Allure (magazine)

Allure

Editor	Linda Wells
Categories	Beauty
Frequency	Monthly
Total circulation (2011)	1,108,834
First issue	1991
Company	Condé Nast Publications
Country	United States
Language	English
Website	allure.com
ISSN	1054-7711

Allure is the leading U.S. women’s beauty magazine, published monthly by Condé Nast in New York City. It was founded in 1991 by editor in chief Linda Wells, who has been at the helm of the magazine ever since. A signature of the magazine is its annual Best of Beauty awards—accolades given in the October issue to beauty products deemed the best by magazine staff.

History

In 1990, S.I. Newhouse Jr., chairman of Condé Nast, and then editorial director Alexander Liberman approached Linda Wells to develop a concept they had for a beauty magazine. At the time, Wells was the beauty editor and the food editor at The New York Times Magazine.

The magazine’s prototype was shredded shortly before the scheduled launch date and, after overhauling everything (including the logo), Allure made its debut in March 1991. The magazine’s original format was oversize, but this prevented it from fitting into slots at grocery-store checkouts and required advertisers to resize their ads or create new ones. After four issues, Allure changed to a standard-size glossy format.

Impact

Allure focuses on beauty, fashion, and women’s health. Allure was the first women’s magazine to write about the health risks associated with silicone breast implants, and has reported on other controversial health issues.

The magazine’s circulation, initially 250,000 in 1991, is over 1 million as of 2011.

Many writers have contributed to Allure. Among them are Arthur Miller, John Updike, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Chabon, Kathryn Harrison, Frank McCourt, Isabel Allende, and Francine du Plessix Gray. Elizabeth Gilbert’s essay “The Road to Rapture,” published in Allure in 2003, was the precursor to her memoir, Eat, Pray, Love (Viking Adult). Photographers who have shot for Allure include Michael Thompson, Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, Tina Barney, Marilyn Minter, Carter Smith, Steven Klein, Steven Meisel, and Helmut Newton. Cover subjects have included Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Victoria Beckham, Beyoncé, Fergie, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Kate Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, and Gwen Stefani. (See List of Allure cover models).

Best of Beauty Awards

Allure began its Best of Beauty awards program 14 years ago, at the initiative of Wells, to help readers choose among the vast array of makeup, skin-care, and hair-care products on the market.

Allure has two sets of awards, one judged by the magazine’s editors and the other by readers. A “winners’ seal” logo, developed by Allure, appears on many of the winning products. To ensure that its judgments are neutral, Allure's ad department isn’t involved in the selections.

In 2010, the magazine developed an iPhone app that highlights the winning products and tells users where they can buy them based on their location.

Editor in Chief

Linda Wells graduated in 1980 from Trinity College in Hartford. Connecticut. She began her journalism career at Vogue, where she wrote and edited stories about beauty, health, nutrition, and fitness. In 1985, she joined The New York Times as a reporter, ultimately becoming the beauty editor and the food editor of The New York Times Magazine.

Wells's editor's letter has been praised for tackling a variety of topics with honesty. Women's Wear Daily gave her an "A" rating in its Editors' Report Card column acknowledging her "backbone".

In 2006, Wells, with her editors at Allure, wrote her first book, Confessions of a Beauty Editor (Bulfinch).

Awards (for Allure)

The National Magazine Award for Design (1994)
The Editorial Excellence Award from Folio (2001)
The Circulation Excellence Award from Circulation Management (2001)
“Ring Leader,” an essay by Natalie Kusz from the February 1996 issue of Allure, was selected for The Best American Essays 1997 (Houghton Mifflin).
The magazine has been on Adweek’s Hot List in 1993, 1994, 1995, 2003, and 2007.
Allure has received 29 awards from the American Academy of Dermatology, 9 journalism awards from the Fragrance Foundation, and the Excellence in Media Award from the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Awards (for Linda Wells)

The Achiever Award from Cosmetic Executive Women (2001)
The Matrix Award for magazine leadership from New York Women in Communications, Inc. (2009)

In the media

Wells, along with Allure editors Michael Carl and Kelly Atterton, have appeared as judges on the Bravo TV series Shear Genius.

Allure editors have appeared as experts on programs such as the Today show and 60 Minutes, and Allure stories frequently receive national attention.

Hilary Duff played an Allure intern in Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

External links

• allure.com
• "Allure Floods Issue with 2-D Barcodes, Sees Subscription Bump"
• "Allure Magazine: Hot For Blonde Fox News Anchors"
• "Pedaling in Place on the Road to Fitness"
• Is ethnic beauty the new 'it' factor?
• Best of Beauty Revealed on Today
• "Allure Mag Selects Affordable, Awesome Products"
• "In Depth: 2009's Most Powerful Fashion Magazine Editors"
• mediaite.com
• Linda Wells’s Letter From the Editor

See also

List of Allure cover models