Contribution of Vogue Magazine to Women's Fashion - Research Paper Example

Research Study: Vogue Magazine One of the most iconic and probably the most influential publications that shaped society, fashion, and the women’s revolution are the rise of fashion magazines. While initially published during the second half of the 19th century to provide tips on household duties, etiquette, as well as Parisian fashion for American women, women’s magazines eventually evolved into a vehicle that is able to let its readers interact not just with the editors and publishers of the magazine, but also with other readers as well (Hill 1). Among the well-known and long-living publications are some magazines that not only withstood the tests of time, but also several world wars as well as different eras that reflected the evolving values of women, and such is the case of the establishment and the perpetuation of the magazine Vogue (Tungate 208). Originally published as a magazine for the New York elite in 1892, it has grown to become not just one of the most profitable brands to do business with due to the appeal to many women, but also launched and still launches some of the trendiest fashion styles that the world follows suit (Gribbin 417). While in recent times the advancement of technology brought problems such as the recession of the publication industry due to the rise of internet-based written media, Vogue has been able to make most out of this in order to stay on the top of the most read magazines, going as far as releasing digital versions of the magazine to keep in touch with their readers (Givhan). Thus, even if there were numerous setbacks and crises that could have shut the magazine publication down, the success of Vogue can be attributed to its strong influence with regards to fashion and advertising, the skills of its owner and editors, as well as the impact that the whole publication has on its readers, making it one of the US and the world’s most well-known and well-read magazine even after celebrating its one hundred years of existence. Vogue had its beginnings from a conceptualization of a New York socialite, Arthur Baldwin Turnure of producing a gazette made specifically for the most wealthy and elite, and even the sponsors were also powerful and rich people at the turn of the 19th century (Gribbin 417; Hill 6). In the beginning however, the magazine has content that targeted both men and women alike, and even showcases the most stylish fashion for all the target audiences. There were also much more advertisements than the actual published articles, making it look more like a catalog of merchants and their wares than a collection of written works. However, a few years after being established, the publication brought much more attention to dressing up the women properly, especially after knowing that the magazine reaches far and wide, not just the elite but also the middle-class and the working-class (Tungate 208). The magazine also sold some clothing patterns that many readers could follow to make their own dresses, so that they could also become trendy despite being far away from the fashion scene of the bygone era. Vogue was also able to showcase the latest in Parisian fashion, which was very influential from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, thus serving the women much more than the men, since the women’s styles in clothing changed more often than men. However, the magazine was only able to shine and grow bigger after it was bought by Conde Nast in 1909, some years after the original owner Turnure suddenly died (Hill 10). Nast put much more emphasis on advertising, not just showing the latest fashion trends so as to generate large revenues for the publication. This formula was able to bring Vogue not just at the top of the game in the fashion industry, but also in the publishing industry as well, and this has enabled the magazine to flourish and sustain itself well over a hundred years since its first release. Currently, Vogue is the flagship magazine of Samuel I. “Si” Newhouse’s Advance Publications, a major publisher of several top-selling titles such as Vanity Fair, Allure, Architectural Digest, among others (Pasiuk 66). The publication company not only releases the titles within the US, but also has other outposts in other large cities in the world, such as London and Paris. Thus the sphere of influence of Vogue and other sister publications had already reached other readers worldwide. The editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour has been one of the magazine’s longest, second only to Edna Chase and her 56-years of reign (Gribbin 419). Since becoming the editor-in-chief in 1988, Wintour has been maintaining a relationship with roughly 1.2 million readers, as well as being on top of fashion by keeping in touch with many large and well-known brands, such as GAP, Dior and Versace (Givhan). This not only gave the magazine as much as $390 million in revenue, but also helped in funding many projects and other charity work. Despite keeping up with other well-known competing titles such as Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie-Claire and Glamour, a sister publication, Vogue was able to sell itself as it was a magazine that purely and only sold fashion, whereas the magazine’s other competitors where more on serving the lifestyle needs of their readers (Tungate 216). Thus, while the recession and the advancement of technological media did hit most publishing houses rather hard, while itself not being fully immune to it, since many people are still interested in knowing the fashion trends across the globe, Vogue was able to endure the tough times, even having as much as 11.5 million audiences in print, as well as having 1.5 million online readers each month on average (Conde Nast). The changes that were observed in the magazine were all due to the changes that also happened in the society during the past century. For one, when Vogue started, it mostly dealt with advertising some merchandise, aside from teaching its readers the proper way of dressing up in various occasions, showing them some patterns so that the housewives could also make their own fashionable dresses, as well as in what trends to follow in fashion. However, after the world has already revived itself from two world wars and recessions, the needs of the readers also changed with the magazine’s content (Tungate 215). Not only did fashion and styling became booming industries, but also during this time came the rise of the modeling industry, churning out many fashion icons such as Twiggy, and other well-known models. Also, because it was also able to reach out to other audiences, the magazine’s content not only showcased strictly fashion from European or US designers, but also some other local styles as well, depending on where the magazine is being published. Still, the fact that the magazine was able to mix society, fashion, style, well-known brands as well as powerful icons was one of its selling points, even going as far as being able to dictate the success of the released issues based on who would be on the cover page for the month, or even making the cover girl stand out and become even more well-known (Gribbin 420). Through strong, preferential advertising not just of the brands that pay for it to do so but also by selling itself as an icon to many readers, Vogue has been able to weather major crises as well as stand out as the US and the world’s top fashion book (421). Since the magazine is mostly focusing on the content, which is more on the trends and the who’s who of the fashion industry, it is not surprising that Vogue has mostly neutral content. Unless the cover girl is a woman of power or is in politics in some way, like Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton, the magazine just mostly focuses on advertising high-end brands of clothing apparel or cosmetics. While its editor-in-chief, Wintour does have strong affiliations with many women in politics, she does not bring this into the magazine itself, stating that she is very explicit in her choice of not bringing along the name of the company into her own political doings and preferences (Givhan). This even gives her another role, as an ambassador of some sort from the fashion industry to the world of politics, but nevertheless prevents the magazine and the publication company from getting tainted by anything related to politics, or things unrelated to the fashion industry. In totality, in the timeline of women’s magazines, it cannot be denied that Vogue had a major influence in how women see fashion. During the publication’s beginnings as a reading material for the elite, up to its renovation into a magazine that is able to bring in new ideas of dressing up and self-expressing through clothes with coordinated hair and make-up, the magazine has come a long way into becoming a strong icon not just for women, but for most of its readers across the globe. Some major setbacks and problems did come to nearly prevent the proliferation of the magazine, like two world wars and many recessions, however the publication was able to overcome them all, and even surviving after a hundred years from its first release. While the modern age was able to globalize the profound influence of the fashion industry, it cannot be helped that the magazine would be similarly-affected much like the other publications such as newspapers and gazettes, but by revamping the way in which information is released to a wider audiences, Vogue was able to overcome the problems of other print media by going online, and by doing so it was able to increase its revenue, aside from remaining as one of the top-selling magazines in circulation. This goes to show that the combined creativity and the ability to follow trends by both the publisher and the editor-in-chief helped the magazine to undergo some needed changes, which eventually enabled it to remain as one of the icons that many people look up to and refer as the leaders in the global fashion industry. Works Cited Read More