Fashion editorials have been around since late 1600’s, these were booklets of relevant information around the Elizabethan age. This then developed into “women’s diaries, gazelles, or pocket pamphlets with female-centric audience”
It wasn’t until 1732 when Edward Cave created the “gentleman’s magazine”. This is when publications started getting referred to as magazines.
Then during the Georgian era it started to develop into fashion magazines. They were made to “provide a form of escapism, enabling women to leave their roles as a wife or daughter”.
“On November 2, 1867 Harper & Brothers, a New York–based publishing firm run by siblings James, John, Joseph Wesley, and Fletcher Harper launched the first issue of Harper’s Bazaar. “A repository of fashion, pleasure, and instruction” is how Harper’s Bazaar described itself on the cover. Some years later, on December 17 1982, the first issue of American Vogue discovered the light of the day. The two publications became the leading voices in the fashion media sector and still remain strong players today.” Quote from Glam Observer.