Vogue is the most famous glossy magazine in the world. It is one of the most authoritative and respectable stylish magazine that is well-known as Bible of the world fashion industry. “Vogue” is a fashion, publicity and popularity in French.
People saw it first time in 1892. At that time this magazine was printed as public weekly that had 16 pages in-quarto, elegant cover and cost only ten cents. Thus, it was affordable even for people with mean income. The magazine was created for the citizens of New York to tell about society life, fashion and styles. There were approximately 250 shareholders, most of which names were published there, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt (the first dollar millionaire), Stuyvesant Fish (president of the Illinois Central Railroad) and others. Harry Makkviar as an art-director and Arthur Baldwin Turnure as an editor were the founders of the magazine.
Vogue had nice pictures of clothes that described fashionable New York. It was a reserved, respectable and exclusive edition. Its readers could find information about exhibitions, fashion, theatres and concerts, sports and new books, etc.
In 1905 Condé Montrose Nast bought this magazine and opened Condé Nast Publications, where the magazine is published till now in the United States. It was one year before Turnure died. From that moment, new life of Vogue has started. It became a bi-weekly thicker magazine with a colorful cover and contained the information only about fashion without any fiction. Nast increased Vogue number of publications and profit (Condenast.ru). The founder of the publisher was born in New York in 1873. Condé Montrose Nast expected his audience desired the high standard quality magazine. Therefore, he employed only the best and high professional photographers and writers. Condé Nast was founded as a company that is serving for the most authorized people, creating announcing the information only of high quality. “Condé Nast is regarded as the dominant up market publisher in the industry, working with the significant creative talents in all the sectors it serves, from fashion to interior design and decoration, society and celebrity, bridal, travel and technology” (Condenastinternational.com). Nowadays it has 130 consumer magazines, 90 websites that are visited by 47 million people in one month, and approximately 50 applications for mobile and tablet. This company has more, than 95 million customers who can enjoy the amazing products. It is “Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Brides, Self, GQ, The New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler, Details, Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Epicurious, Wired, W, Lucky, Golf Digest, Golf World, Teen Vogue and Ars Technica, WWD, Style.com, Footwear News, NowManifest, Beauty Inc., M and Fairchild Summits” (Condenast.com).
Since 2011 Condé Nast develops and takes the entertainment direction as well. It is also famous for having the biggest amount of the many kinds of the rewards than any other in this sphere. It is used to be like a fast growing corporation. In plans for 2014 Condé Nast is going to move to 1 World Trade Center, where it has its new central administrative board (Condenast.com). There are many rumors, gossips and legends around it. This company is considered as the best employer for journalists and modern designers. It has the best pictures of the top models and other famous people, made by superior photographers; outrageous articles, uncovered many different aspects of our life.
Annually Condé Nast releases more than 100 thousand printed pages. It is represented in the following countries like the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, Italy, Korea, Spain, Japan, Portugal, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Mexico, SAR, China, Sweden, Greece, India, Russia, Poland, Brazil, Rumania and Hungary.
As for the Vogue magazine, Edna Chase occupied the position of the editor-in-chief during 37 years. Only the best photographers from the world, such as Irwin Penn and Guy Burden, Richard Avedon and Norman Parkinson, Helmut Newton and Peter Lindberg, cooperate with the magazine since then (Condenast.ru). After Condé Nast’s death in 1942, his friend Kamrose ruled over the publishing house. Then Sam Newhouse, who was newspaper magnate, has bought it.
Diana Vreeland made Vogue one of the most authoritative stylish magazines in the 1960s, when she held the post of an editor-in-chief. Many models, such as Suzy Parker, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Lauren Hutton, Veruschka, Marisa Berenson, Penelope Tree, became famous, because their pictures appeared in this magazine. Under Vreeland’s management, it was more oriented on the youth and sexual revolution (Condenast.ru). During her guidance Vogue has started a new feature in 1971. It hosted themed events.
