There are various versions of this brooch around. The brooches date from the 1930s and were ‘give aways’ in Vogue if you signed up for an annual subscription. They are not particularly sophisticated in construction, basically each brooch is pressed out from sheet metal with a simple pin attached. Original ones have no decoration but over time enamel highlights were added to denote different years. The original silhouette of the ‘Lady Walking a Dog’ was always the constant and has gone on to be the inspiration for designers like Butler & Wilson and Tatty Devine.
I used this brooch as part of the TubeFlash project to denote Green Park underground station with an accompanying story ‘A Walk in the Park’ by Mark Lewis .
Vogue was first published on 17th December in 1892, by Arthur Baldwin Turnure (1856 – 1906). Arthur was a wealthy businessman and established Vogue as a weekly newspaper for New York City’s social elite, covering society news, social etiquette, fashion and reviews of books, plays, and music. In the first edition there was an article on London.
Today Vogue is perhaps ‘the’ iconic fashion and style publication and is known across the world. There are now 28 separate publications covering North and South America, Asia and Europe, there is even Vogue Ukraine. In the UK British Vogue is headed up by Edward Kobina Enninful born in Ghana in 1972 and in the US Dame Anna Wintour has been reigning supreme as editor in chief since 1988. Anna Wintour was born in London on 3rd November 1949, her bob haircut and dark glasses are her ‘trademark’ and her nickname is “Nuclear Wintour” as she is reportedly aloof and demanding.
Look out for February’s romantic brooch.