The publishers had identified consumer-friendly women between the ages of 18 and

General — July 24, 2010 at 10:17

The publishers had identified consumer-friendly women between the ages of 18 and 30 who didn’t have any qualms about spending a small fortune on clothes, but who weren’t prepared to be patronised in the process. The philosophical bedrock on which Elle was built, and on which it still firmly stands, is style with content. Yes, we wanted to be careless and carefree, to live in lofts and hang out in bars, to drink vodkatinis till dawn. “Elle was the first mainstream magazine to act as a voice for that generation. “There was a whole new generation [of women] fumbling its way towards tomorrow,” says Sally Brampton, who edited Elle for four years from its launch until October 1989. Created to cater for the post-feminist Eighties career girl, it was resolutely fashionable, wilfully sassy, and uncompromisingly urban.

But though there is a certain amount of serendipity about most successful magazine launches, there was little that was left to chance when British Elle was launched in October 1985.The Eighties produced many groundbreaking magazines The Face, i-D, Q, Arena, Marie Claire etc primarily because, as one of this century’s most style-conscious, self-obsessed decades, it was crying out to be decoded before it was even born But Elle was a magazine with a mission. Not only are they history the moment they hit the news-stands thus offering an instant time-capsule of the here-and-now they are also artefacts in their own right, barometers of invention in journalism, photography and design. When British Elle was launched in 1985, it perfectly reflected the spirit

of the Eighties. Ten years on, it still offers its readers frocks without frills
MORE so than pop records, movies, or even fashion itself, good magazines have a way of defining their age.

And you know what? We’ll wonder why we didn’t do it years ago, instead of pretending to be reasonable, objective and oh-so-grown-up !. On with the fedora and the Inverness cape, and round to Mr Portillo with our little device Whump. Let’s leave being really grown-up to the people who know how it’s done, the doctors and pilots and sea-captains for whom an error of judgement means that people die, not just a quick call to Sir Tim Bell.For the rest of us, grown-up-ness hasn’t worked, and now it’s time to be childish. and still they believe that Sir knows best; so, instead of shouting “Sod this!” and starting to fill milk bottles with petrol, they try even harder to be good and obedient and behave like grown-ups.Well, it won’t do.