A glittering official history of British Vogue, telling the magazine’s story from the first issue in 1916 right up to the present day, written with exclusive access to the Vogue archives.
British Vogue has always been far more than just a fashion magazine. For more than a century it has defined the tastes and style of successive generations, playing a leading role in the continuing story of Britain’s national identity, and covering the arts, politics, health, travel and much more in addition to the fashion pages. It is an institution and a character in its own right. Now, for the very first time, the fascinating and glamorous history of British Vogue is told in full.
Founded in 1916, British Vogue has forged its own path from the very start. From the trauma and austerity of two world wars through to the freedom of the swinging Sixties, the rise of the supermodel to the groundbreaking editorial direction of Edward Enninful: the magazine’s chameleonic ability to move with the times has ensured its perennial status at the vanguard of British cool.
Beautifully illustrated with exclusive images from the Vogue photographic collections, the book draws on hitherto unseen archives and behind-the-scenes interviews with Vogue insiders including stylist Grace Coddington, editor Alexandra Shulman and fashion editor Lucinda Chambers. This is the story of a legend and the individuals who created (and curated) it, told against the backdrop of an extraordinary century of change, upheaval and beauty.
British Vogue has always been far more than just a fashion magazine. For more than a century it has defined the tastes and style of successive generations, playing a leading role in the continuing story of Britain’s national identity, and covering the arts, politics, health, travel and much more in addition to the fashion pages. It is an institution and a character in its own right. Now, for the very first time, the fascinating and glamorous history of British Vogue is told in full.
Founded in 1916, British Vogue has forged its own path from the very start. From the trauma and austerity of two world wars through to the freedom of the swinging Sixties, the rise of the supermodel to the groundbreaking editorial direction of Edward Enninful: the magazine’s chameleonic ability to move with the times has ensured its perennial status at the vanguard of British cool.
Beautifully illustrated with exclusive images from the Vogue photographic collections, the book draws on hitherto unseen archives and behind-the-scenes interviews with Vogue insiders including stylist Grace Coddington, editor Alexandra Shulman and fashion editor Lucinda Chambers. This is the story of a legend and the individuals who created (and curated) it, told against the backdrop of an extraordinary century of change, upheaval and beauty.
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Reviews
The fashion book of the year has to be British Vogue - the Biography of an Icon by Julie Summers which details the story of the legendary century-old magazine. It's exquisitely illustrated with work from the world's top photographers and the pages are alive with anecdotes and gossip. A history of 20th century fashion, culture and civilisation in one glorious book
This excellent book chronicles the entire history of British Vogue accurately and enthrallingly. It is important, because it records the ever-changing creative climate and cast of characters of a publishing phenomenon, and preserves it all lest it ever be swept away
A gem. Julie's book is a delicious reveal on how gently revolutionary a glossy magazine has been, charting everything from the open acceptance that wildly creative editor Dorothy Todd was living with VOGUE's fashion editor, Madge Garland, to the platonic bond between war correspondent Lee Miller and the editor she could not have survived WW2 without, Audrey Withers. It takes us right up to the modern age and the brilliance of Edward Enninful's editorship when the world was locked down for COVID-19. Every page has some rich and juicy fact I didn't know before....
This is a fascinating book. Impressively researched, full of new insights, and a joy to read, it puts into proper perspective Vogue's unrivalled role, not merely as a fashion magazine, but as a record of British cultural, social and artistic life in the changing world of the 20th and early 2lst centuries. I loved it.
Julie Summers has written the first book to give British Vogue its rightful place at the centre of an impeccably researched biography...always changing and always fascinating