Arrival of indigenous edition of fashion's most famous glossy magazine has become a badge of sophistication
Here's a simple test of the economic development and consumer sophistication of a nation: visit a newsstand, and look for a copy of Vogue. The arrival of an indigenous edition of fashion's most famous glossy magazine has become a barometer of the emergence of an affluent middle class, and a siren call to a luxury industry looking for new markets.
Launches in Thailand and Ukraine next year will bring the number of international Vogues to 21. Until the 1960s, there were only five editions of Vogue: in the US, UK, France, Italy and Australia. In the past 40 years, economic growth around the globe has been tracked by the arrival of Vogue editors: Russia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan have had their own Vogues since the 1990s, while the first decade of the 21st century saw launches in China and India, among others. The launch of Turkish Vogue two years ago indicated the country's emergence as a luxury market.
Because the printing cost of a copy of Vogue is much higher than the cover price, advertising is crucial. For this reason, the appetite of the luxury industry to reach consumers in a country is what brings Vogue to the newsstand. As Condé Nast's chairman, Jonathan Newhouse, said when announcing the 2013 launch of a Kiev-based edition of his magazine: "The Ukraine is ready for Vogue … Kiev is booming, and there is a strong market demand for luxury products and the experience Vogue can offer the reader."
But the arrival of Vogue has also become a badge of sophistication for a country. The desire among consumers for a Vogue specific to that country, rather than imported editions, grows as a middle class gains confidence. The lofty, imperial decrees of a magazine printed in a distant western capital no longer satisfy women secure in their own ideals of style and beauty and looking for publications which reflect these.
When Turkish Vogue launched in 2010, the 562-page debut issue boasted 252 pages of advertising including Dior, Escada and D&G and the masthead featured Mary Fellowes, formerly of British Vogue – but at the Paris launch party, the editor in chief chose a dress by Turkish designer Hakaan Yildirim. Vogue Thailand recently provided a teaser cover image of its debut cover, featuring the Thai model Si Tanwiboon, who has walked in Paris fashion week shows including Jean Paul Gaultier and Louis Vuitton.
Each edition of Vogue takes on something of the character of that country. Japanese Vogue is eccentric and edgy, reflecting the lively fashion cultures of Tokyo. Russian Vogue is edited by Victoria Davydova, whose graduate thesis was on the financial structure of the beauty industry; the models rarely smile.
Indian Vogue has had Indian models on every cover in 2012, but this is unusual. China had the Beijing-born model Liu Wen on three consecutive September issues, but has also featured the US models Arizona Muse and Karlie Kloss in 2012. Spanish Vogue's cover models this year included Penélope Cruz, but also Kate Moss dressed as a matador. Vogue Brazil most often features Brazilian models, in particular Gisele Bündchen, but in Korean Vogue a run of blond models has included Britain's Cara Delevingne, the Dutch Lara Stone and the American Carolyn Murphy.
Japanese Vogue aroused controversy when a video of a shoot with the US model Crystal Renn appeared to show her temples being pulled back to give her eyes a more Japanese appearance. The magazine insisted the technique is commonly used to define bone structure on camera, and was not intended to alter ethnicity.