Introduction: In February 2020, our team of seven students from London College of Fashion has come together to work on a project commissioned by Westminster Reference Library based in London. Initially, our project centred on creating a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind indexing database of British Vogue magazines, published from the 1920s and all the way to the 1950s. After a deep dive into the world of what are now considered ‘vintage’ Vogue publications, we have decided to accumulate everything compelling, noteworthy and historically meaningful we have come across during our project. Thus we present The Alphabet of Vogue, separated into the letters V, O, G, U, E, each exploring several key features, individuals, advertisements and locations that Vogue has addressed throughout the three early decades of the 20th century.
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Victorian Era Shortly after the passing of Queen Victoria, Britain was ravaged by two consequent World Wars. It was only instinctive then, after the peace was restored, to look back at what felt familiar politically and socially – that is, to the rule of Queen Victoria. The Victorian era in the 1940s and ’50s became a largely romanticised point of history, which was mimicked in fashion publications at the time, including British Vogue. The looks borrowed from the 1850s prevailed in the late ’40s, with large Victorian skirts and tiny waists being increasingly adapted into circle and swing dresses advertised on the pages of fashion magazines. The most iconic look influenced by the Victorian trends was undoubtedly Christian Dior’s New Look, presented in 1947 and featured continuously on the European pages of Vogue throughout the ’50s. Shortening Victorian skirts and accentuating tiny waists even more, the New Look became the embodiment of the period’s ideas of femininity and grace.
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Vogue Patterns The Vogue Pattern Service began in 1899. Initially sold by mail order, from 1916 patterns could be purchased in department stores. New designs were shown in issues of Vogue, with photos of models wearing the made up outfits, alongside colour illustrations. Each pattern was shown with the variations it could be made in and the fabric you would need to do so. Advertised alongside the patterns in Vogue were the details of fabric suppliers and haberdashers. During the Second World War, under Government advice, Vogue did not close or miss an issue. This was to keep information flowing and allowed people to keep up to date on fashion tips, tricks and what was available during rationing. Vogue sewing patterns allowed readers to make their own garments at home, where one pattern could be used to make several different garments. Vogue patterns are still available today, now printed by Butterick, their designs often hark back to the fashionable silhouettes of the 20th century.
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Vogue Spotlight The Vogue Spotlight features were mentioned in the British Vogue from the early ’40s to the early ’50s and were written by such journalists as Lesley Blanch, Clarissa Churchill, and Sirtol Hugh Jones. Discussing recent plays and films shown in the local cinemas, those features were usually complemented by the beautiful photography of Coffin, Don Honeyman, Hans Wild, and John Deakin. However, this type of writing was not present in every issue of Vogue, likely due to the fact that the production of the magazine outpaced the ever changing cultural programmes. Vogue Spotlight provided the reader not only with the practical information on the upcoming theatrical or cinematic plays, but also with an in-depth insight into the lives of the leading actors as well as the history behind the play itself. The following are the Vogue Spotlight features taken from 1947 March issue of the British Vogue: “Caviar to the General” with Eugene Leontovich, “The beautiful people” with Robert Speaight, “The white devil” with Robert Helpmann and “The barber of Seville” with William Dickie, elder of the Dickie Brothers and Shaves Ian Wallace. As seen in the January 1950 feature of Vogue Spotlight, Vogue also conducted short entertaining Spotlight quizzes for their readers, for instance, “How well do you remember 1949 entertainment?”, which included 12 photographs taken from popular films. This allowed Vogue not only to engage with its readers but to also increase their cultural knowledge. The features of Vogue Spotlight are no longer available today, as Vogue has entirely changed the concept of its magazine.
