How a fashion bible bloomed from the mud of the trenches
IT IS the fashion bible no self-respecting socialite would be without, showcasing the height of luxury alongside the most beautiful women in the world.
It may be a surprise to fans of Vogue, then, to learn how its British edition came to life: from the mud and despair of the First World War.
An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery reveals how American Vogue was a favourite among soldiers in the trenches. It was so popular that, in the face of problems importing it, publishers began to produce a British edition.
The intriguing story of its inception a century ago is unveiled in a landmark show featuring the photographs that have cemented its reputation.
Sales figures and an unexpected diary entry revealed how it was not just the women of the day who embraced it. Curators found that the title was in high circulation in the trenches, popu- lar with the ordinary soldier who wanted to escape their harsh reality.
Robin Muir, curator of the exhibition, said that sales of the imported American
Vogue, at 4,000 copies a month in 1914, quadrupled by 1916.
“American Vogue’s editor Edna Woolman Chase said in her memoirs, Always
in Vogue (1954): ‘In the trenches our circulation was second only to the Satur
day Evening Post, but I suppose it was natural. Vogue is about women and their frills and furbelows; it is a vastly different diet from mud and uniforms, boredom and death.’”
Mr Muir said: “The sales were astronomically big, partly because there was nothing else quite like it. It’s entirely possible that it could have had an audience in the trenches. People wanted to give the men memories of home, as they faced death by bayonet the next day.”
He added that there was likely to have been a “certain pin-up element” to its appeal as well, with pages of glamorous women to peruse.