The magazine "ELLE" celebrates its 75 years with a special issue to appear on Friday.

Seven special covers on the theme of transmission, which also allow you to dive back into the archives of the weekly and its developments, depending on the readers and society.

INTERVIEW

The anniversary of a cult weekly.

The French magazine 

ELLE

celebrates its 75 years with the release of an event issue on Friday.

Seven exceptional covers are offered to readers to celebrate the transmission, "since IT is a newspaper that is passed down from generation to generation," explains Editorial Director Erin Doherty.

Back on the history of a women's magazine, which totals 46 editions around the world and whose sales are increasing this year 2020, which has endeavored to evolve with its readers.

Celebrate transmission

"We chose to cover the stars who are loyal to

ELLE,

" says the editor.

Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert and Estelle Lefébure have accepted the project and pose with their sons or daughters to celebrate the theme of transmission, in photos and in exclusive interviews.

Another icon, Jane Birkin, with her two daughters, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Douillon.

In a touching interview, they talk about their sister and daughter, Kate Berry, a deceased photographer who has made many covers of the weekly.

“It was very moving to bring them together,” says Erin Doherty.

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In addition to transmission through parentage, the editorial staff wanted to go further, bringing together politician Christian Taubira and author Leïla Slimani.

"With Leïla and Christiane, who each made their cover, we wanted to talk about intellectual parentage", underlines the editorial director.

"The interview is top-notch. They talk about the guilt of absent mothers, the importance of frivolity ..."

The history of women

Because

ELLE has been

claiming its "two-headed" editorial line for 75 years.

"She has always been very committed," recalls Erin Doherty.

"When Hélène Lazareff hired Françoise Giroud, it was to support all the battles that were looming in this 20th century. They had their right to vote in their pockets but then Françoise Giroud urged women to go and vote, to go and work for their independence. So yes,

ELLE

is a militant, committed newspaper but also a frivolous newspaper, with fashion, anything serious too! " 

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To celebrate this anniversary, the teams went back to the magazine's archives, decades by decades.

"And we realize that, in fashion, the history of women is emerging. We were there when Dior corseted women's waists a little too much but it is a silhouette that has become historic, we are there when Jean- Paul Gauthier tackles the theory of gender ", lists Erin Doherty. 

More diversity, inclusiveness, news

To bring the magazine closer to readers and their expectations, the editorial staff also questioned themselves by integrating new issues of representativeness in the media, in particular the diversity of female bodies.

"Diversity is a real issue, in all media. We did our self-examination at one point. And I think that if you take the year that has just passed, we are rather well placed," says Marion Ruggieri, columnist and editor-in-chief of the "society and people fashion" division.

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"

ELLE

journalists

are not six feet tall, they are not 45 kilograms, as you can see," she jokes.

"We are the image of the reader. It is true that for a long time we were constrained, corseted by a model image and little by little we wanted women who look like us, who look like readers. 'is mirrored with what has happened in society, on social networks. It is not a difficulty, it is something that has happened naturally and more and more ". 

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The articles in the magazine also increasingly evoke political and societal news.

For journalists, it is a real editorial choice.

“The diary reflects everything that is happening at the moment. It is such a rich, surreal but also so fascinating period, where there is so much going on especially for women. There is a wave of feminism, that we had not seen since the 1970s, we find ourselves at the heart of it all, "says Marion Ruggieri.

"I've been working at

ELLE for

twenty years

, we never give up. We constantly try to question ourselves, to say to ourselves 'how can we do better, how can we think differently, more broadly?'

The newspaper is evolving with that. "