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Vogue (magazine)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rjanag (talk | contribs) at 03:18, 27 September 2008 (commented out non-american editors; the article is mainly about the American version of the magazine). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other meanings, see vogue.
Vogue
File:Vogue0505.jpg
May 2008 cover of Vogue
EditorAnna Wintour (United States)
CategoriesFashion
FrequencyMonthly
First issue1892
CompanyCondé Nast Publications
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Website[1]

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in eighteen countries by Condé Nast Publications. Each month, Vogue publishes a magazine addressing topics of fashion, life and design.

Style and influence

Vogue was described by book critic Caroline Weber in The New York Times in December 2006 as "the world's most influential fashion magazine":[1]

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.

Vogue is most famous as a presenter of images of high fashion and high society,[citation needed] but it also publishes writings on art, culture, politics, and ideas. It has helped to enshrine the fashion model as celebrity.[citation needed] Vogue is regularly criticized,[who?] along with the fashion industry it writes about, for valuing wealth, social connections, and low body weight over more noble achievements.[citation needed]

Vogue is widely published; today, it is published in eighteen countries: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States.[citation needed]

History

Vogue was founded as a bimonthly publication by Arthur Baldwin Turnure in 1892. When he passed away in 1909, Conde Nast picked it up and slowly began growing the publication. The magazine's number of subscriptions surged during the Depression and again during World War II.

In the 1960s, with Diana Vreeland as editor-in-chief and personality, the magazine began to appeal to the youth of the sexual revolution by focusing more on contemporary fashion and editorial features openly discussing sexuality. Vogue also continued making household names out of models, a practice that continued with Suzy Parker, Twiggy, Penelope Tree, and others.[2]

In the 1970s, Vogue became a monthly publication.[citation needed] Under editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella, the magazine underwent extensive editorial and stylistic changes to respond to changes in the lifestyles of its target audience.[citation needed]

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 high status and reputation among fashion publications. In order to do so, she has made the magazine focus on new and more accessible ideas of "fashion" for a wider audience.[3] This allowed Wintour to keep a high circulation while discovering new trends that a broader audience could conceivably afford.[3] 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', 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."[4] Wintour's Vogue also welcomes new and young talent.

Wintour's presence at fashion shows is often taken[who?] 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.[5] 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."[5]

The contrast of Wintour's vision with that of her predecessor has been noted as striking by observers, both critics and defenders. Amanda Fortini, fashion and style contributor to Slate argues that her policy has been beneficial for Vogue:[6]

[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.

Criticism

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". [7] However, the success of both the novel and the film have brought new attention from a wide global audience to the power and glamour of the magazine, and the industry it continues to lead.[8]

April 2008 cover featuring Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James

In 2007, Vogue drew criticism from the anti-smoking group, "Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids", for carrying tobacco advertisements in the magazine. The group claims that volunteers sent the magazine more than 8,000 protest e-mails or faxes regarding the ads. The group also claimed that in response, they received scribbled notes faxed back on letters that had been addressed to editor Anna Wintour stating, "Will you stop? You're killing trees!"[9]

A spokesperson for Condé Nast released an official statement saying that, "Vogue does carry tobacco advertising. Beyond that we have no further comment".[9]

In April 2008, the American Vogue had a cover shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, featuring supermodel Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James, a black basketball superstar. This was the third time that Vogue featured a male on the cover of the American issue, and the first time with a black man. Criticism was immediate from many commentators because it was perceived as a prejudiced depiction of James beside the much smaller Gisele in a pose reminiscent of King Kong carrying off Fay Wray.[10][11] Further criticism arose when the website Watching the Watchers analyzed the photo alongside the World War I recruitment poster titled Destroy This Mad Brute.[12]

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 teen girls, the Seventeen demographic, in the United States. South Korea and Australia has a Vogue Girl magazine (currently suspended from further publication), 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.

October 2007 saw the recent launch of Vogue India, which featured Gemma Ward, Bipasha Basu, and Priyanka Chopra on the cover.

In the media

A & E IndieFilms and R. J. Cutler are to shoot a feature-length documentary chronicling the making of Vogue's September issue. Cutler had approached Wintour in 2004 and will direct the untitled pic which will be shot over eight months as Wintour prepares the fall fashion issue, known in the industry as the "fashion bible". The filmmakers plan to have it completed in 2008.[13]

American Editors-in-Chief

British Editors-in-Chief

French Editors-in-Chief

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Dwight, Eleanor. "The Divine Mrs. V". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2007-11-18. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ a b Orecklin, Michelle "The Power List: Women in Fashion, #3 Anna Wintour". Time magazine, February 9, 2004. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
  4. ^ 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.]
  5. ^ a b Orecklin, Michelle "The Power List: Women in Fashion, #3 Anna Wintour". Time magazine, February 9, 2004. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
  6. ^ Fortini, Amanda "Defending Vogue's Evil Genius: The Brilliance of Anna Wintour". Posted Thursday, February 10, 2005. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
  7. ^ Betts, Kate "Anna Dearest". New York Times, April 13, 2003. Retrieved on January 29, 2007.
  8. ^ Wilson, Eric "The Devil Likes Attention". New York Times, December 28, 2006. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
  9. ^ a b Noveck, Jocelyn (2007-05-30). "Fashion Mags Anger Some With Tobacco Ads". Associated press. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  10. ^ LeBron James' 'Vogue' cover called racially insensitive - USATODAY.com
  11. ^ magCulture blog
  12. ^ Annie Leibovitz Monkeys Around with LeBron James
  13. ^ Martin, Denise; December 14, 2006; Wintour documentary to hit the runway at A&E; Variety; retrieved March 3, 2007.

See also

External links

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