Vogue France (stylised in all caps) is the French edition of Vogue magazine, formerly called Vogue Paris from its inception until 2021. The magazine started publication in 1920 and has since been regarded as one of the top fashion publications.

Vogue France
100th Anniversary cover (October 2021)
Head of Editorial ContentEugénie Trochu
CategoriesFashion
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherCondé Nast
Paid circulation904,332
Total circulation
(2022)
907,526[1]
First issueApril 1920
CountryFrance
Based inParis
LanguageFrench
Websitevogue.fr
ISSN0750-3628

History

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1920–54

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Cover of Vogue Paris (April 1922)

The French edition of Vogue was first issued on 15 June 1920,[2] the first editor-in-chief being Cosette de Brunhoff (1886–1964).[3] Her brother, Michel de Brunhoff [fr] (1892–1958) took over and was editor-in-chief from 1929 until 1954.[4] Duchess Solange d'Ayen (1898–1976) was a fashion editor of Vogue[5] from the late 1920s[6][7] until the early 1940s.[5][8]

Under Edmonde Charles-Roux (1954–66)

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Edmonde Charles-Roux (1920–2016), who had previously worked at Elle and France-Soir,[9] became the magazine’s editor-in-chief in 1954.[10] Charles-Roux was a great supporter of Christian Dior's "New Look", of which she later said, "It signalled that we could laugh again - that we could be provocative again, and wear things that would grab people's attention in the street."[10] In August 1956, the magazine issued a special ready-to-wear (prêt-à-porter) issue, signaling a shift in fashion's focus from couture production.[11]

She was dismissed from Vogue in 1966, as the result of a conflict for wanting to place black model Donyale Luna on the cover of the magazine.[12][13] When later asked about her departure, Charles-Roux refused to confirm or deny this account.[14] A black model on the cover of French Vogue did not come until 1988 when Naomi Campbell was featured on the cover.[15]

1968–2000: Crescent, Pringle, and Buck

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Francine Crescent (1933–2008), whose editorship would later be described as prescient,[16] daring,[17] and courageous,[18] took the helm of French Vogue in 1968.[19] Under her leadership, the magazine became the global leader in fashion photography.[20] Crescent gave Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, the magazine's two most influential photographers, complete creative control over their work.[16][20] During the 1970s, Bourdin and Newton competed to push the envelope of erotic and decadent photography;[21] the "prone and open-mouthed girls of Bourdin" were pitted against the "dark, stiletto-heeled, S&M sirens of Newton".[16] At times, Bourdin's work was so scandalous that Crescent "laid her job on the line" to preserve his artistic independence.[18] The two photographers greatly influenced the late-20th-century image of womanhood[17] and were among the first to realize the importance of image, as opposed to product, in stimulating consumption.[16] Through the power photography within fashion both Bourdin and Newton were able to create new avenues within the world of fashion as well as advance the image of Vogue.

 
Cover of Vogue Paris, October 1980

By the late 1980s, however, Newton and Bourdin's star power had faded, and the magazine was "stuck in a rut".[22] Colombe Pringle replaced Crescent as the magazine's editor-in-chief in 1987.[23] Under Pringle’s watch, the magazine recruited new photographers such as Peter Lindbergh (1944–2019) and Steven Meisel, who developed their signature styles in the magazine’s pages.[22] Even still, the magazine struggled, remaining dull and heavily reliant on foreign stories.[24] When Pringle left the magazine in 1994, word spread that her resignation had been forced.[25]

Joan Juliet Buck, an American, was named Pringle's successor effective 1 June 1994.[26] Her selection was described by The New York Times as an indication that Conde Nast intended to "modernize the magazine and expand its scope" from its circulation of 80,000.[26] Buck's first two years as editor-in-chief were extremely controversial; many employees resigned or were fired, including the magazine's publishing director and most of its top editors.[25][27] Though rumors circulated in 1996 that the magazine was on the verge of a shutdown,[25] Buck persevered; during her editorship, the magazine’s circulation ultimately increased 40 percent.[28] Buck remade the magazine in her own cerebral image,[27] tripling the amount of text in the magazine and devoting special issues to art, music, literature, and science.[27] Juliet Buck announced her decision to leave the magazine in December 2000, after her return from a two-month leave of absence.[28] The Sydney Morning Herald later compared her departure, which took place during Milan's fashion week, to the firing of a football coach during a championship game.[29] Carine Roitfeld, who had been the magazine's creative director,[28] was named as Buck's successor the next April.[30]

