Elle (magazine)

Elle

Cover of August 1993 with Stephanie Seymour and Marcus Schenkenberg, by Richard Avedon
Editor	List of editors
Categories	Fashion
Frequency	Weekly (France and Italy only) Monthly (worldwide)
Circulation	4,000,000 (worldwide)
Founder	Hélène Gordon-Lazareff
Founded	1945, Paris
First issue	21 November 1945 (France) 1985 (U.S.) 1985 (UK) 1986 (Spain) 1987 (Italy) 1988 (China) 1988 (Sweden) 1989 (Japan) 1993 (Mexico) 1994 (Czechia) 1994 (Poland) 1994 (Thailand) 1996 (India) 1996 (Russia) 1999 (Turkey) 2001 (Ukraine) 2005 (Serbia) 2008 (Indonesia) 2010 (Vietnam) 2014 (Malaysia)
Company	Lagardère Group (Elle brand owner; international)
Country	France
Language	Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Website	elle.fr elle.com elle.no elle.rs www.elle.com/uk elle.cz elle.co.id elle.in elle.vn

Elle (stylized in all caps) is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, and society and lifestyle. The title Elle means She in English. Elle is considered "one of the world's largest fashion and lifestyle publications", with 45 international editions totalling 33 million readers and receiving 100 million unique monthly visitors on its 55 digital platforms.

It was founded in Paris in 1945 by Hélène Gordon-Lazareff. The magazine's readership has grown since its founding, increasing to 800,000 across France by the 1960s. Elle editions have since multiplied, creating a global network of publications and readers. Elle's international expansion began with Elle UK and Elle USA launches in 1985. Previous magazine editors include Jean-Dominique Bauby for Elle France and Roberta Myers, the longest-serving editor-in-chief at Elle USA. Véronique Philipponnat is currently the director of Elle France. Nina Garcia currently holds the position of editor-in-chief at Elle USA, appointed after the departure of Roberta Myers. The Paris-based Lagardère Group owns the brand internationally. Elle France's official headquarters is located in Levallois-Perret, Greater Paris.

History

Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, Russian-born and Paris-raised, started Elle in Paris in the immediate aftermath of World War II. It was first sold as a supplement to France-Soir, edited at the time by Hélène's husband, Pierre Lazareff. Hélène, Elle's pioneering founder, returned to Paris from New York City to create a unique publication that grappled with the many forces shaping women's lives in France in 1945. Women won the right to vote in 1944, and Elle dove immediately into long-form "newspaper-like" features on women's role in national politics and the growing feminist movement. Elle would "celebrate a new type of woman: independent, modern, active, comfortable in her own skin and her time". The first issue of Elle France was published on 21 November 1945 featuring Yolande Bloin on the cover dressed by Elsa Schiaparelli. Bloin was an actress in Jacques Becker's film Falbalas. The magazine had a circulation of 110,000 copies in 1945.

In the Elle articles featuring rising fashion designers, the magazine would provide free patterns of some of their fashion pieces. This allowed the general public to experience haute couture as the glamour of the fashion world was becoming accessible to the common working class.

Its 100th issue, published on 14 October 1947, featured the work of Christian Dior just eight months after his debut show. Likewise, Brigitte Bardot had her first Elle cover at age 17, on 7 January 1952, months before her screen debut in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini.

On 2 April 1956, Grace Kelly appeared on the cover of Elle France, a few days before her marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. On 16 July 1956, Elle France featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover.

By the 1960s, Elle had a readership of 800,000 across France and was said to "not so much reflect fashion as decree it." This dominance was reflected in the famous slogan: "Si elle lit elle lit Elle (If she reads, she reads Elle)" (lit. "If she reads she reads She").

Lagardère Group subsidiary, Hachette Filipacchi Médias began pushing Elle outside of France in 1985, launching Elle in the UK and the United States. The Chinese version of the magazine was first published in 1988. It was the first four-colour fashion magazine offered in China. The magazine was an informational and educational tool for opening the Chinese textile market.

In 1987, Elle Decoration was launched in France by the Lagardère Group. The brand's internationalisation began in the US with the launch of Elle Decor in 1989.

By 1991, the magazine's sales were in decline in the U.S.

In 1995, the magazine circulated 5 million copies worldwide.

Elle.com was launched in 2007.

In 2011, Hearst Corporation reached a €651M deal with Lagardère to purchase the rights to publish Elle Magazine in fifteen countries including the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Russia and Ukraine. Lagardère, which struggled in the international market in the 2000s, retained the rights to the French edition and would collect royalties from the international editions. By retaining ownership of the Elle brand in France and through licensing forms in 25 countries, Lagardère remained "the guarantor of brand consistency". The strategic decisions on Elle concerning the countries managed by Hearst would be "taken in close consultation" with Lagardère.

Elle Brazil was the first commercial magazine in the world to have a transgender model on its cover, with Lea T. in December 2011. The Brazilian edition had also discovered transgender model Valentina Sampaio and had put her on the cover before French Vogue. Elle printed special collectors' covers for their September 2016 issue, and one featured Hari Nef, the first time an openly transgender woman had been on the cover of a major commercial British magazine.