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Old Bond Street With one of the most expensive postcodes in Europe, Old Bond Street has had a reputation as being a hot-spot for high-end retail since the 18th century. Today, the who’s who in fashion fly their branded flags along the shopfronts of the UK’s most exclusive street. Throughout the first-half of the 20th century, perfumeries, cosmetics and shoe shops were among the many boutiques that lined the street. Amongst these were Elizabeth Arden, Lentherie, Yardley, Martian Jacks and others. At 13 Old Bond Street stood Yardley House, home to one of the oldest cosmetics brands in the world, established in 1770. In British Vogue’s April 1945 issue, Yardley promoted its beauty products. Throughout the final months of WWII, the brand advised its customers to “put your best face forward”! Post-War, post-rations, when cosmetics returned to the shelves, a queue stretched around Yardley’s Old Bond Street flagship as customers rushed to get their hands on their beloved products once again.
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Oxford Street Oxford Street has long been the heart of London’s shopping district with a myriad of stores scattered across its 1.2 miles of shopfronts. Historically, many have taken to the pages of British Vogue to market their brand and products… When Harry Gordon Selfridge opened his namesake department store in 1908 at no.400 Oxford St., the entrepreneur revolutionised the retail experience. Selfridge declared shopping as “for pleasure not necessity” and established an environment, which welcomed unaccompanied women for the first time. To do so, as British Vogue noted in its May Issue of 1939, Selfridges dedicated “A floor for Women - Run by Women!” Between 1920 and 1959, the neighbouring department store Marshall & Snelgrove (334-348 Oxford St.) consistently advertised in British Vogue with a feature cover for the April 1943 Issue. And, at 160 Oxford St. stood S-8 Brand of Hormone Preparations, which offered a hormone treatment to enhance “a firm and shapely bust”!
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Gala Lipstick We came across many adverts for Gala lipstick in the Vogue issues that we indexed. These showed women wearing ball gowns, skirt suits and uniforms, all finishing their outfit with a little colour on the lip. Lip colouring was popular in Britain in the 16th century, when upper class Elizabethan women would wear red coloured beeswax to imitate Queen Elizabeth’s colouring of pale skin and bright red lips. After this fashion ended, it was considered something only worn by actors and prostitutes. It was not fashionable again until the early 20th century. Initially lipsticks were sold in pots and applied with a brush, until the swivel up stick as we know it today was created in 1923. During WWII, rationing and limited supplies made lipsticks scarce, the tubes were swapped from metal to plastic and even paper. For over a hundred years, lipstick has been a stylish way to complete an outfit, as can be seen in Vogue’s Gala adverts.
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Gowns Throughout the first half of the 20th century, formality was still very much the mode. A huge portion of British Vogue’s fashion adverts during this period were focused on selling the most glamourous of eveningwear to England’s upper crust. A stark contrast to mainstream fashion and magazine advertisements today. In the era before the real takeoff of fashion photography, illustrators were hired to sketch and draw these idyllic garments, with female illustrators often going without credit or signing the drawings with a single initial. The exaggerated colour and silhouettes pictured in these illustrations certainly help to sell the dream of the dresses, and also highlight just how dramatically the sought-after female figure fluctuated over the century (take the stick-straight Chanel silhouette of the ’20s and compare it to the dramatically cinched Dior waist of the ’50s, both seen here).
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Undergarments With new fashionable silhouettes came new types of undergarments that were advertised heavily in British Vogue. After World War I, corsets became less restricting than they once had been in the Edwardian Era to provide support for those with fuller figures. Subsequently, breast-flattening bandeau tops became very popular in the era of the “flapper dress”. The ’20s and the ’30s saw a high level of Parisian influence on women’s fashion, with many of Vogue’s articles relating to “lingerie”, which included nightwear along with other undergarments. After, the ’30s and ’40s saw the heavy influence of cinema and cultural exchange with bias cut dresses, elastic fabrics and the increasing popularity and production of “brassieres” (also known as bras), as well as fishnet stockings. Underwiring was introduced to the bra construction in the period of WWII to provide a better lift to the bust. It was also during this time and going into the ’50s that the Torpedo/Bullet style bras came into fashion. Later, Christian Dior’s New Look revived corsets under a significant influence of the Victorian era.
