i>Complex has been materializing in my mailbox for about three years now, courtesy of an overzealous publicity staffer. Based on its covers and a cursory flip through its pages, I'd always assumed it was one of those pretentious fashion-first rags that throws itself prostrate on the altars of supposed tastemaking titans like DJ AM and Damon Dash. Turns out that Complex is considerably less complex than that. For all its downtown pretense, the mag more or less comes across as a generic lad mag. In this instance, however, "generic" doesn't mean "weak."

02138 is the 90210 of the adult moneyed set. And why not? Like attracts like--and a magazine geared to Harvard alumni, both the Old and New Money variety, hits an influential readership. Say what you will about education, but I doubt Penn State reunions focus on the complexities of wealth management--or can claim most of the writing staff of "The Simpsons."

I have no particular contempt for any woman who wants to glam up in advance of her big day; I'm not sure that the well-manicured patooties behind ModernBride beauty & fitness feel the same way. In its every simplistic item, the mag practically screams, "We're going to help you because you're too clueless to help yourself."