In contrast to D.Vreeland, Grace Mirabella was not so successful, since she positioned the fashion magazine as the style of the ordinary American woman. Vogue is published only once a month under G.Mirabella. She ruled since 1972 till 1988, when she was fired, because the magazine became boring.
The next editor-in-chief is becoming Anna Wintour, which is ruling till now since July 1988, when she was 38 years old. It is the longest period in the history, when one person is on the position of an editor-in-chief. Vogue is a fashion magazine number one in the world exactly thanks to this woman, one of the most powerful persons in the fashion industry.
Anna Wintour was born in London in 1949 in the family of Elinor Wintour (philanthropist) and Charles Wintour (journalist and later editor of The Evening Standard). “Anna will gain her social conscience from her mother, and from her father an “excitement about the news,” as she will later put it” (M.Vogue.com/Voguepedia). She started her career in London, in Harper's & Queen as deputy fashion editor in 1970. Later, in six years Anna moved to New York to work for Harper’s Bazaar. In 1983, she was invited to Vogue to work as creative director. But after her first child was born, Anna came back to London to work in Vogue on the position of the editor-in-chief. Condé Nast attracted her to America in 1987 again. But firstly it was House & Garden. Anna Wintour is famous for her ability to change the magazine style and attract more and more people.
She extended its audience, making high fashion available for all people. A.Wintour was the first, who mixed completely different styles, for example, a pair of jeans and luxurious jacket decorated with precious jewels. She also was the first person, who put the picture of the model full-blast, while the others placed only the face of the model. Therefore, the clothes and the body were on the first rank instead of face. The other feature of Wintour’s management is working with not very young and thin models. Therefore, naturalness became fancy. Nowadays the other editors of the magazine world-wide also promote the idea of a healthy body, the use of the exercises and regular balanced nutrition. The next peculiarity is a celebrity (stars and singers) on the cover of the magazine instead of a model that was never done before.
Ander Wintour’s management in 2006 this magazine was a sponsor of the "Beauty Without Borders" and donated US$25,000 to establish a cosmetology school for Afghan women. She gave them the opportunity to feel beautiful and to find a job there (Solidarity-us.org).
Anna Wintour is leading active social life. She organizes few funds to help people because she is not indifferent to the other people. Thus, in 2003 she “joins forces to create the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, spurring the careers of young designers including Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Thakoon Panichgul of Thakoon, and Prabal Gurung” (M.Vogue.com/Voguepedia). And in 2006 Anna helps to enlarge funds of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, producing Fashion Rocks on New York fashion week. She was rewarded with the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 2008.
In 2009 Anna Wintour was an initiator of “the first Fashion’s Night Out event, to support retailers and designers during the Great Recession” (M.Vogue.com/Voguepedia). French president Nicolas Sarkozy rewarded Anna with the Légion d’Honneur medal in 2011.
Wintour is continuing Vreeland’s tradition in organizing themed events. Therefore, many politicians, famous people and people from the fashion industry are invited to The Met Ball that is considered as the most desired occurrence in this industry. The host of this arrangement is Vogue magazine. It even released a special issue in 2013 devoted to this event that is called Vogue Special Edition: The Definitive Inside Look at the 2013 Met Gala.
And in 2010 Anna supported the campaign of Obama during the Presidential election in USA. She organized different fundraising events. Thus, one of them was a dinner to support the campaign with 30,000$ entry fee.
Though A. Wintour has done and is doing great job, her name is connected to few scandals. Vogue was criticized by anti-smoking group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in 2007 because the magazine had advertisements of tobacco.
