Vogue Text

CONTEXT:
❖ Vogue is a monthly women’s fashion magazine. The original American magazine was
launched by Arthur Turnure in 1892. Since 1909 it has been published by Conde Nast.
❖ The British edition of Vogue was launched in 1916.
❖ The set edition is from July 1965 and features Sophia Loren on the front cover who is
an Italian film actress and singer dressed as a Turkish dancer from a scene from a new
film.
❖ Conde Nast International publishes 143 magazines including Vogue/GQ and Glamour.
Their reputation is rooted in creating excellent, exciting content that is engaging,
visually arresting and often ground-breaking and which is now available to an even
wider audience across multiple media channels.
❖ Conde Nast did not own any printing plants in the UK, although it did own a printing
company in the USA. However, its long-term contract with the Sun Engraving Company
gave it access to some of the highest quality printing presses in the country. Having
the means to produce high quality colour images was particularly important for Vogue
which, as an upmarket fashion magazine aimed at a niche audience, depended on
advertising for much of its revenue.
❖ Since 1959, Conde Nast has been owned by the American media company Advance
Publications which was originally a newspaper publisher. It diversified during the 60’s
moving into other industries such as magazine publishing and broadcasting and
through horizontal integration acquired a number of television stations and
magazines. This process established them as a powerful media conglomerate.
❖ British Vogue was launched during the height of World War 1. Vogues mandate is to
“champion bold, fearless women”. British Vogue continued production with the break
out of the Second World War in order to “boost moral”.
❖ The rise of consumerism in the 1960’s: as wartime austerity gave way to a new era of
economic prosperity, women’s magazines were seen to enter a new phase of shop and
spend.
❖ Cultural revolution: the emergence of new trends in music, fashion and films meant
Britain was at the centre of the “swinging 60’s”.
❖ The sexual revolution: the 60’s signified a new era of female liberation. One of the most
significant factors in this regard was the introduction to the contraceptive pill in the
early part of the decade. Legislative changes such as the revision to the Married
Women’s Property Act of 1964 enabled women to gain a greater degree of financial
independence than ever before.
❖ Employment: women were beginning to be better educated, going to university and
getting jobs. However, working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive,
possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. It is often implied that working
mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of emotional neglect of their children.
❖ Women’s magazines: the diversity of the genre means that it has a very broad
repertoire of elements including health and beauty/ fashion/ relationships/ recipes
and horoscopes.
❖ Vogue relies on a dual revenue stream from the vast advertisements in their
publications and the returning readership that produce a repeat purchase of the
magazine.
REPRESENTATIONS:
❖ Women’s magazines convey messages to the reader about who they are expected
to be and what it means to be a woman, both through the content they carry and
representations they offer.
❖ The advice and guidance that women’s magazines provide on various aspects of
female identity, from fashion and beauty to sex and relationships, can be seen to
have a significant effect in this regard. Readers are generally instructed on how to
look, think and behave. An example is the ‘agony aunt’ who features in problem
pages and dispense advice to the audience. They are typically constructed as
reassuring yet authoritative figures whose opinions readers are positioned to defer
to.
❖ The domestic sphere stereotypically constructed the image of a ‘happy housewife’
who looked after the home and family while her husband went out to work was
especially prominent in the 60’s. By constructing domesticity as a feminine ideal,
Vogue can be seen as reasserting the importance of traditional gender roles.
❖ While many magazines continued to reinforce the message of women’s place being
in the home, others offered more progressive representations of gender, reflecting
a growing sense of female independence and liberation (travel/ expensive makeup
and fashion).
❖ Vogue is a binary opposition to itself through reinforcing gender roles as well as
showing female independence.
❖ Ethnic groups: diversity in ethnicity was constructed in the set product because
travel had become more accessible in the 1960’s, ethnic groups were beginning to
interact more. However, unlike modern Vogue, the set edition represents racial and
ethnic groups as the ‘exotic other’ where they are treated as an object of
fascination and visual pleasure. The foreign aspect would be something for
audiences to aspire to, being able to travel to other countries and meet new
people. This contrasts modern Vogue that focuses on whitewashing on its covers to
appeal to a dominant white female audience, cultivating a white beauty myth.
Tokenism is also used to convey an impression of equality and inclusivity.
❖ Beauty: women’s magazines continue to reiterate the need to “be more beautiful”.
They force their readers to aspire to look like exquisite models and then provide
them with the necessary tools to achieve the ‘desired look’.
❖ Readers are constantly encouraged to scrutinise and evaluate their own
appearance, measuring themselves against the ideals of beauty that the magazines
construct. Therefore, rather than simply promoting self-confidence and helping
readers to overcome any insecurities they already have, its often suggested that
women’s magazines play an instrumental role in creating and instilling these
anxieties.
❖ This can be seen to purely be a commercial purpose for the magazine to invite
audiences to buy various products as well as the magazine. By turning readers into
consumers, the magazines are able to keep their advertisers happy.
❖ Readers are also invited to prove or demonstrate their femininity by participating
in the rituals of beautification. Femininity is something seen to be constantly
worked at. If the reader fails to invest the necessary time, money and effort into her
 physical appearance she runs the risk of losing her femininity. This is seen to be a
need in order to win ‘male approval’.

