Hi, everyone!
This is a fashion/culture magazine. We have holdings from several of its different titles. Special Collections has holdings for the earlier title, Depeche Mode de la Couture et la Mode de Paris and the next title, Depeche de Couture. Up in PERS, we have the more recent title, which is became La Depeche de la Mode sometime in 1966, and finally Depeche Mode. This title began as a weekly fashion newsletter. It was published in Paris, and written in French. As the earlier titles show, it always focused heavily on couture and the couturiers producing it (cute shot of Gaultier, isn’t it?). It evolved into a monthly, and through the different formats I’ve pictured here.
The title “Depeche Mode”, which means “Fashion News” or “Fashion Update” was chosen as the name of a band 1980, by a group of electronic musicians from Basildon, U.K., thus confusing the issue and making it tough to look up the magazine.
The magazine ceased publication with their December 2001/January 2002, citing the difficult financial times just after the September 11th tragedy at the World Trade Center in New York.
I thought it would be interesting to look at how much the magazine changed over the years we have issues of it. Here is the cover for the November 1966 issue:
The title doesn’t even have a photo on the cover. In fact, the entire magazine is illustrations not photographs, giving it a more newpaperish feeling than it’s magazine competitors Vogue Paris and L’Officiel de la Couture.
This looks a lot more like WWD (which in the 1960s and ’70s had illustrations by our own FIT Professor, Steven Stipelman) or another interesting title we have in our Open Stacks, ADigest.
By the 1990s, the title had become a glossy magazine, much like Vogue, L’Officiel, or Linea Italiana, and Elle. It was still focused heavily on couturiers, but it also had a popular culture flavor that was more in tune with a younger audience and the music scene. This youth appeal included some interest in crafting and do-it-yourself projects, like this article on lace:
This early 1990s issue has a distinctly playful feeling, even when addressing fashion and accessories:
By the 2000s, the title had gotten more serious and more like it’s competitors in the field, as seen in this 2001 issue. The photography is cutting edge and well styled, but so were the other titles in the field.
You can take a look at this title and many others on the 6th floor of the library.