Harper's Bazaar

History

Since its debut in 1867 as America's first fashion magazine, the pages of Harper's Bazaar, first called Harper's Bazar, have been home to talent, such as the founding editor, author and translator Mary Louise Booth, as well as:

When Harper's Bazaar began publication, it was a weekly magazine catering to women in the middle and upper classes. It showcased fashion from Germany and Paris in a newspaper-design format. It was not until 1901 that Harper's moved to a monthly issued magazine which it maintains today. Now Harper's Bazaar is owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation in the U.S. and The National Magazine Company in the U.K. Hearst purchased the magazine in 1913.

Harper & Brothers founded the magazine. This company also gave birth to Harper's Magazine and HarperCollins Publishing.

Glenda Bailey is the editor-in-chief of U.S. edition of Harper's Bazaar.

Victorian elegance (1898–1912)

As the turn-of-the-century began in America, Harper's Bazaar began featuring both illustrations and photographs for its covers and inside features of high society and increasingly of fashion.

During the late Victorian period, as the women's suffrage movement was gaining momentum (American women did not all win the right to vote until 1920 with the passing of the 19th Amendment), the introduction of more tailored dresses and jackets coincided with women's new sense of feminism. Bazaar also began profiling prominent socialites, such as the Astors and the Griscoms.

The Carmel Snow years (1933–1957)

In 1933, editor-in-chief Carmel Snow (a former editor at Vogue) brought photojournalist Martin Munkacsi to a windswept beach to shoot a swimwear spread. As the model ran toward the camera, Munkacsi took the picture that made fashion-magazine history. Until that moment, nearly all fashion was carefully staged on mannequin-like models in a studio. Snow's buoyant spirit (she rarely slept or ate, although she had a lifelong love affair with the three-martini lunch) and wicked sense of adventure brought life to the pages of Bazaar. Snow's genius came from cultivating the "best" people. Her first big find was art director Alexey Brodovitch, who innovated Bazaar's iconic Didot logo. Brodovitch is perhaps best known for his work with Richard Avedon, who, as a young photographer, was so determined to work at Bazaar that he endured the humiliation of 14 canceled interviews before finally being hired. Snow also unleashed the force of nature known as Diana Vreeland, whom she brought on as fashion editor in 1936. The collaboration of these four visionaries resulted in some of the germane fashion shoots of the 20th century and ended only with Snow's retirement, at the age of 70, in 1957.

Alexey Brodovitch (1934–1958)

In 1934, newly installed Bazaar editor Carmel Snow attended an Art Directors Club of New York exhibition curated by 36-year-old graphic designer Alexey Brodovitch and immediately offered Brodovitch a job as Bazaar 's art director. Throughout his career at the magazine, Brodovitch, a Russian émigré (by way of Paris), revolutionized magazine design. With his directive "Astonish me", he inspired some of the greatest visual artists of the 20th century (including protégés Irving Penn, Hiro, Gleb Derujinsky, and, of course, Richard Avedon). One of his assistants was future Rolling Stone art director Tony Lane. Brodovitch's signature use of white space, his innovation of Bazaar 's iconic Didot logo, and the cinematic quality that his obsessive cropping brought to layouts (not even the work of Man Ray and Henri Cartier-Bresson was safe from his busy scissors) compelled Truman Capote to write, "What Dom Pérignon was to champagne ... so [Brodovitch] has been to ... photographic design and editorial layout." Sadly, Brodovitch's personal life was less triumphant. Plagued by alcoholism, he left Bazaar in 1958 and eventually moved to the south of France, where he died in 1971.

The Vreeland years (1936–1962)

When Carmel Snow saw Mrs. T. Reed Vreeland dancing on the roof of New York's St. Regis Hotel in a white lace Chanel dress and a bolero with roses in her hair one evening in 1936, she knew she'd found Bazaar's newest staffer. Diana, who is said to have invented the word "pizzazz", first came to the attention of readers with her "Why Don't You ... ?" column. (A typical suggestion: "Why don't you ... wear, like the Duchess of Kent, three enormous diamond stars arranged in your hair in front?") Before long, she became fashion editor, collaborating with photographers Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Richard Avedon and, later, art director Henry Wolf. Her eccentricity, perception and wit, as well as her sharp wit and sweeping pronouncements ("I adore that pink! It's the navy blue of India," "Elegance is refusal!"), were memorialized in the movie Funny Face, making her, for many, the prototypical fashion-magazine editor.

