At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, a struggling, six-year-old magazine gave a piece of stern advice to U.S. women: "Don't be so violently, alarmingly and visibly patriotic as to wear the tri-colors on everything. Bad taste never yet helped a good cause."
The upstart young magazine was Vogue, whose circulation was hovering around 5,000. Since then Vogue has boosted its circulation (now 415,400), added the successful British (circ. 140,000) and French (circ. 25,000) editions and has become the world's No. 1 fashion magazine. The credit goes largely to Edna Woolman Chase, who at 77 has spent 59 years on the magazine,...
To continue reading: or Log-In