 Cover of the Hollywood 2024/2025 issue (UK) | |
| Editor | Mark Guiducci |
|---|---|
| Former editors | |
| Categories | Culture |
| Frequency | 10 issues per year |
| Total circulation (Dec. 2019) | 1,225,706[1] |
| First issue | February 1983; 42 years ago (1983-02) |
| Company | Condé Nast |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | vanityfair |
| ISSN | 0733-8899 |
| OCLC | 8356733 |
Vanity Fair is an American monthly magazine ofpopular culture,fashion, andcurrent affairs published byCondé Nast in the United States.
Thefirst version ofVanity Fair was published from 1913 to 1936, then it was merged intoVogue. Conde Nast revived the title in 1983. Vanity Fair currently publishes four international editions of the magazine. The four international editions of the magazine are the United Kingdom (since 1991), Italy (since 2003), Spain (since 2008), France (since 2013).
Condé Montrose Nast began his magazine empire in 1913 when he purchased the men's fashion magazineDress, which he renamedDress and Vanity Fair and laterVanity Fair. The magazine thrived throughout the 1920s and reached acirculation of 90,000 copies at its peak. However, it became a casualty of theGreat Depression and declining advertising revenues. Condé Nast announced in December 1935 thatVanity Fair would be folded intoVogue (circulation 156,000) beginning with the March 1936 issue,Vogue incorporatedVanity Fair till the February 1983 issue.
In 2008,Vanity Fair celebrated 95 years since its debut under Nast (as well as the 25th anniversary of its 1983 relaunch), and the magazine's photographic heritage was memorialized in an exhibition called "Vanity Fair Portraits, 1913–2008" at theNational Portrait Gallery in London. The exhibition traveled to theScottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, theLos Angeles County Museum of Art, and theNational Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia. Vanity Fair: The Portraits, a special jubilee issue and hardback book, was published in the fall of 2008.
Vanity Fair is a fictitious place ruled byBeelzebub in the bookPilgrim's Progress byJohn Bunyan.[2] Later use of the name was influenced by the well-known 1847–48novel of the same name byWilliam Makepeace Thackeray.
In June 1981, theCondé Nast company (owned byS.I. Newhouse) announced plans to reviveVanity Fair.[3] The first issue was released on February 21, 1983 (cover date March), edited byRichard Locke, formerly ofThe New York Times Book Review.[4][5][6] After three issues, Locke was replaced byLeo Lerman, veteran features editor ofVogue.[7] He was followed by editorsTina Brown (1984–1992),Graydon Carter (1992–2017) andRadhika Jones (2017 to 2025). Jones was previously the director ofThe New York Times book section.[8][9]Vanity Fair employeesunionized in 2022.[10]Mark Guiducci, formerly the creative editorial director of Vogue, succeeded Jones as editor-in-chief in June 2025 following her resignation.[11][12]
Vanity Fair's articles cover a variety of topics. Regular writers andcolumnists have includedDominick Dunne,Sebastian Junger,Michael Wolff,Maureen Orth andChristopher Hitchens. In 1996, journalistMarie Brenner wrote anexposé on thetobacco industry titled "The Man Who Knew Too Much" which was adapted into a 1999 film starringAl Pacino andRussell Crowe calledThe Insider. Most famously, the May 2005 issue ofVanity Fair identifiedMark Felt as theWatergate whistleblower "Deep Throat", who leaked information that led to the 1974 resignation ofU.S. PresidentRichard Nixon. The magazine features candid interviews with celebrities, including a monthlyProust Questionnaire. In the 21st century, notable interviews includeTeri Hatcher who revealed that she was sexually abused as a child,Jennifer Aniston in her first interview following her divorce fromBrad Pitt,Anderson Cooper discussing his brother's death, andMartha Stewart's first interview after her release from prison.
