The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. |
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in several countries by Condé Nast Publications.
| File:VogueKate2003.jpg Kate Moss on the cover of a 2003 issue of British Vogue | |
| Editor |  Anna Wintour Alexandra Shulman Aliona Doletskaya Carine Roitfeld Franca Sozzani Kirstie Clements Christiane Arp |
|---|---|
| Categories | fashion |
| Frequency | monthly |
| First issue | 1892 |
| Company | Condé Nast Publications |
| Country | United States (other countries also available) |
| Language | English, Italian, French, Russian, Traditional Chinese, German |
| Website | www.style.com/vogue |
History
Vogue was described by book critic Caroline Weber in The New York Times in December 2006 as "the world's most influential fashion magazine":
Vogue is to our era what the idea of God was, in Voltaire’s famous parlance, to his: if it didn’t exist, we would have to invent it. Revered for its editorial excellence and its visual panache, the magazine has long functioned as a bible for anyone worshiping at the altar of luxury, celebrity and style. And while we perhaps take for granted the extent to which this trinity dominates consumer culture today, Vogue’s role in catalyzing its rise to pre-eminence cannot be underestimated.[1]
Vogue began as an American magazine, but today, there are different editions of Vogue published around the world: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Portugal,Russia, Spain, Switzerland,Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Under the ownership of New-York based magazine publisher Condé Nast and through a succession of women editors, Vogue is most famous as a presenter of images of high fashion and high society, but it also publishes writings on art, culture, politics, and ideas. On the way, it has helped to enshrine the fashion model as celebrity. Vogue is regularly criticized, along with the fashion industry it writes about, for valuing wealth, social connections, and low body weight over more noble achievements.
The magazine surged in subscriptions during the Depression and World War II. It celebrated its 114th birthday in 2006.
Lauren Hutton has appeared on over 30 Vogue covers.[citation needed] Brooke Shields has made 14 appearances on the cover of American Vogue,[citation needed] the first being the February 1980 issue. She was only fourteen at the time, making her the youngest cover model in the magazine's history.
In the 1960s, with editor-in-chief and personality Diana Vreeland in charge, the magazine rose to the occasion of this candy-colored, youth-oriented decade of sexual revolution by focusing more on the exciting fashions of the times[citation needed], through daringly playful, theatrical, and straightforwardly sexual editorial features. Vogue also continued making household names out of pretty faces, a practice that continued with Suzy Parker, Twiggy, Penelope Tree, and others.
Under the tenure of editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella through the 1970s and 1980s, the bimonthly magazine became a monthly, and the revolutionary air of the sixties gave way to more practical clothing. The magazine's female audience was no longer in the kitchen dreaming of a better life. It was heading out every morning for work, and editorial changes reflected this new reality.
The current editor-in-chief of American Vogue is Anna Wintour, noted for her trademark bob and her practice of wearing sunglasses indoors. Since taking over in 1988, Wintour has worked to protect the magazine's No. 1 status among fashion publications, both in terms of reputation and sales. In order to do so, she brought the magazine down from what Time called "its Olympian heights, acknowledging that trends are as likely to start from the ground as be decreed from on high."[2] This allowed Wintour to keep a high circulation while discovering new trends that a broader audience could conceivably afford.[2] For example, the inaugural cover of the magazine under Wintour's editorship featured a three-quarter-length photograph of a model wearing a bejeweled Christian Lacroix jacket and a pair of jeans, departing from her predecessors' tendency to portray a woman’s face alone, which according to the Times' Weber, gave "greater importance to both her clothing and her body. This image also promoted a new form of chic by combining jeans with haute couture. Wintour’s debut cover brokered a class-mass rapprochement that informs modern fashion to this day."[1]
