Mademoiselle

Mademoiselle

February 1954 cover
Categories	women's magazine
First issue	1935 (1935-month)
Final issue	2001
Company	Street and Smith Condé Nast Publications
Country	United States
Based in	New York City
Language	English
ISSN	0024-9394

Mademoiselle was an influential women's magazine first published in 1935 by Street and Smith^[1] and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications.

Mademoiselle was known for publishing short stories by noted authors such as Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, Flannery O'Connor, Paul Bowles, Jane Bowles, Jane Smiley, Mary Gordon, Paul Theroux, Sue Miller, Barbara Kingsolver, Perri Klass, Mona Simpson, Alice Munro,^[2] Harold Brodkey, Pam Houston, Jean Stafford, and Susan Minot. Julia Cameron was a frequent columnist.^[3] The art director was Barbara Kruger.^[4]

In 1952, Sylvia Plath's short story Sunday at the Mintons won first prize and $500, as well as publication in the magazine. Her experiences during the summer of 1953 as a guest editor at Mademoiselle provided the basis for her novel, The Bell Jar.^[5]

The August 1961 "college issue" of "Mademoiselle" included a photo of UCLA senior class president Willette Murphy, who did not realize she was making history as the first African-American model to appear in a mainstream fashion magazine.^[6]

In the Sixties Mademoiselle Magazine was geared “to the smart young woman”, emphasis on woman. They categorically stated in their editorials that despite their young, maidenly name they were not geared to young teenagers. The majority of their readers may have been in college, in a job, some may have been married. Mademoiselle was interested in reaching only mature college freshmen and up, who were being exposed to the greatest literature, facing the greatest moral problems coping with all the complexities of the atomic age. They considered it their editorial duty to try to come to grips with the vital matters in the articles and poetry they published. They did not always have the solutions but they took a good, frank look at the mores of the day and prided themselves on bringing controversial subjects into the open, with s articles like “The Single Girl and the Married Man”, Mothers & Daughters” and ‘The Psychedelic Game”.

Mademoiselle continued to be a top shelf magazine throughout the Eighties and Nineties featuring the top models on thier covers and in the pages of their editorial sections.

In 1993 Elizabeth Crow was appointed editor-in-chief of the magazine. The November 2001 magazine was the final issue. Some of the 93 employees and features moved over to Glamour, also published by Condé Nast. Spokeswoman Maurie Perl explained the reason was due to the worsening economic climate for magazines after the 9/11 attacks.^[7]

Editors

• Desmond Hall and F. Orlin Tremaine (1935)
• F. Orlin Tremaine (1935–1937)
• Betsy Blackwell (1937–1971)
• Edie Lock (1971–1980)
• Amy Levin Cooper (1981–1992)
• Gabe Doppelt (1992)
• Elizabeth Crow (1993–2001)

References

External links

• Mademoiselle Covers
• Goodbye to Mademoiselle: Condé Nast Closes Magazine - New York Times, October 2, 2001