The Biography of an Icon

More than just a fashion magazine, more than a brand, Vogue is an institution, a major business and a character in its own right. It is also part of an intensely private empire that for almost all of its existence has remained a self-sufficient, sealed microcosm. For the first time, the full, glamorous and tempestuous history of British Vogue will be told, from its very beginnings in 1916 right up to the present day.

From the trauma of two world wars, when Vogue faced paper rationing and its staff had to shelter in the basement of its bombed-out offices, to the relief of the post-war period, when ‘Paris was putting two inches on the brim of its hats in anticipation of the peace to come’, the swinging Sixties when models such as Jean Shrimpton dominated the covers, to power dressing in the eighties and the rise of the supermodels in the 1990s right up to the unique challenges faced during the Coronavirus pandemic and the positive changes made by the most recent editor Edward Enninful, this is the story of a magazine and the individuals who created it, told against the backdrop of an extraordinary century of change, upheaval and beauty.

Beautifully illustrated with images from the Vogue archive, and including exclusive interviews with Vogue-insiders such as stylist Grace Coddington, Editor Alexandra Shulman and Fashion Editor Lucinda Chambers this is the perfect gift for Vogue fans and anyone who enjoys social history with a little sparkle.