Wintour's Vogue also aggressively nurtures new design talent, and her presence at fashion shows is often taken as an indicator of the designer's profile within the industry. In 2003, she joined the Council of Fashion Designers of America in creating a fund that provides money and guidance to at least two emerging designers each year.[2] This has built loyalty among the emerging new star designers, and helped preserve the magazine's dominant position of influence through what Time called her own "considerable influence over American fashion. Runway shows don't start until she arrives. Designers succeed because she anoints them. Trends are created or crippled on her command."[2]
The contrast of Wintour's vision with her predecessor has been noted as striking by observers, from both her critics and defenders. Amanda Fortini, fashion and style contributor to Slate argued that "during her tenure, Vogue has been enormously successful":
[W]hen Wintour was appointed head of Vogue, Grace Mirabella had been editor in chief for 17 years, and the magazine had grown complacent, coasting along in what one journalist derisively called "its beige years." Beige was the color Mirabella had used to paint over the red walls in Diana Vreeland's office, and the metaphor was apt: The magazine had become boring. Among Condé Nast executives, there was worry that the grand dame of fashion publications was losing ground to upstart Elle, which in just three years had reached a paid circulation of 851,000 to Vogue's stagnant 1.2 million. And so Condé Nast publisher Si Newhouse brought in the 38-year-old Wintour—who, through editor in chief positions at British Vogue and House & Garden, had become known not only for her cutting-edge visual sense but also for her ability to radically revamp a magazine—to shake things up.[3]
On the other hand, as Wintour came to personify the magazine's image, she and Vogue drew critics. Wintour's one-time assistant at the magazine, Lauren Weisberger, authored a roman à clef entitled The Devil Wears Prada, a best-selling novel published in 2003 which was made into a highly successful, Academy Award-nominated film in 2006. The central character resembled Weisberger, and her boss was a powerful editor-in-chief of a fictionalized version of Vogue. The novel portrays a magazine ruled by "the Antichrist and her coterie of fashionistas, who exist on cigarettes, Diet Dr. Pepper, and mixed green salads", according to a review in the New York Times. The editor who personifies the magazine she runs is described by Weisberger as being "an empty, shallow, bitter woman who has tons and tons of gorgeous clothes and not much else". [4] However, the success of both the novel and the film have brought new attention from a wide global audience to the power and glamor of the magazine, and the industry it continues to lead.[5]
Additionally, Vogue is one of the few women's magazines still advertising cigarrettes. Their response to a Tobacco Free Kids campaign requesting Vogue to stop allowing Camel No. 9's "Light & Luscious" campaign? "Could you stop? You're killing trees." One can only assume that Wintour, a heavy smoker, is behind the comment.
Other editions
In 2005, Condé Nast launched Men's Vogue and announced plans for an American version of Vogue Living launching in late fall of 2006 (there is currently an edition in Australia).
Condé Nast Publications also publishes Teen Vogue, a version of the magazine for younger girls in the United States. Australia has a Vogue Girl magazine, in addition to Vogue Living and Vogue Entertaining + Travel.
Vogue Hommes International is an international men's fashion magazine based in Paris, France, and L'uomo Vogue is the Italian men's version. Other Italian versions of Vogue include Vogue Casa and Bambini Vogue.
Until 1961, Vogue was also the publisher of Vogue Patterns, a home sewing pattern company. It was sold to Butterick Publishing which also licensed the Vogue name.
Editors-in-Chief
- Edna Woolman Chase (1914-1951)
- Jessica Daves (1952-1962)
- Diana Vreeland (1963-June 1971)
- Grace Mirabella (July 1971-October 1988)
- Anna Wintour (November 1988-to present)
References
- ^ a b Weber, Caroline "Fashion-Books: Review of "IN VOGUE: The Illustrated History of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine (Rizzoli)", New York Times, December 3, 2006. Accessed January 28, 2007.]
- ^ a b c d Orecklin, Michelle "The Power List: Women in Fashion, #3 Anna Wintour". Time magazine, February 9, 2004. Retrieved January 29, 2007. Cite error: The named reference "timestyle" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Fortini, Amanda "Defending Vogue's Evil Genius: The Brilliance of Anna Wintour". Posted Thursday, February 10, 2005. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
- ^ Betts, Kate "Anna Dearest". New York Times, April 13, 2003. Retrieved on January 29, 2007.
- ^ Wilson, Eric "The Devil Likes Attention". New York Times, December 28, 2006. Retrieved January 29, 2007.