Elle (stylized ELLE) is a worldwide women’s magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society, and lifestyle. Elle means she or her in French. Elle is considered the world’s largest fashion magazine, with 45 editions around the world and 46 local websites. It now counts 21 million readers and 100 million unique visitors per month, with an audience of mostly women. It was founded in Paris in 1945 by Helene Gordon-Lazareff and her husband, the writer Pierre Lazareff. The magazine’s readership has continuously grown since its founding, increasing to 800,000 across France by the 1960s. Elle editions have since multiplied, creating a global network of publications and readers. Elle’s Japanese publication was launched in 1969, beginning an international expansion. Its first issues in English (US and UK) were launched in 1985. Previous editors of the magazine include Jean-Dominique Bauby, well-known for his memoir, and Roberta Myers, the longest-serving editor-in-chief at Elle. Nina Garcia currently holds the position of editor-in-chief at Elle, appointed after the departure of Myers. Along with the magazine, the Elle brand includes 33 websites that stretch globally and receive 370 million monthly views. The Lagardere Group of France owns the brand. The official Elle headquarters is located in Paris, with licensed publishers located in many other cities.
Elle was founded in Paris in the immediate aftermath of World War II and was first sold as a supplement to France-Soir, edited at the time by Pierre Lazareff. Helene Gordon-Lazareff, Elle’s pioneering founder, returned to Paris from New York City to create a unique publication that grappled with the many forces shaping the lives of women in France in 1945. Women won the right to vote in 1944, and Elle dove immediately into long-form “newspaper-like” features on women’s role in national politics and the growing feminist movement. In the Elle articles featuring rising fashion designers, the magazine would provide free patterns of some of their fashion pieces. This allowed the general public to experience haute couture as the glamor of the fashion world was becoming accessible to the common working class. Its 100th issue, published on 14 October 1947, featured the work of Christian Dior just eight months after his debut show. Likewise, Brigitte Bardot had her first Elle cover at age 17, on 7 January 1952, months before her screen debut in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini. By the 1960s, Elle had a readership of 800,000 across France and was said to “not so much reflect fashion as decree it.” This dominance was reflected in the famous slogan: “Si elle lit, elle lit Elle” ‘If she reads, she reads Elle’. Lagardere Group subsidiary, Hachette Filipacchi Medias began pushing Elle outside of Europe in 1969, launching its Japanese publication. In 1985, Elle launched in Britain and the United States.[7] The Chinese version of the magazine was first published in 1988. It was the first four-color fashion magazine offered in China. The magazine was used as an informational and educational tool for opening the Chinese textile market. By 1991, the magazine’s sales were in decline in the U.S. In 1989, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. launched Elle Decor magazine, focusing on home decor. Elle.com was launched in 2007. In 2011, The Hearst Corporation reached a $651M deal with Lagardere to purchase the rights to publish Elle Magazine in fifteen countries including the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Ukraine. Lagardère, which struggled in the international market in the 2000s, retained the rights to the French edition and would collect royalties from the international editions. Elle Brazil was the first commercial magazine in the world to have a transgender model on its cover, with Lea T. in December 2011. The Brazilian edition had also discovered transgender model Valentina Sampaio and had put her on the cover before French Vogue. Elle printed special collectors’ covers for their September 2016 issue, and one of them featured Hari Nef, which was the first time an openly transgender woman had been on the cover of a major commercial British magazine. In 2019, Lagardere sold Elle France to Czech Media Invest, the parent of Czech News Center. Lagardere continues to own the Elle brand.
Elle Magazine offers 3 subscriptions. A Digital Only, All-Access Intro Offer, and Print Only. The Digital-Only subscription is $3 per month and includes unlimited site access. The All-Access Intro Offer is $5 for 6 months and then $25 per year thereafter. The All-Access Intro Offer includes unlimited site access, a 6-month print subscription (5 issues), and 1 complimentary print gift subscription for 1 year. The Print Subscription is $3 for 6 months. The Print Subscription will automatically renew until it is canceled. Elle Magazine accepts all major credit cards such as Visa, Master Card, Discover, and American Express, as well as PayPal and Amazon Pay.