Under Carine Roitfeld (2001–2011)

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Roitfeld aimed to restore the magazine's place as a leader in fashion journalism (the magazine "hadn't been so good" since the 1980s, she said[31]) and to [restore] its French identity.[32] Her appointment, which coincided with the ascendance of young designers at several of the most important Paris fashion houses, "brought a youthful energy" to the magazine.[31] By April 2002, she had rid the magazine of foreign staffers, making it "all French for the first time in many years".[30] The magazine also underwent a redesign by the Paris-based design firm M/M (Paris).[32] It aimed to make the title appear more hand-crafted and organic, particularly through the use of collage and hand-drawn fonts. Continuity was created through the use of loose theming for each issue, smooth pacing, and visual uniformity in the shopping pages.[32]

The magazine’s aesthetic evolved to resemble Roitfeld's (that is, "svelte, tough, luxurious, and wholeheartedly in love with dangling-cigarette, bare-chested fashion").[33] Roitfeld has periodically drawn criticism for the magazine's use of sexuality and humor, which she employs to disrupt fashion's conservatism and pretension.[31] Roitfeld's Vogue is unabashedly elitist, "unconcerned with making fashion wearable or accessible to its readers".[33] Models, not actresses promoting movies, appear on its cover.[33] Its party pages focus on the magazine's own staff, particularly Roitfeld and her daughter Julia Restoin Roitfeld.[33] Its regular guest-editorships are given to it-girls like Kate Moss, Sofia Coppola, and Charlotte Gainsbourg.[33] According to The Guardian, "what distinguishes French Vogue is its natural assumption that the reader must have heard of these beautiful people already. And if we haven't? The implication is that that's our misfortune, and the editors aren't about to busy themselves helping us out."[34] Advertising revenue rose 60 percent in 2005, resulting in the best year for ad sales since the mid-1980s.[31] On 17 December 2010, Carine announced her departure from Vogue Paris effective 31 January 2011.[35]

Under Emmanuelle Alt (2011–2021)

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On 7 January 2011, it was announced that Emmanuelle Alt, who had been the magazine fashion director for the last 10 years, would become the new editor-in-chief effective February 1.[36]

Under Eugénie Trochu and rebranding (2021–present)

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Eugénie Trochu was appointed as the Head of Editorial Content for Vogue Paris on 6 September 2021.[37] The first issue under her leadership was November 2021 featuring Aya Nakamura on the cover.[38] This was also the first issue of the magazine to be branded as Vogue France after 101 years as Vogue Paris.[39]

Circulation

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Total Circulation (France and internationally)[1]
Year 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Circulation 1,515,618 1,473,076 1,404,506 1,324,600 1,159,835 1,085,704 1,023,330 667,340 953,973 907,526 912,780

