History
According to David Friend from Vanity Fair (https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/01/oneclickhistory)
- The original meaning of Vanity Fair was "a place of scene of ostentation or empty, idle amusement and frivolity."
- In the 19th century, author William Makepeace Thackery made Vanity fair his own.
- 1859-1863 - Vanity Fair was a Manhattan-based, short-lived humorous magazine.
- 1868-1914 - in the UK, Vanity Fair was essentially societies magazine. On the covers, you had privileged men and occasionally women.
- 1890 - America's version had begun their weekly publication. The magazine was reaching the "vast luxury-loving, money-spending multitude everywhere."
- In 1913, Conde Nast bought the rights to Vanity Fair and made it become Dress and Vanity Fair. This did not sell as well as they thought it would, as a result, there were only four volumes that were released.
- In 1914 a re-vamped version of Vanity Fair was relaunched and it promoted the work of modern artists, like Picasso, published essays, and helped popularize celebrities.
Jump to more closer times
- A highly respected individual, who is a veteran of Time and Life, co-founder of Spy, and editor of The New York Observer, Graydon Carter brought Vanity Fair to new levels of journalism.
- This expanded the magazine's mandate to what Vanity Fair is now.
I suppose it would be appropriate to say that this version of Vanity Fair is FAIRLY new.
(All information was found on the Vanity Fair website: https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2008/01/oneclickhistory )