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Uniforms During WWII, women found themselves obligated to enter the workforce, whether serving in the war effort or in society. Followingly, women wore uniforms most of the time, which would typically have been made and tailored for them. This marked an exciting moment, as it demonstrated that from then on women would be able to reach higher on the social ladder than they were previously able to. Typically, these uniforms consisted of a jacket, skirt, blouse and trousers, with the latter being increasingly adopted due to their practicality and warmth for the winter. Most of the Women’s Land Army (the women who worked outside the war) wore a military outfit complete with a green jersey, brown breeches, brown felt hat and a khaki overcoat, worn with pride to represent their support for those fighting on the frontlines. Despite these circumstances, women still took pride in taking care of themselves and their appearance, which was showcased by the way they each modified their uniforms according to their personal styles.
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Utility Clothing The wartime economy and government rationing during wartime was reflected in British Vogue as well as in the fashion of the 1940s as a whole, as shown by the increasing recycling of old clothing and fabrics from household inventory to creating new garments (which Vogue described as, “you must skimp to be chic”) and slimmer silhouettes with cut, nipped waists and fitted skirts, described by Vogue as “sharp, cold and even bold”. The British government introduced the CC41 Label as essentially the fashion version of food rationing, which could only be purchased with coupons and additional money. Clothing had to be well made and conform to the government regulations in order to receive this label. To minimize the usage of fabric, jackets were single breasted, short and often unlined, without cuffs or patch pockets with three buttons at most, while skirts were simplified with a pleat on the front and the back. Clothing was fit for purpose and longevity, hence its high quality and the appearance of such articles in Vogue, as the “Portfolio of Wartime Economies”.
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Wartime Economy In March 1945, British Vogue released an issue, which included a feature on how the war had affected the fashion market, accompanied by a portfolio of wartime economies. Even though Victory day was only two months away at that point, it would have been hard to deny that the economy would need time to recover. And so, Vogue sent a “shophound” to France to report on its current status. As was reported, during the war German occupiers were treating Paris as a holiday destination for the herrenvolk, thereby allowing French brands to continue manufacturing objects of luxury. Followingly, there were more well-equipped luxury dressmakers and jewellers in France than there were in London Nevertheless, necessities were much more expensive and unattainable in France, despite the seeming success of the luxury market. While in Britain, women had access to far superior fabrics, pots, pans and bed-linen, in France silk deficiency had left French girls bare-legged even in winter, since stockings were rare, hopelessly fragile and cost at least £2 a pair. Meanwhile, Vogue offered its readers recommendations for purchases from Allardale, Walpoles, Harrods and Simpson’s - all of which would have been good investments for wartime coupons. Vogue also provided advice on how to use sequins and beads to give freshness and spark to the wardrobe: “Scatter tiny sequins on a black lace blouse and give it life and mysterious sparkle (Press sequins with a cool iron)”. Interestingly, during this time famed hat designer Aage Thaarup moved from Grosvenor St. to Hanover Square, as her previous atelier was damaged by a bombing. Shortage of wood and other restorative materials then led Thaarup to a new and more innovative atelier: “He has devised a decor which is a miracle of ingenuity”. 21
Elite Celebrity culture has certainly changed – but it isn’t new. One hundred years ago, British Vogue was already spotlighting England’s most famous members of the elite (and using them to sell products and hairstyles). The magazine typically featured at least one full-page spread per issue highlighting a female celebrity of the time. This started with members of the English aristocracy in the 1920s and shifted gradually to feature the wives of famous figures in entertainment and politics by the 1950s. While there may not have been celebrities at the scale of those of the 21st century, in the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, readers of Vogue were still chomping at the bit for a look at how the other half lives, so to speak. Cecil Beaton, British Vogue’s most illustrious photographer during this period, is most often credited with the magazine’s images of England’s wealthiest women. These excerpts provide an exceptional view into the daily lives, hobbies and appearances of the upper-class women during this period. Notably, however, only married celebrities were featured in British Vogue over the first half of the 20th century, all of whom were referred to only by their husbands’ full names.
