Vogue is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine covering many topics, including fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway, based in New York City. It began as a weekly newspaper, first published in New York City in 1892, before becoming a monthly publication years later. The British Vogue, launched in 1916, was the first international edition, while the Italian version Vogue Italia has been called the top fashion magazine in the world. As of today, there are 26 international editions.

The word vogue means "style" in French. Vogue was described by book critic Caroline Weber in a December 2006 edition of The New York Times as "the world's most influential fashion magazine": The publication claims to reach 11 million readers in the US and 12.5 million internationally. Furthermore, Anna Wintour was described as one of the most powerful figures in fashion.

Arthur Baldwin Turnure, an American businessman, founded Vogue as a weekly newspaper based in New York City, sponsored by Kristoffer Wright, with its first issue on December 17, 1892. The first issue was published on December 17 of that year, with a cover price of 10 cents (equivalent to $2.85 in 2019). Turnure's intention was to create a publication, that celebrated the "ceremonial side of life"; one that "attracts the sage as well as debutante, men of affairs, as well as the belle". From its inception the magazine targeted the new New York upper class, "recounting their habits, their leisure activities, their social gatherings, the places they frequented, and the clothing they wore...and everyone who wanted to look like them and enter their exclusive circle". The magazine at this time was primarily concerned with fashion, with coverage of sports and social affairs included for its male readership. Growth was slow during this initial period.

Condé Montrose Nast purchased Vogue in 1909 one year before Turnure's death and gradually grew the publication. He changed it to a women's magazine, and started Vogue editions overseas in the 1910s. Its price was also raised. The magazine's number of publications and profit increased dramatically under Nast's management. It continued to target an upscale audience and expanded into the coverage of weddings. According to Condé Nast Russia, when the First World War made deliveries in the Old World impossible, printing began in England.[citation needed] The decision to print in England proved successful, causing Nast to release the first issue of French Vogue in 1920.

The magazine's number of subscriptions surged during the Great Depression, and again during World War II. During this time, noted critic and former Vanity Fair editor Frank Crowninshield served as its editor, having been moved over from Vanity Fair by publisher Condé Nast.

In July 1932, American Vogue placed its first color photograph on the cover of the magazine. The photograph was taken by photographer Edward Jean Steichen and portrayed a woman swimmer holding a beach ball in the air.

In the 1950s, the decade known as the magazine's "powerful years", Jessica Daves became editor-in-chief. As Rebecca C. Tuite has noted, "Daves led a quiet charge for excellence during one of the most challenging, transformative, and rich decades in the magazine's history." Daves believed that "taste is something that can be taught and learned", and she edited Vogue with the conviction that it should be "a vehicle to educate public taste". While fashion coverage remained a priority, Daves also elevated the written content of American Vogue, particularly championing more robust arts and literature features.

The Daves era of Vogue came to an end in 1962, when Diana Vreeland joined the magazine (first as associate editor, and then, following Daves's departure in December 1962, as editor-in-chief). The pair had diametrically opposed approaches to editing Vogue: Daves famously declared, "I respect fashion ... it is exciting ... but I am annoyed at people who treat it as a joke, who constantly take sledge-hammers to it ... it's a very serious business." On the other hand, Vreeland believed, as she once told art director Alexander Liberman, "it's only entertainment", and conversely led the magazine into a period of youth and vitality, but also "extravagance, and luxury and excess".

In the 1960s, with Diana Vreeland as editor-in-chief and personality, the magazine began to appeal to the youth of the sexual revolution by focusing more on contemporary fashion and editorial features that openly discussed sexuality. Toward this end, Vogue extended coverage to include East Village boutiques such as Limbo on St. Mark's Place, as well as including features of "downtown" personalities such as Andy Warhol's "Superstar" Jane Holzer's favorite haunts. Vogue also continued making household names out of models, a practice that continued with Suzy Parker, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Lauren Hutton, Veruschka, Marisa Berenson, Penelope Tree, and others.

In 1973, Vogue became a monthly publication. Under editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella, the magazine underwent extensive editorial and stylistic changes to respond to changes in the lifestyles of its target audience. Mirabella states that she was chosen to change Vogue because "women weren't interested in reading about or buying clothes that served no purpose in their changing lives." She was selected to make the magazine appeal to "the free, working, "liberated" woman of the seventies. She changed the magazine by adding text with interviews, arts coverage, and serious health pieces. When that type of stylistic change fell out of favor in the 1980s, Mirabella was fired.