British Vogue
Fashion, Power and a Century of Change
Published on 2. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-4746-2622-4 (ISBN)
Description
The official history of British Vogue, telling the magazine's story and how it has reflected the changing face of Britain from the first issue in 1916 right up to the present day.
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. From wartime austerity to the swinging sixties, it is a chronicle of arts, politics, health, travel and much more in addition to fashion. Now, for the very first time, the fascinating history of British Vogue is told in full.
Beautifully illustrated with 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. From wartime austerity to the swinging sixties, it is a chronicle of arts, politics, health, travel and much more in addition to fashion. Now, for the very first time, the fascinating history of British Vogue is told in full.
Beautifully illustrated with 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.
Reviews / Votes
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. * Josephine Ross, author of The Crown in Vogue * 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 * SIr Nicholas Coleridge * 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.... * Marion Hume, former editor of Vogue Australia, co-writer of the screenplay for LEE starring Kate Winslet as Lee Miller and Andrea Riseborough as Audrey Withers * 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 * Alexandra Shulman, former editor of British Vogue * 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 -- Mary O'Sullivan * Sunday Independent *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
2 x 8 page colour plates, plus b&w integrated images
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
372 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4746-2622-4 (9781474626224)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2024
Weidenfeld and Nicholson
€3.99
Available for download
Person
Julie Summers is the author of 14 works of non-fiction including Fashion on the Ration and Dressed for War, the biography of the wartime editor of Vogue. Born and brought up in the North West, she studied at Bristol University and the Courtauld Institute of Art. From 1984 she worked at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Henry Moore Foundation as a curator and became head of exhibitions at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford before becoming a full-time writer.