The Avedon years (1945–1965)

Richard Avedon began creating fashion portfolios for Harper's Bazaar at the age of 22. His distinctive photographs showed both chic insouciance and boundless vitality. Avedon's women leapt off curbs, roller-skated on the Place de la Concorde, and were seen in nightclubs, enjoying the freedom and fashions of the postwar era.

He was immortalized in the 1959 film Funny Face by the character Dick Avery (played by Fred Astaire), who asked, "What's wrong with bringing out a girl who has character, spirit, and intelligence?"

The Derujinsky years (1950–1968)

Gleb Derujinsky's 18-year career at Harper's bazaar spanned from 1950–1968 and during that time produced some of the classic images of the era. Scouted by editor-in-chief Carmel Snow and art director Alexey Brodovitch, Derujinsky joined the elite group of photographers, including Richard Avedon, who shot for the magazine. Working closely with the then fashion editor Diana Vreeland, Derujinsky proved a pioneer in his field, creating stunning juxtapositions between European Haute Couture dresses and landscapes ranging from desert sands to car junkyards, fairgrounds and airports, all this at a time when air travel was yet to become as common as it is now. “Avedon shot dresses and clothes, Gleb shot women living in them.”

To mark the inauguration of Pan Am’s Boeing 707 in 1957, Derujinsky travelled across the world with Nena Von Schlebrügge, and Ruth Neumann, who he would later marry. The latter would be his muse from the seaside harbors of China, to the Nara Deer Park in Japan, and throughout Thailand, Spain and Greece. The 1957 Paris Collections were the basis for a 25-page spread in Harper’s Bazaar featuring his photographs. “Gleb Derujinsky’s photographs evoke the best of Harper’s Bazaar: exquisitely beautiful, original, and instantly iconic images of a very fashionable life.”

Nonnie Moore (1980–1984)

Nonnie Moore was hired as fashion editor in 1980, having served in the same post at Mademoiselle. The New York Times noticed the changes she made at Harper's Bazaar, highlighting how the magazine had been "looking a little dowdy", but that Moore had "noticeably sharpened the magazine's fashion point of view" by showing "brighter, younger and more stylish", complimenting her use of "young and exciting fashion photographers", such as Oliviero Toscani.

Harper's Bazaar worldwide

The magazine is published in 32 countries and regions.

Harper's Bazaar Australia

The debut issue was March 1998 with Nicole Kidman on the cover. Commencing in 2009, the winner of Australia's Next Top Model an annual Australian reality television series, has appeared on the magazine's cover and in an editorial feature. This initiative has launched the careers of Tahnee Atkinson, Amanda Ware, Montana Cox and Melissa Juratowitch. The current editor-in-chief is Kellie Hush, whose first edited issue is November 2012.

Harper's Bazaar India

Harper's Bazaar India began publication with the March 2009 issue, which featured Kareena Kapoor and Swarovski crystals on the cover. The launch editor was Sujata Assomull Sippy, but she left the magazine after the April 2012 issue. The ex-editor, Nishat Fatima, was appointed in December 2012. Recently, former editor of ELLE India, Nonita Kalra was newly appointed as the editor of Harper’s Bazaar India this month.

Harper's Bazaar Mexico & Latin America

Harper's Bazaar Mexico & Latin America launched in September 1980, was the first fashion magazine to launch in the Latin American continent. The magazine is published by Editorial Televisa, a part of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., the Mexican multimedia mass media company, which is the largest in Latin America and the first of the Spanish-speaking world. Televisa is the Latin American publishing partner of Hearst Magazines International, a unit of Hearst Corporation. Editorial Televisa publishes five other Hearst magazines in Mexico – Esquire, Men´s Health, Women´s Health, Cosmopolitan, and Good Housekeeping. The magazine is based in Mexico City, with fashion and beauty contributors around the world. It is distributed throughout Latin America including: Mexico, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, El Salvador and Costa Rica. Argentina, Brazil and Chile have their own local editions.

