Dorothy Todd

Dorothy Todd (1883–1966) was a British magazine editor.[1]

For the English actress Dorothy Ann Todd, see Ann Todd.

During her time as editor of British Vogue from 1922–1926, Todd altered the magazine’s interest and content from fashion to a broader inclusion of modernist literature and art.[2] Unlike her predecessor, Elspeth Champcommunal, who focused on fashion, travel, and trends, Todd included works by modernists such as Wyndam Lewis, Gertrude Stein, Clive Bell, Virginia Woolf, and Aldous Huxley.[3] Much of “the failure of [her] Vogue to sustain itself within the specific context of Condé Nast’s corporate structure and the general context of British culture in the 1920s” [4][5] can probably be attributed to its progressive nature and “significant subcultural context” [4] such as blatant homosexual undertones. This bold shift was an unpopular alteration which resulted in her dismissal in 1926 and she failed to recover from this professional setback.

Affectionately known as ‘Dody',[4] Todd was born in 1883, and during her time as editor, lived in Chelsea, London with her lover and assistant, Madge Garland. Their friend Freddie Ashton produced a ballet in 1926 entitled A Tragedy of Fashion, featuring two characters designed to parallel Todd and Garland.[6]

References
  1. Beaton, Cecil (2004). Beaton in the Sixties: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1965-1969. 2. Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 30 note 3. ISBN 9781400042975.
  2. Pentelow, Orla (28 December 2017). "Vogue Editors Through The Years". British Vogue. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  3. Fisher, Alice (14 March 2014). "The 10 best Vogue moments". the Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  4. Reed, Christopher (2006). "A Vogue That Dare Not Speak its Name: Sexual Subculture During the Editorship of Dorothy Todd, 1922–26". Fashion Theory. Informa UK Limited. 10 (1–2): 39–72. doi:10.2752/136270406778050996. ISSN 1362-704X.
  5. Conekin, Becky (2006). Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture (in Estonian). Oxford: Berg. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-84520-275-0.
  6. Pender, Anne (2007). "'Modernist Madonnas': Dorothy Todd, Madge Garland and Virginia Woolf". Women's History Review. Informa UK Limited. 16 (4): 519–533. doi:10.1080/09612020701445867. ISSN 0961-2025.
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