In April 2018, Lagardère Group sold Elle France to Daniel Křetínský via his holding company Czech Media Invest (CMI), parent of Czech News Center. Lagardère continues to own the Elle brand in France and internationally by granting a "license for the exploitation of magazines".

At the end of 2021, Elle announced that all global editions would ban fur from their pages as of 1 January 2023, citing "a really great opportunity to increase awareness for animal welfare, bolster the demand for sustainable and innovative alternatives and foster a more humane fashion industry."

Notable editors-in-chief

Elle editors have included Jean-Dominique Bauby in France, who became known for writing a book after suffering almost total paralysis, and Robbie Myers for the USA edition. In September 2017, it was announced that Roberta Myers was stepping down from the role of editor-in-chief of Elle USA, position she held since 2000, stating through a memo to the staff that "I want to spend the next seasons as available to my children as I can be, and so I take my leave of Elle now". A day later of the announcement, it was reported that Nina Garcia, creative director of Marie Claire was appointed as the new editor-in-chief effective 18 September. Patricia Wang was the first editor of Elle China. Véronique Philipponnat is the current director of Elle France.

Circulation (Elle France)

Total paid circulation

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Circulation	370,658	404,037	402,989	401,332	384,704	352,390	342,981	333,141	340,690	342,453	339,151	330,895	314,834	288,254

Global operations

As of 2019, seventy-eight media licenses from the brand are available around the world: one Elle Girl, two Elle Men, five Elle à Table, twenty-five Elle Decoration, and forty-five Elle. According to François Coruzzi, CEO of Elle International, the magazine's centrals are located in Paris, London, and New York, and it has 29 offices worldwide as of 2019.

Technologically speaking, the Elle brand is a global network encompassing over 46 websites. Subscriptions account for 73 percent of readers in the USA. Websites and social networks compose Elle's 55 digital platforms.

The first international editions of Elle were launched in the U.S. and UK in 1985. In the US, the vast majority (82 per cent) of Elle's audience is women between 18 and 49. Its readers have a median age of 34.7 years. 40 percent of the readers are single, and the median household income is $69,973. "Our readers are young enough to think about life as an adventure and old enough to have the means to live it", said Roberta Myers, editor in chief.

Spain followed in 1986 with Italy and Hong Kong editions launching in 1987. In 1988, the magazine was launched in Germany, Brazil, China, Sweden, Greece and Portugal. The next year, the Netherlands and Quebec joined the international Elle community. Australia and Taiwan versions were launched in 1990, Mexico and Argentina in 1994, and a Russian edition (closed now), published monthly, was launched in 1996.

Elle includes region-specific editions within countries, such as Elle Hong Kong and Elle Québec, which are published in addition to Elle China and Elle Canada respectively. In Belgium, Elle is published as two magazines for the Flanders and Wallonia regions, while Elle Middle East is targeted at several countries in the region.

Elle is a brand owned by the Lagardère Group of France. It is published in France by Czech Media Invest, in the U.S. and the UK by Hearst Magazines, in Canada by KO Média, in Brazil by Grupo Editora Abril, in Mexico by Grupo Expansión, in Argentina by Grupo Clarín, in Indonesia by Mayapada, in Singapore by Atlas Press, in Serbia/Croatia by Adria Media, in Turkey by Doğan Burda Magazine, in Germany by Hubert Burda Media, and in Romania by Ringier. In China, the publisher is Shanghai Translation Publishing House. In India, it is published by Ogaan Publications Pvt. Ltd. As an international magazine, Elle has its headquarters in Paris as well as licensed publishers in New York City, London, Toronto, Mexico City, South Africa, Istanbul, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, Lisbon, Tokyo, Warsaw, Belgrade, Oslo, Helsinki, Bucharest, Athens, Delhi, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Jakarta, Kyiv, Kuala Lumpur, Sofia, Budapest, Bangkok and other cities.

In December 2013, Elle US hired Randy Minor as design director. In November 2016, Elle Canada promoted Vanessa Craft to editor-in-chief, making her the first black woman at the helm of an Elle magazine globally.

In mid-July 2020, Elle's Australian publisher Bauer Media Australia and New Zealand, which had been acquired by Mercury Capital, terminated the magazine's Australian edition, citing declining advertising revenue and travel restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2021, Elle is being published by Are Media, the successor to Bauer Media Australia.

Editors

Other markets

In the 1980s, Elle signed an agreement with the Japanese Itokin, a group based in Osaka specialising in ready-to-wear. Elle has been selling its lingerie in Japan for over forty years through licensing agreements. Elle has over 150 partners in 80 countries, all paying royalties to the brand. Elle has more than 3,000 stores worldwide, mainly in Asia. Under the Elle brand, there are around ten cafés, hair salons and spas. The brand also sells fashion, beauty and home decor products.

Nissan and Elle collaborated and unveiled the Nissan Micra Elle in September 2012, a limited-edition car specially designed for women.

The brand has also been launched in the hospitality industry. In 2023, the fashion magazine opened its first hotel, Maison Elle, on the 17th of Paris. Other Elle Hotel projects have been announced for Mexico and around fifteen high-end hotels in the heart of cities that would open in the next ten years.

See also

• List of fashion magazines
• List of women's magazines
• Didier Guérin, executive in charge of new releases
• Category:Elle (magazine) writers