A lot of the credit for that pivot goes to Elaine Welteroth, who in May was appointed editor - the first black woman to fill that role (opens in a new tab). When I read the magazine as a 15-year-old, it sounded pretty much like its namesake - just with cheaper clothes and younger cover stars.īut in recent years, the magazine has beefed up its coverage of politics and activism. Launched in 2004, Teen Vogue wasn't always political. When readers see interviews with teenage #NoDAPL activists (opens in a new tab) at Standing Rock in one magazine bearing the 'Vogue' name and a glamorization of cultural appropriation in the other, it creates a certain cognitive dissonance. But magazine readers aren't always paying attention to who runs what behind the scenes. Beyond that they're two separate publications. Vogue and Teen Vogue share a publisher: Condé Nast.

It also serves to remind the world just how much better Vogue could be. Teen Vogue's Trump takedowns and commitment to progressive values have drawn the attention of teen and adult readers alike post-election. The teen magazine shares Vogue's legacy name, but has turned itself into a very different publication. You'd think most magazines would know better by now, then again, what is 2017 but a year of regression? If any of Vogue's high-fashion competitors - Harper's Bazaar, W, or Town & Country, for example - had a similar lapse in judgment, the magazine would likely issue a statement and try to move on. Vogue's history of tone deafness got worse this week when it released photos from an upcoming fashion editorial featuring supermodel Karlie Kloss dressed as a geisha complete with yellowface. In the Trump era, Teen Vogue has become a rallying point of the resistance.

The Teen Vogue Handbook by Teen Vogue