In 2015,Vanity Fair had to update the account it had published by theNBC News correspondentRichard Engel about the disputed circumstances of his2012 kidnapping in Syria, stating that he had misidentified his captors.[13]
In 2019, former contributing editorVicky Ward said her 2003 profile of Jeffrey Epstein inVanity Fair had included on-the-record accounts of Annie andMaria Farmer (who filed the earliest known criminal complaints about Epstein), but that they were later stricken from Ward's article afterBill Clinton pressured the magazine's editorGraydon Carter.[14][15]
The magazine was the subject ofToby Young's 2001 book,How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, about his search for success inNew York City while working for Graydon Carter'sVanity Fair. The book was made into amovie in 2008, withJeff Bridges playing Carter.[16][17] During his tenure, Carter was known for encouraging staff to spend lavishly to cultivate a public perception of the magazine as classy.[18]
In 2017 former editor Tina Brown published "The Vanity Fair Diaries".[19]
Famous contributing photographers for the magazine includeBruce Weber,Annie Leibovitz,Mario Testino andHerb Ritts, who have all provided the magazine with a string of lavish covers and full-page portraits of currentcelebrities. Among the most famous cover photographs isMore Demi Moore, a 1991 portrait byAnnie Leibovitz in which actressDemi Moore was naked and pregnant.[20] The April 1999 issue featured an image of actorMike Myers dressed as aHindu deity for a photo spread byDavid LaChapelle. After criticism, both the photographer and the magazine apologized.[21]
"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now .... I feel so embarrassed .... I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."
On April 25, 2008,Entertainment Tonight reported that 15-year-oldMiley Cyrus had posedtopless for a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz forVanity Fair.[23] ADisney spokesperson described the photoshoot as an effort to "deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old to sell magazines".[24][22] The full photograph was published as part of an April 27New York Times story, and Cyrus released an apology statement that said the photos were intended to be 'artistic'.The New York Times clarified two days later that despite the impression that Cyrus had posed bare-breasted, she was wrapped in a bedsheet and not actually topless.[22] In anInstagram story posted ten years after the incident, Cyrus reversed her position: "IM NOT SORRY Fuck YOU #10YearsAgo".[25]
In January 2014,Vanity Fair was accused by Twitter users of deliberately altering the complexion of the actressLupita Nyong'o in photos taken by Leibovitz. Nyong'o spoke positively of the photos, and the coloration may have been a product of bright set lighting, not digital alteration.[26] Shortly before the Nyong'o case,Vogue was accused of altering actressLena Dunham's photos. Dunham considered the modified photos to be offensive.[27][28]
As a successor to a similar invitation-only event annually held by the late agentIrving Paul Lazar, the firstVanity Fair Oscar Party took place in 1994.[29] During its first years, the magazine'sOscar party was co-hosted by producerSteve Tisch at Morton's inWest Hollywood.[30] At first, editor Graydon Carter kept the invitation list small, at around 120 for dinner.[31] In 2008, in sympathy with aWriters Guild of America strike,Vanity Fair canceled its annual party.[32] Between 2009 and 2013, the party was held atSunset Tower.[29] The 2014 edition took place in a temporary, 12,000-square-foot glass-walled structure at 8680 Sunset Boulevard.[31]Vanity Fair makes a limited number of invitations available each year for charity.[33][34] In 2021,Vanity Fair cancelled its annual party due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[35]
In recent years,Vanity Fair andBloomberg have hosted an after-party at theFrench ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. following theWhite House Correspondents' Association dinner.[31]
Condé Nast Entertainment launched aVanity FairYouTube channel in July 2013. In anticipation of its 100th anniversary that year,Vanity Fair co-produced 10 short films, one to celebrate each decade, from well-known documentary filmmakers likeBarbara Kopple and including the film producerJudd Apatow, and actorsDon Cheadle andBryce Dallas Howard.[36] In 2013,Condé Nast Entertainment struck a deal withDiscovery Communications-owned cable channelInvestigation Discovery forVanity Fair Confidential, a crime and mystery documentary TV series based on stories fromVanity Fair magazine.[37]Vanity Fair launchedThe Hive in June 2016 to cover its online coverage of business, politics, and technology. In January 2017,Vanity Fair'sHive and Condé Nast Entertainment partnered withCheddar online TV channel to create a live weekly series calledVF Hive on Cheddar. Editor Graydon Carter called the series a "representation of how people are consuming more voraciously than ever".[38]
