Taking a political stance: Representations of the health of American democracy and the women’s suffrage movement in U.S. Vogue ’s editorials (1892–1918)

The dominant view of Vogue is that it is, as a cultural fashion icon, somewhat a-political, focusing on matters of style, beauty, culture, lifestyle, and runway. And yet this is not the case. As this study proves, from the very beginning, Vogue was deeply engaged with politics and the related issues of social policy. Not in an ideological way but more pragmatically so. As such, the political outlook of the editorials during the period 1892-1918, which is the focus of this paper, spans seven identifiable political themes: the health of democracy; women’s rights and women’s suffrage; social class; race; foreign affairs; religion; and social policy issues. Identifying these themes allows to understand the multivocality of Vogue’s political outlook. Sometimes a voice of progress and sometimes a voice of conservatism, sometimes an outlook that is inspiring and sometimes an outlook that is troubling. This study focuses on two of these themes, the health of democracy and the rights and role of women more generally (including the women’s suffrage movement). Through a thematic and a structural-hermeneutic analysis of 1109 editorials, the paper examines their underlying binary structure and their political messaging and meaning.