L'Officiel

''L'Officiel'' (; stylised in all caps), full name ''L'Officiel de la couture et de la mode de Paris'' ("The Official ublicationof Paris Couture and Fashion"), is a French bimonthly fashion magazine. It has been published in Paris since 1921 and targets upper-income, educated women aged 25 to 49. A men's edition '' L'Officiel Hommes'' is also published, as are many foreign editions of the magazine. In 2022, it was acquired by AMTD, a Hong Kong–based company.

History

''L'Officiel'' was first published in 1921. It was the official publication of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, a trade body representing all Parisian couturiers, and took over the role of ''Les Elégances Parisiennes'', a joint publication of a group of about twenty-five couturiers which became defunct in 1922. When launched in 1921, ''L'Officiel'' was originally a professional trade magazine, directed principally at international buyers of high fashion, both corporate and individual, and at those working in the fashion industry.

Georges Jalou joined the magazine as artistic director in 1932. Within a short time, the magazine had helped to start the careers of designers such as Pierre Balmain, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Christian Dior, and Yves St. Laurent, and came to be known as "the Bible of fashion and of high society". Jalou became general director of the publication and editor-in-chief, and later purchased the magazine.

In the 1940s French novelist Colette wrote pieces for the magazine.

'' L'Officiel Hommes'' was first launched in 1976 as a male alternative to L'Officiel, but in ceased publication in 1991. It was relaunched in 1996, one of its editors was Patrick Besson. In 1998 however it was rebranded to L'Optimum because of a publishing rights dispute. Then in 2005 L'Officiel Hommes was relaunched again and has been in operation since.

Georges Jalou transferred the magazine to his three children in 1986: Laurent Jalou became the president of Éditions Jalou, Marie-José Susskind-Jalou directed its editorial content, and Maxime Jalou was responsible for publication. After the death of Laurent Jalou in 2003, his sister Marie-José Susskind-Jalou became president of the company, and restructured the content of the magazine to target a younger market than in its early years.

There was controversy in 2011 when Beyoncé was featured on the magazines cover in blackface and tribal makeup. The magazine responded by saying it was done in honour of Fela Kuti and that it was "a return to her African roots". Dodai Stewart said "It's fun to play with fashion and makeup, and fashion has a history of provocation and pushing boundaries. But when you paint your face darker in order to look more 'African', aren't you reducing an entire continent, full of different nations, tribes, cultures and histories, into one brown color?". The stylist and creative director of the shoot Jenke Ahmed Tailly said “It he blackfacewas paying homage to African queens.”

For the October issue in 2013 Karl Lagerfeld shot the cover photo and editorial, which featured the cast of ''Opium'' a film about the life of Jean Patou.

The cryptocurrency Taste Token was launched in 2018 the venture was headed by Benjamin Eymère L'Officiel CEO and was developed to compensate readers for their time on the website and for brands to figure out what readers like.

Stefano Tonchi became the magazine's Chief Creative Officer in January 2020, though he left the magazine in December 2021.

In January 2021, a group of freelancers working for the magazine took legal action in France, claiming that they had not been paid. Archived 15 January 2021.

For its 100th anniversary in 2021, ''L'Officiel'' opened its archive for academic study to students at the Parsons Paris. They also launched ''L'Officiel House of Dreams'', a website set up as a virtual museum documenting the magazine's history.

In April 2022, AMTD International (now AMTD IDEA Group), a Hong Kong based subsidiary of the AMTD Group, acquired L'Officiel Inc. SAS and Éditions Jalou. With the purchase, AMTD announced that it intended to expand and establish ''L'Officiel'' presence to multiple areas worldwide. They then announced planned launches for Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom within two years. The Japanese edition was relaunched in 2024, and Australian, Canadian, Mexican and Taiwanese editions are planned to launch in 2025.