The businessmanMohamed Al-Fayed launched a two-year legal battle withCondé Nast, the publisher ofVanity Fair, due to details of alleged sexual assaults committed by Al-Fayed that were published inHoly War at Harrods, a 1995Vanity Fair article byMaureen Orth. In December 1997, Al-Fayed dropped the case and provided a settlement. The chief executive of Condé Nast UK,Nicholas Coleridge had met Cole in the steam baths of theBath & Racquets Club in Mayfair in the summer to ensure that neither of them carriedcovert listening devices.[39] The pair discussed ending the libel battle between their respective employers, but no agreement was then reached.[40] Both sides of the dispute paid for their own costs following the ending of the suit.[40] No apology was issued byVanity Fair and none of the text of the article was retracted.[41]
In 2005,Vanity Fair was found liable in a libellawsuit from film directorRoman Polanski due to a 2002Vanity Fair article that said Polanski had made sexual advances toward a Norwegian model while traveling to the funeral of his wifeSharon Tate. The disputed details were included by the writerA. E. Hotchner who credited them toLewis H. Lapham: the article recounted Lapham's story that at New York restaurantElaine's in August 1969, Polanski had supposedly boasted he could turn the model into "the next Sharon Tate".[42]
The trial began on July 18, 2005 in theBritish courts, which ultimately ruled the alleged scene did not occur on the date given because Polanski did not dine at the restaurant until three weeks later. The trial included testimonies fromMia Farrow and others, and the Norwegian former model disputed details.[43] The case was notable because for the first time in English legal history, the court permitted Polanski to testify via a video link from his home in France where he was living as a fugitive from U.S. justice.[44][45] Polanski was awarded damages by theHigh Court in London.[46]Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter said "I find it amazing that a man who lives in France can sue a magazine that is published in America in a British courtroom."[47]
Vanity Fair started an international edition in 1991, and there are now several. International editions are currently published in the United Kingdom (since 1991),[48] Italy (since 2003, ISSN 1723-6673),[48][49][50] Spain (since 2008),[48] and France (since 2013).[51] Previous international editions existed in Mexico (2015–2018) and Germany (2007–2009).Vanity Fair Germany launched in February 2007 at a cost of€50 million, then the most expensive new magazine in Germany in years[quantify] and Condé Nast's biggest investment outside the United States. After circulation had plummeted from half a million to less than 200,000 per week, the German edition was shut down in 2009.[52] The ItalianVanity Fair is published weekly.[53]
| Country | Circulation dates | Editor-in-chief | Start year | End year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States (Vanity Fair) | 1913–1936 | Frank Crowninshield | 1914 | 1936 |
| 1983–present | Richard Locke | 1982 | 1983 | |
| Leo Lerman | 1983 | 1983 | ||
| Tina Brown | 1984 | 1992 | ||
| Graydon Carter | 1992 | 2017 | ||
| Radhika Jones | 2017 | 2025 | ||
| Mark Guiducci | 2025 | present | ||
| United Kingdom (Vanity Fair London) | 1991–present | Tina Brown | 1991 | 1992 |
| Graydon Carter | 1992 | 2017 | ||
| Radhika Jones | 2017 | 2025 | ||
| Mark Guiducci | 2025 | present | ||
| Italy (Vanity Fair Italia) | 1990–1991 | Paolo Pietroni [it][54] | 1990 | 1991 |
| 2003–present | Marisa Deimichei[55] | 2003 | 2004 | |
| Carlo Verdelli [it][54] | 2004 | 2006 | ||
| Luca Dini [it][54] | 2006 | 2017 | ||
| Daniela Hamaui[54] | 2017 | 2018 | ||
| Simone Marchetti[56] | 2018 | present | ||
| Germany (Vanity Fair Germany) | 2007–2009 | Ulf Poschardt[57] | 2007 | 2008 |
| Nikolaus Albrecht | 2008 | 2009 | ||
| Spain (Vanity Fair España) | 2008–present | Lourdes Garzón[58] | 2006 | 2017 |
| Alberto Moreno[59] | 2017 | present | ||
| France (Vanity Fair France) | 2013–present | Anne Boulay[60] | 2013 | 2019 |
| Joseph Ghosn[60] | 2019 | 2021 | ||
| Olivier Bouchara[61] | 2021 | present | ||
| Mexico (Vanity Fair México) | 2015–2018 | Lourdes Garzón[62] | 2015 | 2017 |
| Alberto Moreno[59] | 2017 | 2018 |
