The Story of Charm Magazine
As usual, Madge was rummaging around at an estate sale a few months ago and came across a couple of issues of Charm Magazine from the 1940s. Having never heard of the publication, but bowled over by the ads and editorial, she took the issues home. After some research Madge discovered this magazine had an important place in the history of American women. We picked this issue from February, 1945 due to its fun green fashions, to get us in a St. Patty’s Day mood.
Charm was a fashion magazine prominent from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Credit for it’s success was due to Charm’s editor-in-chief Helen Valentine. Already an innovator as the creator of Seventeen Magazine in 1944, Valentine was ready for a new challenge by 1950. At Seventeen Magazine, Valentine declared it was time to treat young women as adults. At Charm, Valentine redoubled that magazine’s new efforts to appeal an emerging demographic – working women.
During World War II women had invaded the workplace and after the war many were staying put but were often not taken seriously. Valentine set out to change that. You can see the change in attitude just by the tagline on the magazine. On my February 1946 Charm cover is “The Magazine for the BG* (Business Girl)”. By 1950, once Valentine was in charge, Charm became “The Magazine for Women Who Work“. Girls were now women, There was no turning back the clock.