Robots Reading Vogue analyzes the dataset of the magazine Vogue from its beginning in 1892 through 2013.
Speaking of robots, is Vogue self-aware? The n-gram search on “Vogue” and “vogue” (using the case-sensitive option of course) suggests that metacognition in the popular magazine has not been in vogue of late. The two terms trend together, with several shared local maximum years like 1904-05, 1915, 1925-26, and 2010. After a sharp drop from 1942-48, self-reference never returns to its former levels. Did World War II have anything to do with this? I’m not sure. There was also a steep but brief drop from 1916-18 (WWI) as well. Why would that be, anyway?
I looked at the results of pages including “Vogue” in 1901, the peak year, and found that the majority are from advertisements, the weekly pattern, and answers to correspondents. It seems that explicitly addressing the readership of Vogue was fashionable at the time; sometimes the editors did it, but more often outside ads appealed to the readers (readers of Vogue will love this facial cream!).
In 1985, the record-low year for internal “Vogue,” recurring cases were the masthead (basically the title page), table of contents, or the “Your Letters” section, somewhat in keeping with 1901. The only meaningful self-references in this majority are from the readers, again an outside source. “Vogue” does appear in a wider variety of features and departments in 1985 than in 1901. The 80s are also the most stable decade for the word “Vogue” in the history of its publication.
The Robots Reading Vogue project authors note that the cover averages are most homogenous in the 70s and 80s, which also coincides almost exactly with the chief editorship of Mirabella. Women’s faces usually fill the page at a similar angle and placement, which contrasts with the Cubistic cover averages from the 20s-50s. The project authors describe this general similarity in the 70s-80s as a “visual rut,” but it seems to a conscious reinvention of the aesthetic, which entails self-awareness. Apparently the vogue of Vogue at this time was implicit, not explicit, self-reference. Does this tell us anything about the way America’s sense of self has evolved since 1892?
Source (for images as well):
“Averaging Covers in Vogue” and “Vogue n-gram Search.” Robots Reading Vogue. Joint project by Lindsay King (Haas Arts Library) and Peter Leonard (Digital Humanities Lab).
