Op-Ed: Vogue Paris survived WWII, but not 2021

On October 26, 2021, Vogue Paris officially announced that it was changing its name to Vogue France, that is to say on Instagram. The first edition of Vogue France will appear on November 4 and will be devoted to the cultural richness of France and will advocate for diversity and inclusiveness, announced the editor-in-chief of the magazine Eugénie Trochu. “From Paris to Marseille, from Lille to Strasbourg, our identity did not come from one place and Vogue represents the best of emerging talents and voices,” Trochu wrote. “We will build on one hundred years of defining cultural history, but meet the moment we find ourselves in and, more importantly, reflect the France we live in today.”

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Seeing the post, I couldn’t help but wonder how Vogue Paris survived WWII when Hitler tried to move the fashion capital to Berlin, and yet he couldn’t survive the millennial awakened culture led by the editor-in-chief of Vogue America. in chief Anna Wintour.

Commentary Vogue wiped Paris off the map, ”(How Vogue wiped Paris off the map) headlined Le Figaro in the top news. The article claims that Vogue Paris risks losing its soul as Anna Wintour pushes American values ​​in a Parisian magazine that has come to represent more than the city itself.

For 100 years of its existence, Vogue Paris has proudly kept its name and the name of the City of Light, which is also the fashion capital of the world. It was also the only edition of Vogue to have a city name, as the other versions all refer to the country in which they are based: Vogue America, Vogue China, Vogue Mexico, etc. But Vogue Paris was more than a country and more than a city, it was the heart of fashion and the most important fashion publication in the world. These five letters VOGUE were married to five other letters PARIS. And just like that, at the beginning of the week, he ceased to exist …

As a journalist and fashion enthusiast, I started my career at L’Officiel, I worked for the men’s fashion magazine Essential Homme and I wrote for various fashion publications including Vogue Mexico, Coveteur, etc. . And despite the strangeness of the fashion world resembling the world (often mean and negative) portrayed in the film, The devil wears Prada, Frankly love it! It gave me my voice, my character and all the strength in the world to even face the pandemic. With fashion as my muse, I learned to express myself and to express my thoughts about the world in general and current events, through writing.

When I was 21, I bought my first Louboutins, those famous red-soled stilettos, and I told myself that I was on top of the world because for me they represented a certain fashion autonomy. I had only read about them before in Vogue (that is, Vogue Paris) and it doesn’t matter that they cost half my salary. Fashion is just that: a way to renegotiate the terms of life, to follow social changes and to record history.

I studied journalism at La Sorbonne Nouvelle and saw Parisian fashion parade every day, whether through the window of Messy Nessy Chic or even in my classes. I remember making a friend in class one day – she’s still one of my best friends and her name is Camille – and if I’m honest I wanted to be her friend because she was dressed in such a chic way, but liberated and confident. White sneakers and a camel trench coat were her hallmark – only to be adorned with a vintage Loewe bag she wore like treasured possession.

I learned, and later wrote for Messy Nessy Chic, about couture fashion during WWII. Even Hitler could not deprive Paris of fashion when he wanted to move his workshops to Berlin. “You can impose what you want by force, but Parisian haute couture is not transferable either. in block or little by little. It exists in Paris or it does not ”, warned Lucien Lelong, then president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture.

It may not be the war, but there is a lot to be said about Paris’s influence on fashion. From the baroque grandeur of the “Sun King” Louis XIV to the 20th century “Fashion King” Paul Poiret, who led an era of fantastic haute couture, the Parisian style has always dominated the fashion world. It continues to do so, with Paris Fashion Week being the most important fashion week in the world and Vogue Paris its loyal end-to-end supplier. Vogue Paris being the only Vogue magazine with a city name, it elevated the city and its status as a global fashion police. Does this name change risk weakening the Parisian fashion authority? May be.

Socially speaking, this change benefits the country; it attracts the attention of the whole nation and certifies “French” fashion, which is no longer so Parisian. But Parisian fashion is not comparable to that of Marseille or, say, Brittany, is it? Parisian fashion and Parisian Vogue go hand in hand and this is why in fashion we often speak of “Parisian chic” and of dressing like a “Parisian…

My only hope is that Trochu delivers. I will keep an eye out for messages of French diversity, social rights, inclusion, sustainability and topicality in what will now be Vogue France. During this time, I will keep my vintage Vogue Paris issues as these will now be a rarity and, perhaps, a potential eBay business.

RIP Vogue Paris

Angelika Pokovba is a lifestyle writer with a Francophile soul and based in the depths of the Mayan jungle in Mexico. After studying journalism in Paris, she worked for L’Officiel and Essentiel Homme magazines, and has contributed to several fashion publications in the meantime.

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