SET PRODUCT ANALYSIS:

❖ FRONT PAGE: Masthead is super-imposed over Sophia = brand identity needs to be
built up further to become even more iconic as a recognisable brand. Serif
typography connotes wealth of magazine and the high-quality mode of address of
Vogue.
❖ Coverline: “marvellous mad midsummer sand swim sea sun sheiks Sophia and how
to scintillate almost anywhere even a picnic”. Serif typography links to masthead and
iconography of Vogue representing their wealth. Unconventional of a magazine to
only have one coverline linking to the interest of the arts and fashion of the 1960’s
and the utopian idea of images over text. There is juxtaposition within the coverline.
It is written formally to appeal to the preferred, educated audience of Vogue
however, the lack of correct grammar connotes a sloppiness to cover and the lack of
time taken choosing the coverline. Alliteration and hyperbolic language are used to
exaggerate to the audience and the use of “scintillate” (to sparkle/shine) anchors to
Sophia on the cover.
❖ Main Image: high-class bright outfit that represents both the wealth of Sophia Loren
but also the wealth of Vogue being able to represent her on the cover. Sophia is
used an aspirational figure to female readers. Visual codes contrast the idea of the
female revolution of the 1960’s by representing her as an object of fascination. The
act of voyeurism could put off audiences if they feel they cannot obtain the look.
High-key lighting links to the high-class MOA/ brightens her face and uses this as a
selling point.
❖ House style: turquoise/green colour scheme links to the context of the 1960’s
through enticing, bright colours as well as representing summer sea.
❖ CONTENTS PAGE: features fashion and beauty, travel, food, entertainment, money
and art.
❖ REVLON ADVERT: presents a ‘drawn’ image of female with bright eye makeup which
is the focus of the advert as Revlon sets out a ‘step to step guide’ of “the applied art
of eye-making”. The model looks like a painting, symbolising women should
represent themselves as something to be gazed upon through their makeup. There is
a lack of reality within the advert picture, suggesting Revlon is creating a utopia for
women however, it could also represent the ongoing female oppression and how
women were inclined to make themselves more feminine and available to men. The
copy uses phrases such as: “here are the secrets to make your eyes make history for
you!” / “positively alluring!” / “don’t wait another minute”. The advert uses
exaggeration as a hook to draw women in to buying the products, where it could be
seen as a forceful call to action rather than a guide.
❖ CUTEX ADVERT: similarly, to Revlon, the dominant part of the advert page is a main
image of a model. However, this model is posed in a seductive manner to link to the
context of the advert “bare essentials”. She has been hyper-sexualised to draw in a
male audience but also females to make themselves look like her. There is a
predominant pink colour scheme linking to stereotypical female identities. The
advert states: “this summer don’t go out without the bare essentials” / “they’re just
 barely decent” / “are you women enough to wear them?”. The advert sexualises the
lipsticks to make women believe they need to wear it to draw in men. Furthermore,
the use of questioning a women’s femininity links to old stereotypes of females and
oppresses the idea of the women’s sexual liberation.
❖ IMPERIAL LEATHER ADVERT: dominant main image of female holding her son,
looking down upon him with high-key lighting over his face to represent the miracle
of life. This links directly to the domestic sphere that women were trying to break
free of at the time, away from being housewives and child bearers. “you want skin
that feels soft….soft as a child’s.”
❖ PICNICS ARTICLE: large black and white main image of males and females enjoying a
picnic. The image shows how everyone is being equally represented by all sitting
together however, one female is still serving a man. The article is seen as a high-class
utopia with the next sixteen pages “only for addicts” / “the clothes to wear
scintillatingly at each of them” / “of course this male-female contrast isn’t strictly
confined to England”.
❖ EGYPTIAN NILE TRAVEL: the page is a pure main image of a white model on a boat
on the river Nile interacting with other cultures. However, the model and her
partner are wearing designer outfits and sitting on one side of the boat, separated
from the Egyptian rower, insinuating a divide. “shimmering seductive silk tunic” /
“Nile picnic prepared by the New Winter Palace Hotel, Luxor”. There has often been
a lack of racial and ethnic diversity in women’s magazines, with white women
predominantly featuring. The idea of tokenism could be seen in this page as a way of
suggesting an impression of equality and inclusivity. Alternatively, like in this page, it
highlights the male as the exotic other, which is a fascination or pleasure derived
from the perceived “foreign” aspect. because travel had become more accessible,
ethnic groups were beginning to interact more. However, unlike modern Vogue, the
set edition represents racial and ethnic groups as an exotic other = treated as an
object of fascination and visual pleasure. The foreign aspect would be something for
audiences to aspire to, being able to travel to other countries and meet new people.
This contrasts modern Vogue that focuses on whitewashing on its covers to appeal
to a dominant white female audience = cultivating a white beauty myth. Tokenism is
also used to convey an impression of equality and inclusivity.
❖ HEATWAVE ARTICLE: this represents the changing status of women being able to
earn their own income and use it how they please. There was an increasing interest
in foreign travel for the wealthy in the 1960’s, where models on these pages
represent a utopian world away from the norms of life.

