Always in Vogue

by Edna Woolman Chase, Ilka Chase

Cover notes: 'An autobiography of Vogue's famous editor and the story of fashion in America through the past sixty years. Lavishly illustrated." From dust jacket notes: "Edna Woolman Chase was a girl of eighteen when in 1895 she got her first, and, as it turned out, her lifetime job on Vogue, a magazine then three years old. In 1914 she settled into the editorial chair from which, for thirty-eight years, she gathered, sorted, and distilled into the pages of Vogue the fabulous doings of fashion and high society, not only in the United States, but also in Britain and France...."

Genres: Fashion, Memoir, Nonfiction, Book Club

381 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Gail Brassard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book with great enthusiasm--I am a costume designer and recently retired from a big 10 university where I taught design and costume history. I am also a HUGE consumer of non-fiction and biographies of this era (1900-1950). The book started out very promisingly: Chase started working at VOGUE as an 18 year old in 1895!! Imagine--a first-person narrative of a young working woman from that era!! After about 10 pages of that, the narrative settled into what it mostly remained: A blow by blow description of the minutia of the publishing of VOGUE--almost exclusively about who was a publisher/an editor/what their working strengths were, how they advanced, etc. Truly almost nothing about fashion, or my pressing question--How those editorial decisions were made. Yes--she skimmed by some of that--and her tales of WWII on British and French VOGUE were really interestng--but nary a word about how the wars (II as well as I) affected the AMERICAN fashion industry--the rise of American fashion as a distinct voice. I very much was made aware that this magazine (and I am very familiar with its older issues ) was totally in the thrall of French fashion to the exclusion of almost everything else. I hadnt noticed that--now I'll go back and revisit the older issues. The industry WAS very different then--and less democratic. If you are NOT well-acquainted with inside fashion names of the first half of the 20th century--or care about them, I fear this will be a SLOG. I finished it--but wanted so much more about fashion--not so much about publishing. If you desire a fashion press career, however, this is a must.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book is quite dated, it is a fascinating tale of the fashion press in the first half of the 20th century. And about women in the workplace - the few that managed career and family and the many who married and left their career. I also enjoyed reading about the history and politics of the era through the eyes of a fashion editor.

[Tranvías]

Estás son las cosas que me trago por trabajo. No me parece un libro especialmente interesante a no ser que seas una friki de la Vogue.

[Kar Wai Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

best book title ever. always in vogue. amazing pun too! very inspiring