«If she reads, she reads ELLE»: everything you need to know about the media brand

ELLE is an international women’s media brand created by Hélène Lazareff, a French journalist. It first graced the pages of publication on November 21, 1945. The daily journal covered topics ranging from fashion, beauty, and leisure, to health. By the mid-1980s, ELLE had conquered the international market, being published monthly. The exception was France, where its periodicity remained unchanged.

The first magazine consisted of 24 pages and cost 15 francs, which today would be equivalent to 200,000 som. It featured articles on fashion, recipes, and sewing patterns. 

Hélène Lazareff introduced American freedom of thought and irony into the French publications. The magazine’s editorial team focused on the preferences of the ‘wealthy Parisian woman.’ It covered haute couture trends, and Christian Dior collections were discussed, but later the magazine began featuring articles on prêt-à-porter lines. The key editorial goal was to provide women with exclusive and unprecedented access to fashion and beauty.

In the second half of the past century, ELLE firmly established itself in the world of fashion, selling a million copies of the magazine in France by that time. It was during this period that the slogan ‘If she reads, she reads ELLE’ emerged. The internationalization of the magazine began in the United States and the United Kingdom – Uzbekistan became another country in the world where ELLE is now being published. 

The focus of covered themes shifted towards feminism and women’s rights but later on, returned to fashion and the beauty industry. Through its publications, ELLE supported the experiments of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake, and Azzedine Alaïa. In 1972, Hélène left the magazine, but its original version still exists, having transformed into a structured and intuitively navigable format, adapted to today’s readers with clear page numbering.”

The magazine celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a special issue featuring Vanessa Paradis on the cover. In 1995, ELLE France became the first website of the magazine, soon followed by others.