Harper’s Bazaar UK

In November 1970, the Hearst Corporation's Harper's Bazaar UK (founded in 1929) and Queen magazine (which dated from 1862) amalgamated to form Harpers & Queen. The magazine was widely perceived to be focused on British "high society" and the lives of socialites and the British aristocracy, though in fact its features were wide-ranging and often highly original. Since March 2006, it has repositioned itself as Harper's Bazaar, bringing it in line with its international sister titles. "Harpers Bazaar" aims to be very meritocratic in terms of whom it will feature: recent interviews have included subjects as diverse as the actor/director George Clooney, artist Richard Prince and British singer Leona Lewis. The magazine has won several awards, including Consumer Magazine of the Year. The current editor-in-chief is Justine Picardie.

Harper's Bazaar Vietnam

First launched on June 27, 2011, the Vietnamese version of Harper's Bazaar is called Phong cách Harper's Bazaar as a result of merging Harper's Bazaar and Phong cách. Trương Ngọc Ánh is the first face cover.

Starting 2012, Harper's Bazaar Vietnam launched an enhanced iPad edition, an official YouTube channel and an official Fanpage on Facebook. Harper's Bazaar Vietnam was also a co-sponsor the first season of Project Runway Vietnam (local title: Nhà thiết kế thời trang Việt Nam).

In 2014, Harper's Bazaar Vietnam launched its website.

Harper's Bazaar Singapore

Launched on November, 2001. In 2008, an official Fanpage on Facebook was launched. An enhanced iPad edition was launched in 2012.

Harper's Bazaar Singapore was also the media partner for the first 4 seasons of Asia's Next Top Model.

In 2015, Harper's Bazaar Singapore launched its website.

Harper's Bazaar China

Harper's Bazaar China was originally distributed world wide in the form of Best China Fashion's English Version. In November 2001, the magazine officially started the collaboration with Fashion Group. In September 2002, it began the copyright cooperation with Harper's Bazaar, the well-known fashion magazine which has 139 years history. After 3 years' copyright collaboration, the magazine changed its name to Harper's Bazaar in 2005. The targeted audiences of Harper's Bazaar China are successful women over 25 that have high income, good taste, love fashion, and pursue perfection. The chief editor of Harper's Bazaar China is Su Mang.

Harper’s Bazaar China has started “BAZAAR Stars’ Charity Night” and has proposed to “let the charity become a kind of fashion.” Hosted by Harper’s Bazaar China, BAZAAR Stars’ Charity Gala is an annual fundraising gala for Chinese celebrities who support charities. It collects money through an auction and the funding is used for charities that support causes for impoverished children, medical aids, disaster recovery and many others.

In an interview, the Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s Bazaar China, Su Mang, said, “People usually think Fashion has nothing to do with charity. Sometimes they regard charity merely as our strategy to gain attention, but I want to say that, if behind the glamorous dresses, there is a true willingness to help others, we should also applaud for them.”

Harper's Bazaar Taiwan

Harper's Bazaar Taiwan was launched in February, 1990. It was authorized by Hearst Cooperation to be published by Hwa Ker Publishing Company Limited. Its chief editor is Elaine Liao.

Harper's Bazaar HK

Launched in 1998, Harper's Bazaar Honking was authorized by Hearst Cooperation to be published by SCMP. Its chief editor is Xaven Mak.

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia is the Middle East edition of the international publication and was launched on March 1, 2007. It is published by ITP Media Group in Dubai and has prominent audiences in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

As well as showcasing local and regional fashion, beauty and lifestyle trends, the title has secured a number of world-exclusive covers and interviews with celebrities including Rihanna, Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Rita Ora, Sophia Vergara, Nancy Ajram, Sarah Jessica Parker and Janet Jackson. The English language magazine also has a web platform, and launched an Arabic language site in January 2017. The brand also publishes Harper’s Bazaar Art, Interiors and Junior titles and hosts an annual Harper’s Bazaar Best Dressed event celebrating the most stylish women in the region.

Editors