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Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II, born in 1926 and to this day the Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth has had a profound influence on the British media ever since her coronation. On June 2, 1953, Elizabeth II was crowned at the Westminster Abbey, which was the most watched televised event in history at the time. One must not forget that the Queen has always been a fashion icon – the dress she wore for her coronation was designed by Norman Hartnell and made of white satin, embroidered with the emblems of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in gold and silver thread. An entire June 1953 issue of British Vogue was an ode to Elizabeth II and her succession of King George VI, and today it is seen as a collector’s item, which is often sold for more than £100. The issue included, amongst other things, royal portraits photographed by Cecil Beaton, images of the Queen’s maids of honour, an article about fashion between the coronation as well as an illustration by Edward Ardizzone depicting the Coronation scene.
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Mrs. Exeter Witty, critical, fashionable - Mrs. Exeter has become one of, if not the, most iconic fictional characters to have ever emerged on the pages of British Vogue. Originally created and shot by Cecil Beaton in 1948, Vogue’s frequent collaborator, Mrs. Exeter starred on two Vogue covers and featured monthly on the publication’s pages, often illustrated by John Ward. Her columns, titled “Mrs. Exeter does some un-Christmas shopping” and “Mrs. Exeter ponders the London season” quickly cemented themselves as epochal and made Mrs. Exeter one of the most discussed fashion heroines to date. Described as “Approaching 60… a fact she accepts with perfect good humour and reasonableness”, Mrs. Exeter was known for her poise and sharp wit, as she shared her impeccable wisdom with the readers of Vogue on the intricacies of dress, technicalities of sewing and practicalities of trends. Although being lost on the pages of Vogue from 1960s onwards, Mrs. Exeter has luckily never been forgotten, as many petitions still appear after all these years, demanding to bring the iconic, good-humoured and brilliantly dressed fictional fashion expert back to the pages of Vogue.
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Image Captions: Page 2: Pages of Honour to her Magesty The Queen, British Vogue 1953
Page 3: Paris Academy of Dressmaking And Millinery advertisement, British Vogue 1932 Page 5: Vogue France 1947, featuring Christian Dior’s newly introduced New Look Page 6: Covers of Vogue Patterns Magazines Throughout the Years Page 7: (from left to right): Eugene Leontovich, Robert Speaight, Robert Helpmann Page 9: Old Bond Street decorated for the wedding of the Duke of Kent and Princess Marina at London UK 27 November 1934 Page 10: Oxford Street in the 1920’s Page 11: Miscellaneous advertisements, British Vogue 1950 Page 13: Gala Lipstick Advertisement in the 1940’s Page 14: (from Left to right): Evening gown from Madeleine - Olga Ashford, British Vogue 1932; 1950’s dress pattern featuring an illustration with a dramatically pinched waist.; A boyish, Chanel-style silhouette featured on British Vogue’s cover, September 1925. Page 15: Allenbury’s Diet Advertisement, Vogue 1932 Page 17: Illustration of Summertime Undergarments, British Vogue 1950 Page 18: Photograph of a Woman in a uniform during World War II Page 19: Your one and only coat, British Vogue 1945 Page 21: Ration Book, 1942-1943 Page 22:Cecil Beaton, 1953 Page 23: Queen Elizabeth II Page 24: Mrs Exeter, British Vogue 1948 Back Cover:
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Westminster Reference Library & London College of Fashion Collaboration Project 2020 Alphabet of VOGUE Project Coordinator:
Nicholas Osborne - Collection Service Officer Arts of Westminster Reference Library
Project Made By:
Anna Samonova from the MA Fashion Journalism Course Emily Gallagher from the MA Fashion Curation course Greer Parker from the MA Fashion Curation course Isha King from the MA Strategic Fashion Marketing Course Leonie Laura Pittnauer from the MA Strategic Fashion Marketing Course Lexi Fadina from the MA Fashion Journalism Course Margarida Miranda from the MA Costume Design for Performance Course Images taken from the Vogue Archive as well as the London College of Fashion Archive
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