INDUSTRY:
❖ Conde Nast remained highly competitive in other sectors of the consumer magazine
market during the 1960’s. It was one of the first publishers to launch international
editions of its magazines. While Vogue was originally an American publication, a
British edition of the magazine was launched in 1916. Conde Nast did not own any
printing plants in the UK, only in the US. However, its long-term contract with the Sun
Engraving Company gave it access to some of the highest quality printing presses in
the country. This was extremely important to Vogue as an upmarket fashion magazine
aimed at a niche audience that depended on advertising for much of its revenue.
 ❖ Since 1959, Conde Nast has been owned by the American media company Advance
Publications which was originally a newspaper publisher before diversifying in the
1960’s. this horizontal integration allowed them to become a powerful media
conglomerate.

REGULATION:
❖ In the 1960’s the Monopolies Commission ensured consumers were not adversely
effected by the emergence of monopolies.
❖ Unlike in the 1960’s, there is now an Editors Code so that magazines and
newspapers that belong to the IPSO are required to abide by their rules.

AUDIENCES:
❖ Preferred: females/20-35/wealthy middle-class/ aspirers, look up to models in magazine
and want to be like them so will buy the products shown to construct an identity similar
to theirs/ explorers as the 60s were a time of cultural revolution they would like the
introduction of new ideas found in Vogue such as travel and beauty.
❖ Negotiated: 16-19 will aspire to magazine but won’t have disposable income to
purchase high end brands/ the resigned like traditional values, so Vogue conforming to
gender stereotypes will entice them but they won’t be interested in materialistic items
that are advertised/ reformers like social justice, and in some aspects Vogue is moving
away from traditional female values so will interest them but will be deterred from the
use of stereotyping.
❖ Oppositional: males who don’t want to be the provider of money for expensive clothes
and beauty/ strugglers as they won’t have enough disposable income to purchase the
magazine let alone buy the products inside.

THEORIES:
❖ CULTIVATION: the long-term exposure of repeated patterns of stereotypical female
representations continued to support the ideological view of women being below
men. Vogue supports this in the set product though their consistent sexist
advertising, however, this was Vogues primary source of revenue suggesting if they
didn’t have to advertise as much, maybe they would represent a different kind of
female identity.
❖ IDENTITY: Vogue represents singular and straightforward ways for females to
construct themselves through appearance and behaviour.
❖ HYPODERMIC SYRINGE: adverts in Vogue act as call to actions for audiences to
purchase products by enforcing their messages through their descriptions like
Revlon.