Dorothy Todd
Dorothy Todd (1888–1966) was a British magazine editor.[1]
During her time as editor of British Vogue from 1922-26, Todd altered the magazine’s interest and content from fashion to a broader inclusion of modernist literature and art.[2] Unlike her predecessor, Elspeth Champcommunal, who focused on fashion, travel, and trends; Todd included work of modernists such as Wyndam Lewis, Gertrude Stein, Clive Bell, Virginia Woolf, and Aldous Huxley(guard).[3] Much of “the failure of [her] Vogue to sustain itself within the specific context of Condé Nast’s corporate structure and the general context of British culture in the 1920s”[4][5] can likely be attributed to its progressive nature and “significant subcultural context”[4] such as blatant homosexual undertones. This bold shift was an unpopular alteration which resulted in her dismissal in 1926 and she failed to recover from this professional setback.[citation needed]
Affectionately known as ‘Dody,[4] Todd was born in 1883, and during her time as editor, lived in Chelsea, London with her lover and assistant, Madge Garland. Their friend, Freddie Ashton produced a ballet in 1926 entitled A Tragedy of Fashion, featuring two characters designed to parallel Todd and Garland.[6]
References
- ^ Beaton, Cecil (2004). Beaton in the Sixties: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1965-1969. Vol. 2. Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 30 note 3. ISBN 9781400042975.
- ^ Pentelow, Orla (28 December 2017). "Vogue Editors Through The Years". British Vogue. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ Fisher, Alice (14 March 2014). "The 10 best Vogue moments". the Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ a b c Reed, Christopher (2006). "A Vogue That Dare Not Speak its Name: Sexual Subculture During the Editorship of Dorothy Todd, 1922–26". Fashion Theory. 10 (1–2). Informa UK Limited: 39–72. doi:10.2752/136270406778050996. ISSN 1362-704X.
- ^ Conekin, Becky (2006). Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture (in Estonian). Oxford: Berg. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-84520-275-0.
- ^ Pender, Anne (2007). "'Modernist Madonnas': Dorothy Todd, Madge Garland and Virginia Woolf". Women's History Review. 16 (4). Informa UK Limited: 519–533. doi:10.1080/09612020701445867. ISSN 0961-2025.