 | |
 December 2019 cover featuringMeghan, Duchess of Sussex, and highlighting 310 years since theoriginal short-livedTatler | |
| Editor | Richard Dennen |
|---|---|
| Categories | Fashion |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Total circulation (2019) | 79,000[1] |
| Founder | Clement Shorter |
| First issue | 1901; 124 years ago (1901) |
| Company | Condé Nast |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | Tatler.com |
Tatler (stylised inall caps) is a Britishmagazine published byCondé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the Britishupper andupper-middle classes, and people interested in relevantsociety events. According to Condé Nast, the majority of its readership are females with above-average household incomes of the Britishmiddle andupper-middle classes.[2]
Irish Tatler is published byBusiness Post.[3]
Tatler was introduced on 3 July 1901, byClement Shorter, publisher ofThe Sphere. It was named after theoriginal literary and society journal founded byRichard Steele in 1709. Originally sold occasionally asThe Tatler[4] and for some time a weekly publication, it had a subtitle varying on "an illustrated journal of society and the drama". It contained news and pictures of high society balls, charity events, race meetings, shooting parties, fashion and gossip, withcartoons by "The Tout" andH. M. Bateman.
In 1940, the magazine absorbedThe Bystander, creating a publication calledThe Tatler and Bystander.[5] In 1961, Illustrated Newspapers, which publishedTatler,The Sphere, andThe Illustrated London News, was bought byRoy Thomson.[6] In 1965,Tatler was retitledLondon Life.[7][8] In 1968, it was bought by Guy Wayte's Illustrated County Magazine group and theTatler name restored.[9] Wayte's group had a number ofcounty magazines in the style ofTatler, each of which mixed the same syndicated content with county-specific local content.[9] Wayte, "a moustachioed playboy of a conman"[10] was convicted of fraud in 1980 for inflatingTatler's circulation figures from 15,000 to 49,000.[11]
Hong Kong Tatler was launched under licence in March 1977,[12] the magazines are no longer associated and the Hong Kong edition now operates Tatler publications in Asia and Africa underTatler Asia.[13]
The magazine was sold and relaunched as a monthly magazine in 1977, calledTatler & Bystander until 1982.[8]Tina Brown (editor 1979–83), created a vibrant and youthfulTatler and is credited with putting the edge, the irony and the wit back into what was then an almost moribund social title. She referred to it as an upper-class comic and by increasing its influence and circulation made it an interesting enough operation for the then owner, Gary Bogard, to sell to publishersCondé Nast. Brown subsequently transferred to New York, to another Condé Nast title,Vanity Fair.
After several later editors and a looming recession, the magazine was once again ailing; Jane Procter was brought in to re-invent the title for the 1990s. The circulation rose to over 90,000, a figure which was exceeded five years later byGeordie Greig. The magazine created various supplements including the Travel and Restaurant Guides, the often-referred to and closely watchedMost Invited andLittle Black Book lists, as well as various parties.
Kate Reardon became editor in 2011. She was previously a fashion assistant on AmericanVogue and then, aged 21, became the youngest-ever fashion director ofTatler.[14] Under Reardon's directorshipTatler retained its position as having the wealthiest audience of Condé Nast's magazines, exceeding an average of $175,000 in 2013.[15]
Reardon left the title at the end of 2017. The appointment ofRichard Dennen as the new editor was announced at the beginning of February 2018, and he took up the post on 12 February.[16]
In 2014, theBBC broadcast a three-part fly-on-the-wall documentary television series, titledPosh People: Inside Tatler, featuring the editorial team going about their various jobs.[17]
In 2021,Tatler commissioned Nigerian painterOluwole Omofemi to paint the last painting ofQueen Elizabeth II before her death.[18]
One ofTatler's most talked-about annual features is theLittle Black Book. The supplement is a compilation of "the most eligible, most beddable, most exotically plumaged birds and blokes in town", and individuals previously featured have included those from a number of backgrounds: aristocrats and investment bankers sit alongside celebrities and those working in the media sector.
| Clement Shorter | 1901–1926 | In 1900, he founded Sphere, which he edited up until his death in 1926. He died on 19 November 1926. |
| Edward Huskinson | 1908–1940 | Had already been replaced before he was killed, in November 1941, by a train atSavernake station, Wiltshire[19] |
| Reginald Stewart Hooper | 1940–45 | Died in office. Previously editor ofThe Bystander from 1932.[20] |
| Col. Sean Fielding | 1946–1954[21] | Later of theDaily Express |
| Lt-Col.Philip Youngman-Carter | 1954–57 | Earlier worked for Fielding as editor ofSoldier.[22] |
| Harry Aubrey Fieldhouse | 1960–61[23] | |
| Mark Boxer | 1965 | Officially "editorial director" ofLondon Life. AlsoThe Times's political cartoonist, and the creator ofThe Sunday Times Magazine.[7] |
| Ian Howard[7] | 1965– | |
| Robert Innes-Smith[9] | 1968 | |
| Leslie Field | 1978– | The first female, and only American, editor[24] |
| Tina Brown[25] | 1979–1983 | |
| Libby Purves | 1983[26][27] | |
| Mark Boxer | 1983–88[27] | Second term; retired just before his death from brain cancer[28] |
| Emma Soames | 1988–1990[27] | |
| Jane Procter | 1990–99[29] | |
| Geordie Greig[30] | 1999–2009[31] | Resigned to become editor of theEvening Standard[31] |
| Catherine Ostler | 2009–2011 | Previously editor of theEvening Standard'sES magazine; resigned December 2010[27][32] |
| Kate Reardon | 2011–17 | Previously contributing editor ofVanity Fair; prior to that, fashion editor ofTatler. Also a columnist for theDaily Mail andThe Times.[33] |
| Richard Dennen | 2018–present |
| Country | Circulation Dates | Editor-in-Chief | Start year | End year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland (Irish Tatler) | 1890–present[note 1] | Jessie Collins | 2009 | 2015 |
| Shauna O'Halloran | 2015 | 2019 | ||
| Jessie Collins | 2020 | present | ||
| Russia (Tatler Russia) | 2008–2022 | Victoria Davydova | 2008 | 2010 |
| Ksenia Solovieva | 2010 | 2021 | ||
| Arian Romanovskiy | 2021 | 2022 |
At St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, on January 4, [1922] Mr. J. A. Middle- ton, M.C., is to be married to Miss Dorothea Beighton, and on...
