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. It was incredibly difficult to put a stop to a journey that I had only ever dreamt of and worked so hard to achieve. On the train back to Yorkshire, it hit me that my life would no longer be in London as a fashion journalist, but it was important that I put my mental health and happiness first in exchange for a slight change in lifestyle.
So, I found myself back home with boxes to unpack and a new life to find. However, this was no time to sit back and let things fall into place. With the drive to pull my dream back to a reality, I knew this was the imperative moment that would determine my future career. I had to think fast and I had to think positively, as I found myself in a position where I needed to transfer Universities under a limited amount of time. Multiple phone interviews, discussions with lecturers and many emotions later I became a student York St John University in October of 2018, studying Media Production: Journalism.
In the time between leaving London and securing a place in York, there were many thoughts circling my head. ‘What if I run out of time to secure a place?’ ‘What if I they don’t have any places left on the course?’ ‘What if it’s too late?’ Thinking ahead, with the possibility that I might be taking a gap year unexpectedly, I needed a plan whereby I could fill that year appropriately, as of course a gap year was not in my original timeline. And so, I reverted back to a magazine project I had created for my Extended Project Qualification back in 2017 whilst I was in Sixth form. I developed the name, designed new branding and made it a portfolio project which would give me a little head start just in case a University place was beyond reach.
As you know I did achieve a position at University, but I was in no outlook to suddenly drop the portfolio magazine I had begun. With the appetite to continue to develop my portfolio magazine alongside attending lectures and completing assignments, I built the first issue of ‘Femme Magazine’ and released it to the public in January of 2019. The magazine filled a gap in the market when I noticed the major shortage of both established and small business country brands in printed content. At the time, social media was the only platform that showcased these significant brands of the rural fashion and lifestyle landscape, but even the likes of Instagram couldn’t advocate the stories of these developing names in the detail that they so rightly deserved. Whilst thoughts like this ran through my head, I was also fixated on the lack of female publicity surrounding the various sectors of the country industry. From farmers to agronomists to surveyors, the press world naturally seemed to observe this sector from a male perspective often without regard to the women in the same roles. Change needed to occur, and I made sure that I was the catalyst of this with ‘Femme Magazine.’
Since the magazine’s launch, my life has just been insane! After releasing the first Spring Issue on social media (with no intention of selling it!) I had so many messages from people interested in purchasing the magazine, asking where it was sold and how they could their hands on one… as something I created solely for myself, saying I was shocked at the time would have been an understatement.
Fast forward four years to today in 2022, and I find myself in the most amazing place, supported by the most inspiring people and running a business that is thriving by no end. Of course, many things have changed and developed along the way, but looking back at my journey so far, there’s no difference there! Now entitled, ‘Femme Country Magazine’ the publication expands beyond the content inside our pages, running as both a media and events brand. Our following as a brand, still leaves me speechless today as the numbers of our subscribers and readers continues to increase daily. Our client base is also something I could have only dreamt about, as I find myself not only working alongside some of Britain’s most eminent country brands, but also supporting newly founded businesses looking toward the magazine to get their name noticed. Femme Country Magazine has further created some of the most captivating campaigns and photo-shoots I’ve seen in the industry in a long time, bringing together a sense of community and female support which needed to be shouted about. With the succession of our recent fashion show which saw the publication headline at York Fashion Week for 2022, it became apparent to me that this magazine is so much more than what you see on our covers and interior pages. Whilst I created a publication in its entirety, the Femme Country Magazine name embodies so much more. It is a physical and virtual space where ladies can share opinions, style and advice, but most importantly be themselves!
So, (and you can take a little breath now as we’re nearly at the end!) whenever you find yourself in a position where your future seems without reach or you hit a bump in the road to what you’re working towards – keep going! If I’ve learnt anything from my journey so far, it’s that things happen for a reason. I most certainly wouldn’t be sat here writing this story if I had stayed in London or have built a business that makes me feel immensely proud everyday if I had forced myself to stay at UAL. Trust in yourself, laugh at the confusion and believe in the choices you make, as often the risks we take end up being the best decisions.