If you read the book The Devil Wears Prada, written by Anna’s assistant Lauren Weisberger, you will understand the style of the fifth editor-in chief’s management. It was tough, aggressive and demanding. Wintour is known as a difficult boss. There is also a comic drama (released in 2006) with the same name, like the book. The film, directed by David Frankel, is worth seeing and the book is worth reading, because they are pretty good and interesting. The roles are played by Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Adrian Grenier, Tracie Thoms, Rich Sommer, Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, Valentino Garavani, etc. The film starts from a young girl who has come to New York to work as a journalist, but before she took the temporary job of the editor-in-chief’s assistant of the well-known fashion magazine. These two persons are completely different because their interests are laid in the other areas. The editor-in-chief in the movie is a famous and influential woman not only in the fashion industry. Due to this fact, her new assistant should accept all changes and stand for this job, in order to receive her desired position after all.
Anna Wintour has been preparing the edition for September during eight months. R. J. Cutler shot a film The September Issue about Anna and Vogue that was on the screen in 2009. Such famous people played in the movie as Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Phyllis Posnick, Coco Rocha, Bee Shaffer, Ivan Shaw, Jane Thompson and others. This film described the process of creating the thickest September edition in 2007 that consisted of 840 pages and weighed approximately 5 pounds. The main conflicts are between Anna Wintour and a creative director Grace Coddington who can resist to the editor-in-chief. Maybe they confront, because they have started working together in one day. Nevertheless, Grace admits Anna’s talent to find the new tendencies in fashion while Anna admires of Anna’s professionalism. In the end, many ideas of Grace are approved by Anna for the September edition.
After that, it was only one another huge issue with 916 pages, also released in September, but in 2012 to celebrate 120th anniversary of Vogue. American post and delivery services were indignant at its weight and refused to deliver it to the readers.
In 2012 people have seen another book Vogue: The Editor's Eye and the documentary In Vogue: The Editor's Eye. At that time, Vogue celebrated its 120th anniversary. The interviews of the following editors were used in the film as Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Tonne Goodman, Hamish Bowles and Phyllis Posnick. Among the famous actors, you can see Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Nicole Kidman and others.
Since 2013 Anna Wintour obtains two posts: artistic director at Conde Nast as well as editor-in-chief of Vogue.
Vogue video channel is available since 2013 at Video.Vogue.co. There you can watch such genres as Art, Beauty, Fashion, Fashion Week, Film & TV, Health & Fitness, How-To, Magazine, Music, Parties, Theatre, Travel & Lifestyle. If you are interested, you can find the following series as The Met Gala, Born Free, Vogue Original Shorts, Miranda’s Garden, Model Wall, Vogue Stylists, Vogue Diaries, Vogue in Motion etc. (Video.Vogue.com)
There are two websites of fashion encyclopedias, hosted by Vogue since 2011. In the United States it is The Voguepedia that consists of archival materials of American issues, and can be fulfilled only by magazine’s staff. In Italia, it is The VogueEncyclo that can be fulfilled by anybody.
Only a few men appeared on the cover of Vogue. First in November 1992 Richard Gere was with Cindy Crawford, then in June 2000 George Clooney with Gisele Bündchen. Then in 8 years LeBron James appeared on the Vogue cover with Gisele Bündchen. Ryan Lochte with Hope Solo and Serena Williams were nominated for cover shoot in June 2012. And Kanye West with Kim Kardashian appeared in March this year.
Nowadays Vogue is publish in the following countries and is served by such editors: United States (Anna Wintour), United Kingdom (Alexandra Shulman), France (Emmanuelle Alt), Spain (Yolanda Sacristán), Italy (Franca Sozzani), Germany (Christiane Arp), Cuba, New Zealand, Australia (Edwina McCann), Ukraine (Masha Tsukanova), Turkey (Seda Domaniç), Thailand (Kullawit Laosuksri), India (Priya Tanna), The Netherlands (Karin Swerink), China (Angelica Cheung), Japan (Anna Dello Russo), Portugal (Paula Mateus), Brazil (Daniela Falcão), Greece (Vlatko Bescu), Mexico and Latin America (Kelly Talamas), Taiwan (Rosalie Huang), Russia (Victoria Davydova), Argentina (Eva Hughes) and South Korea (Myung Hee Lee). Every country wants to make its magazine exclusive.
