 | |
 Cover of the October 2024 issue, featuringDiane von Furstenberg | |
| Editor | Stellene Volandes |
|---|---|
| Former editors | Frank Zachary |
| Photographer | Ronny Jaques |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Total circulation (2015) | 486,297[1] |
| Founder | Nathaniel Parker Willis andGeorge Pope Morris |
| Founded | 1846 |
| Company | Hearst Magazines |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0040-9952 |
Town & Country, formerly theHome Journal andThe National Press, is a monthlyAmericanlifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States.
The magazine was founded asThe National Press by poet and essayistNathaniel Parker Willis andNew York Evening Mirror newspaper editorGeorge Pope Morris in 1846.[2] Eight months later, it was renamedThe Home Journal.[3] After 1901, the magazine's name becameTown & Country, and it has retained that name ever since.
Throughout most of the 19th century, this weekly magazine featured poetry, essays, and fiction. As more influential people began reading it, the magazine began to include society news and gossip in its pages. After 1901, the magazine continued to chronicle the social events and leisure activities of the North American upper class, includingdebutante orcotillion balls, and also reported on the subsequent "advantageous marriages" that came from people meeting at such social engagements.
The magazine's earlier readership consisted of members ofthe Establishment. This included older wealthy families ofNew York City,Boston Brahmins and, later, those people in other parts of the United States whose surnames may have appeared in theSocial Register (established 1887).
Willis owned and edited the magazine from 1846 until his death in 1867.
After Willis's death, the magazine went through several owners and editors untilWilliam Randolph Hearst acquired ownership in 1925. The first editor under Hearst ownership was Harry Bull. He edited the magazine from 1925 through 1949. Henry B. Sell became Bull's successor.
The magazine is still owned and published by theHearst Corporation.[4] It is published monthly, and its readership is composed of mainly youngersocialites,café society, andmiddle class professionals.
Most of the advertising copy in the magazine is forluxury goods and services. The feature articles and photography focus primarily onfashion, arts, culture, interior design, travel, weddings, parties, gala events and other interests and concerns of theupper class.
In May 1993, Pamela Fiori became the first womaneditor-in-chief ofTown & Country magazine. During her tenure, Fiori was credited with increasing circulation by making the magazine more fashion forward and in recent years, makingphilanthropy more of a priority for the magazine.
Fiori also pushed for more diversity in the magazine's coverage. In an effort to play down the magazine's perceived snobbish andelitistWASP, orpreppy image, morecelebrities have been showing up on the magazine's covers, and there has been an increase in the number of articles showcasing the events and weddings of socially prominent black people, as well as the social activities of people of other ethnicities.
On April 6, 2010, Fiori was replaced by Steven Drucker as the editor-in-chief of the magazine.[5] Jay Fielden was named editor-in-chief in 2011.[6][7] Fielden was previously editor-in-chief ofMen's Vogue. Earlier in his career, he had worked atVogue andThe New Yorker. He said his goal was to bring "a lot of people under the tent" of "a snooty, exclusionary magazine."[8] He later said, "I gaveTown & Country some teeth, reporting on behavior that wasn't always that which, well,Emily Post would approve, like having an evening toke instead of a Scotch on the rocks."[9] In 2014, Fielden convinced novelistJay McInerney to move his column about wine from theWall Street Journal toTown & Country.[10]
Fielden inaugurated the T&C 50 lists, including rankings of philanthropists and influential American families. In 2014, he founded theTown & Country Philanthropy Summit, which has featured speakers such asMichael Bloomberg,Chelsea Clinton,Julia Louis-Dreyfus,Bradley Cooper,Lin-Manuel Miranda, andGeoffrey Canada.[11] Fielden leftTown & Country in 2016, when he replacedDavid M. Granger as editor-in-chief ofEsquire Magazine.Adweek wrote that Fielden had transformed the magazine from "dusty publication to buzzy brand."[12]
According toHuffPost on May 9, 2018,Town & Country took criticism for disinvitingMonica Lewinsky from its philanthropic summit because former PresidentBill Clinton decided to attend the event.[13] Hollywood producerJudd Apatow commented, "This is what everyone is fighting against."[13] He then added thatTown & Country "should be ashamed of themselves."[13]
In September 2003, a spin-off magazine entitled,Town & Country Travel, appeared. It is published quarterly. In September 2007,Town & Country Travel launched a travel website and a staff travel blog. There is a special edition of the magazine focusing on wedding planning. In the past decade, the magazine has also published severaletiquette, wedding and lifestyle guidebooks. Among the most recent books published by the magazine is "Modern Manners: The Thinking Person's Guide to Social Graces," released in 2005 and edited byTown & Country senior editor Thomas Farley.
In 2003,Town & Country releasedTown & Country Weddings, which is published twice yearly.[4]
The first international version of the magazine, calledTown & Country Philippines, was launched bySummit Media in 2007.
A BritishTown & Country magazine was launched by Hearst Magazines UK, a subsidiary of Hearst Corporation, in May 2014.[14][15]
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