Editors

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Editor Start year End year Ref.
Editor-in-Chief
edited from the USA 1920 1922 [40]
Cosette Vogel 1922 1927
Mainbocher 1927 1929
Michel de Brunhoff [fr] 1929 1954 [40]
Edmonde Charles-Roux 1954 1966 [40]
Françoise de Langlade 1966 1968 [40]
Francine Crescent 1968 1986 [40]
Colombe Pringle [fr] 1987 1994
Joan Juliet Buck 1994 2001 [28]
Carine Roitfeld 2001 2011 [35]
Emmanuelle Alt 2011 2021 [36]
Head of Editorial Content
Eugénie Trochu 2021 present [37]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Vogue France - ACPM". www.acpm.fr. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  2. ^ Davis, Mary E. Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism. University of California Press (2006), p. 203. ISBN 0-520-24542-3.
  3. ^ Rook, Penelope (2017). "Fashion Photography and Photojournalism: Posing the Body in Vu". Fashion Theory. 21 (2): 131–156. doi:10.1080/1362704X.2017.1256965. ISSN 1362-704X. S2CID 193655011. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  4. ^ Dominique Veillon (1 October 2002). Fashion Under the Occupation. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-85973-548-0. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  5. ^ a b d'Ayen, Solange (15 October 1940). "Letter from France". Vogue. pp. 114–115. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023. This is a letter from the Duchesse d'Ayen, fashion editor of French Vogue, who is temporarily living in Unoccupied France.
  6. ^ Paccaud, Emmanuelle (19 February 2023). "La presse magazine comme espace médiatique transatlantique | Pratiques éditoriales et représentations des rédacteurs en chef de Vogue et Vanity Fair (1914-1942)". Belphégor. Littérature Populaire et Culture Médiatique (in French) (19–2). doi:10.4000/belphegor.4179. S2CID 246101666. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023. Solange d'Ayen, rédactrice de mode pour Vogue français depuis la fin des années 1920
  7. ^ de Noailles, Solange (1 April 1928). "The Coast of Azure and Gold". Vogue. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  8. ^ Ronald, Susan (3 September 2019). Condé Nast: The Man and His Empire. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 80. ISBN 9781250180025.
  9. ^ (in French) "Edmonde Charles-Roux". Les Échos (5 November 2007).
  10. ^ a b Philips, Ian. "The Look that shocked the world". The Independent (11 February 1997).
  11. ^ (in French) Sanchez, Anne-Cécile. "Et Saint Laurent aima la femme" Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Le Point (11 January 2002).
  12. ^ (in French) Edmonde Charles-Roux Archived 30 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine - Bernard-Henri Lévy website
  13. ^ Horwell, Veronica (25 January 2016). "Edmonde Charles-Roux obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  14. ^ Kerwin, Jessica. "Coco's Cinderella story". W (1 June 2005).
  15. ^ "The groundbreaking Black models who changed fashion · V&A". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d Furniss, Jo-Ann. "The image-maker". The Independent (22 March 2003).
  17. ^ a b Pitman, Joanna. "The man with ad extras". The Times (5 February 2002).
  18. ^ a b Pitman, Joanna. "Bonfire of the vanities" Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. The Times (23 April 2003).
  19. ^ (in French) Martin-Bernard, Frédéric. "Guy Bourdin, photographe hors mode". Le Figaro (5 July 2004).
  20. ^ a b Pitman, Joanna. "Non-stop erotic cabaret". The Times (8 May 2001).
  21. ^ Braunstein, Peter. "Shoot to chill". W (1 October 2001).
  22. ^ a b Jobey, Liz. "A woman of taste and influence". The Independent (8 May 1994).
  23. ^ Colapinto, John. "You'll think I'm a madman" Archived 5 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian (May 27, 2007).
  24. ^ Muir, Kate. "An American in Paris fashion". The Times (4 May 1994).
  25. ^ a b c Daswani, Kavita. "Out of vogue". South China Morning Post (4 February 1996).
  26. ^ a b "French Vogue names editor" Archived 21 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times (11 April 1994).
  27. ^ a b c "How two Americans shook up French 'Vogue'". CNN Business Unusual (8 May 1999). Transcript via LexisNexis.
  28. ^ a b c d Horyn, Cathy. "Front row: New home for the best-dressed list? De Niro's dresser now has a store -- Editor of French Vogue calls it quits." Archived 21 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times (12 December 2000).
  29. ^ Wilson, Catherine. "Strictly black and white". Sydney Morning Herald (17 November 2001).
  30. ^ a b Trebay, Guy. "She's the face of fashion, and its prophet" Archived 8 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times (16 April 2002).
  31. ^ a b c d Healy, Murray. "We're French! We smoke, we show flesh, we have a lot of freedom" Archived 16 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine. The Observer (25 February 2007).
  32. ^ a b c "M/M make Vogue human" Archived 27 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Creative Review (2 June 2003).
  33. ^ a b c d e Larocca, Amy. "The anti-Anna" Archived 10 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine. New York Magazine (25 February 2008).
  34. ^ Patrick O'Connor. "Un bon anniversaire". The Guardian (4 December 1995).
  35. ^ a b "Carine Roitfeld quitte Vogue Paris". Le Figaro. 17 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  36. ^ a b Emmanuelle Alt new French Vogue editor-in-chief Archived 10 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine - Vogue UK, 7 January 2011
  37. ^ a b "Eugénie Trochu is appointed Head of Editorial Content, Vogue Paris". Vogue France (in French). 6 September 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  38. ^ Champenois, Sabrina. "Avec Aya Nakamura, "Vogue France" prend la vague". Libération (in French). Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  39. ^ Fraser, Kristopher (28 October 2021). "Vogue Paris rebrands as Vogue France". FashionUnited. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  40. ^ a b c d e Vogue Paris p.110 to p.118 - October 2021 (in French)
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