“In 1916, when the First World War made impossible Vogue deliveries to the Old World, the printing was started in England (Condenast.ru).” British Vogue is the most profitable magazine in Britain and the most profitable edition except American version. Only in 2007 English Vogue printed 2020 pages of the advertisements.
Later Nast released this magazine in Spain, then in Italy and then in France in 1920. (Condenastinternational.com)
Russian Vogue started its history in 1998, when there was an economic crisis in Russia. Such international glossy magazine has brought something new into Russian fashion industry. The following well-known photographers worked for the magazine in this country, as Paolo Roversi, Helmut Newton, Steven Mizel and Peter Lindberg. Everybody heard about such famous top-models, whose photos were on the Russian Vogue covers, like Naomi Campbell, Claudia Shiffer, Cindy Crawford and Natalya Vodyanova. “Every June since 2001 during the Moscow International Film Festival Vogue gives its Award for Best Styling in a movie.” (Condenast.ru)
Vogue in China was published in 2005. Condé Nast International did not accept an Arabic issue of the magazine and rejected it in 2007. Vogue in India was announced in 2007. In Turkey, it was announced just in 2010. The twentieth edition was released in Ukraine in 2013 with partner UMH Group.
The 2nd Fashion's Night Out was held on the 5th of March, 2010 in Paris, where Vogue’s editors-in-chief from different countries took part. “International projects such as Fashion's Night Out, also conceived and carried out by editions of Vogue, provide strong promotional and fund-raising platforms, engaging fashion lovers with local charities around the globe (Condenastinternational.com).
In 2011, the cover of Vogue caused many discussions, because there was a picture of the famous actress 62 years old, Meryl Streep. This magazine was the first one that placed a photo of the woman of such age, while women for covers of the glamour magazines were not older, than 30 years.
Vogue was also the first fashion magazine that placed a photo of a dark-skinned model on its cover. And that was now well-known model, Naomi Campbell.
Many companies, boutiques and agencies want to cooperate with Vogue; photographers want their pictures to be printed in its issues; models and famous people want to appear on its pages, and many writers want to write for it. Thus, Vogue readers can find 12 pages article in the September 2013 release about Google Glass. The photos for this feature were shot in Ransom Canyon, Texas.
Nowadays Vogue has more, than 11.4 million print circulations only in the United States of America and more, than 1.2 million visitors of the website every month. This magazine is mostly read by young women 25-45 years old (88%). Total audience is approximately 12.3 million people in the world.
Vogue is not the only magazine, published by Condé Nast Publications. You can also find Men’s Vogue about man’s fashion that launched since 2005, Teen Vogue for teenage girls in America, Vogue Living that launched in 2006 and Vogue Entertaining + Travel that are published in Australia and South Korea only. In Italy, you can find L'uomo Vogue, Vogue Casa and Bambini Vogue while in France there is Vogue Hommes International.
Works cited
Condenast.ru. 'Vogue - History'. N. p., 2009. Web. 20 May. 2014.
Condenastinternational.com. Condé Nast International | About Us | Social Responsibility'. N. p., 2014. Web. 19 May. 2014.
Condenastinternational.com. Condé Nast International | Heritage | History'. N. p., 2014. Web. 19 May. 2014.
M.vogue.com. 'Anna Wintour - Voguepedia'. N. p., 2014. Web. 20 May. 2014.
Nast, Condé. 'About Us | Condé Nast'. Condé Nast. N. p., 2014. Web. 22 May. 2014.
Solidarity-us.org. 'A Cosmetic Cover For Occupation | Solidarity'. N. p., 2014. Web. 20 May. 2014.
Video.vogue.com. 'Vogue Video'. N. p., 2014. Web. 21 May. 2014.
