The Press: Fifty Years on the Crest

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Fitting the varied shapes of Vogue readers, says Editor Chase, was simple. "There was one [size], and it was a 36." During the war and the roaring '203, Editor Chase gave Vogue readers the first news of the slowly rising hem line, of the first Chanel jersey cloth from Paris trimmed with rabbit fur. Vogue organized the first big New York fashion show, with models parading the clothes a la Paris, and was pleased to report that it was an instant hit.

The $100,000 Embroidery. By 1928 Vogue was perched on the pinnacle of the fashion world. When Edna Chase set out to build a home on Long Island, Owner Nast sent her a short note expressing his appreciation. Wrote Nast: "I am a very rich man. Your devotion, industry and very amazing intelligence have been a very great factor in accomplishing [this fact] ... I have set aside $100,000 which I want you to use for embroidery on the house you are about to build." As it turned out, Editor Chase was able to draw only $25,000 of her gift; the rest vanished "like fairy gold." Persuaded by his banker friends, Nast went into the stock market only a few months before the crash of 1929 and was wiped out. As for Editor Chase's mansion, only the driveway and a gardener's cottage were built. "Our driveway curving gracefully upward had cost $10,000 to build," she recalls, "and the gardener's cottage was so small that when we realized we would have to live there ourselves we were obliged to add a wing larger than the original structure. We had a tail that wagged the dog."

Through the dark '305, Vogue cut its pattern to the times, counseled readers to concentrate on "more taste than money." When World War II broke, it dutifully reported on Paris fashions until its staff fled the city. Schiaparelli's last Paris collection, said Vogue bravely, had been "especially ingenious . . . With metal and leather taken by the Army, she fastened her coats with dog leashes." In bombed-out London, British Vogue continued to publish, carried ads for "especially designed protection costumes ... of pure oiled silk . . . available in dawn, apricot, rose, amethyst, Eau de Nil green and pastel pink. The wearer can cover a distance of 200 yards through mustard gas." It also advised readers that "white acces sories are very chic in wartime. They show up well in blackouts."

"Childlike World." Though left-wing critics said that Vogue reflected a "trivial, childlike world that was gone forever," Editor Chase confidently started up the French edition again at war's end, soon had the British and U.S. editions more prosperous than ever. Editor Chase was well aware that Vogue's prewar world had changed. "When Vogue was born into the smart world, there was only one language —French," says she. "Today our fashion markets spread from Seventh Avenue to California, and there are manufacturers in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas." Summing up 49 years in the editor's chair, she says: "Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess. I have seen a Texas cowboy swing himself into his saddle with more real elegance, more style, than many gentlemen on the hunting field."