Over a century of style is compiled in the pages of Vogue, the world’s most influential fashion magazine. Founded in 1892, the monthly publication has twenty-three international editions each with their own cultural slant on what’s in and what’s out. The New York-based American Vogue presides over the franchise: its long-time editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has the power to make or break a reputation.
high society
Meaning ‘style’ in French, Vogue was the brainchild of New York businessman Arthur Baldwin Turnure. He envisaged a high society weekly that was a “dignified authentic journal of society, fashion, and the ceremonial side of life.” It included local gossip and tips9 on social etiquette plus reviews of books, plays and music.
condé nast
By 1904, Turnure had to borrow money from his mother to keep the magazine in print, and after his sudden death in 1906, Vogue was put up for sale. The former advertising executive Condé Nast bought the publication with the idea of turning it into a biweekly fashion magazine to rival Harper’s Bazaar. Founded in 1867 and later published by billionaire William Randolph Hearst, Harper’s Bazaar is still Vogue’s most important rival.
Condé Nast was a genius. Not only did he see more liberated American women looking to redefine their roles, not only did he wish to offer them a beautifully presented authoritative publication featuring the finest illustrators, photographers and writers, but he also put confident women at the helm of Vogue and gave them absolute control of it.
made in america
Edna Woolman Chase became editor-in-chief in 1914. She had worked her way up from the mailroom through the art and make up departments and remained at the top until 1952. Early on, the magazine relied on clothes made in Paris, but with the outbreak of the First World War, this became unfeasible. Chase called dressmakers in New York and had them make more moderately-priced clothing to be featured in the first Vogue fashion show. In 1932, the magazine placed its first colour photograph on the cover: a woman holding a beach ball, by the photographer Edward Steichen. Chase was aware of the challenge her female readership faced. In her 1954 memoir Always in Vogue she wrote, “As I recall the fashions of my youth, I am struck by their extreme impracticality.”
the educator
Jessica Daves was editor-in-chief through the 1950s. It was the golden age of haute couture, exclusive custom-fitted clothing, but also marked more interest in fashion by the general population. Daves edited Vogue with the conviction that it should be “a vehicle to educate public taste.” She was a well-spoken, well-read woman who set about contextualising fashion among advances in technology, design and art. Her didactic Vogue brought reassurance to readers in the post-war period. But it wasn’t much fun.
the empress
Diana Vreeland swept in in the 1960s, already a cultural icon. The flamboyant French-American brought street-influenced youth fashions, and space age and psychedelic designs to Vogue. She had a phone installed in her home bathroom where she would sit chain-smoking, dictating memos to her secretaries and arriving at the office no earlier than noon. She gave the career of British model Twiggy a powerful boost, supporting a skinny androgynous look revolutionary for the time, but that was to cause significant problems for women ever since. She was wildly creative, but not economically viable: forced out of Vogue, she went on to work at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute.
the stoic
Vreeland’s successor was her assistant Grace Mirabella, an economics graduate who stepped in in 1971 when the US was in recession. She was the antithesis of Vreeland. Elegant but subdued, she promoted functional affordable fashion for everyday Americans. She showcasedready-to-wear designs from Yves Saint Laurent and Ralph Lauren. She increased Vogue’s revenue and grew the now-monthly magazine’s circulation to 1.2 million. In 1974, she followed the example of Italian Vogue in putting a black model, in this case Beverly Johnson, on the cover. However, with so many competitors on the scene, Vogue needed to distinguish itself.
the ice-queen
In 1988 Mirabella was replaced by her former creative director, Anna Wintour; the latter’s dark glasses, bob haircut and British accent, along with her decisive manner, combined modern business sense with airs of a romantic European past. Wintour wanted to reach a mass audience, not by reflecting what society is but by what it dreamed to be: she supported radical designers such as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. She began showcasing celebrities such as Madonna, Rihanna and sportswoman Serena Williams; her monthly celebrity covers boosted sales significantly. She and Grace Coddington, the Welsh-born creative director whose complex dramatic photo spreads set new standards for the industry, defined Vogue for thirty years.
ANNA WINTOUR
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has tried hard to provide fashion with a social conscience. She is a vocal supporter of women’s, gay and trans rights, once hiring a man on the spot because he came to the interview wearing a dress. A tradition began in the late 1920s when Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of US President Herbert Hoover, was put on the magazine cover. Other First Ladies were to follow, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan. Wintour has put both Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama on Vogue. However, in 2016, she broke the magazine’s non-partisan rule by endorsing Hillary Clinton as presidential nominee. This year, Wintour has pledged support for Joe Biden in the coming election – although his face is unlikely to show up on the magazine! The current First Lady, Melania Trump, while modelling for Vogue’s cover as a young bride illegally working in the US in 2005, has not appeared again.