''L'Officiel'' then became part of AMTD World Media and Entertainment Group in 2023, however it began to be controlled through L'Officiel Group, Inc. AMTD Group now licences the ''L'Officiel'' brand to L'Officiel Group, inc. through WME (this is how the magazine operated prior to becoming part of WME).

''L'Officiel Singapore'' and ''L'Officiel Malaysia'' were relaunched in March 2023, now directly owned and managed and no longer under a franchising ownership model. In August 2023, ''L'Officiel Philippines'' was also brought under direct ownership.

L'Officiel Coffee

At the World Economic Forum in January 2023, the L'Officiel Coffee pop up was launched in Davos, and AMTD announced plans to expand the store to different cities worldwide. The first location opened in Japan in April 2025 in the Omotesandō district of Tokyo, the store is in a building redesigned by Keiji Ashizawa.

Future locations are planned for Australia, China, Hong Kong, London, Macao, Malaysia, New York City, Paris, and Singapore.

Editors

French publications usually have multiple editors for different areas of the magazine, in the case of ''L'Officiel'' they are listed below. However as of 2025 Vanessa Bellugeon is the magazine's only editor-in-chief.

Editions

The magazine has 27 different international editions. Other titles published by the group include ''L'Officiel Art'' (launched in 2012) and '' L'Officiel Hommes''.

Other titles of the magazine that are no longer published include ''L'Officiel 1000 Modèles'' (from 1996–2019), ''L'Officiel Chirugie Esthétique'' (launched in 1996), ''L'Officiel Voyage'' (2005–2019), ''L'Officiel Business'' (2007), ''L'Officiel New Talents'' (2012), ''L'Officiel Shopping/L'Officiel Paris Guide'' (launched in 2012), ''L'Officiel 1000 Modèles Design, L'Officiel 1000 Modèles Joaillerie, L'Officiel Beauté'' and ''L'Officiel Intérieur''.

The magazines first supplement was launched in the 1920s and was known as ''L'Industrie Française du Vêtement Féminine''.

''L'Officiel'' editions in Brazil, Italy and the Middle East all had original print runs in the 1970s, these editions were closed down but later relaunched.

Currently ''L'Officiel'' directly owns and operates ten editions: ''L'Officiel Brasil'', ''时装 L'Officiel China'' (in co-operation with Fashion Publishing), ''L'Officiel Hong Kong'', ''L'Officiel Italia'', ''L'Officiel Japan'', ''L'Officiel Malaysia'', ''L'Officiel Paris'', ''L'Officiel Philippines'', ''L'Officiel Singapore'' and ''L'Officiel USA''. A special edition for the World Economic Forum called ''L'Officiel Davos'' is also published yearly. They also own and operate ''La Revue des Montres'' in France, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

''时装 L'Officiel China''

''L'Officiel'' was the first international magazine to launch in China, launching in 1985 however it ceased publication in 1990.

The magazine was relaunched in 2002 as ''魅力 L'Officiel 中文版'' and was operated by NCN (Hong Kong branch) under licence, the magazine was based in Hong Kong. However it closed the same year.

In 1980 ''时装 (Fashion)'' was founded and by the mid-1980s had almost reached a circulation of 300,000. From late 2003 the magazine was rebranded to ''时装 L'Officiel'' after an agreement was made with Éditions Jalou and with this the magazine became distributed in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The magazine is based in Beijing. As of 2021 ''L'Officiel China'' had a circulation of 839,000.

''L'Officiel Italia''

''L'Officiel Italia'' originally had a short run in the 1970s and again in the 1990s. In 2009 ''L'Officiel Hommes'' launched an Italian edition and in September 2012 ''L'Officiel Italia'' was relaunched with Carlo Mazzoni as Editor-in-Chief.

''L'Officiel Japan''

In 1973 a version of ''L'Officiel'' translated into Japanese was released. However it was not until 2005 that the Japanese edition ''L'Officiel Japon'' was launched. It later closed in 2008. In October 2015, ''L'Officiel Japan'' was launched with Tetsuya Mabuchi as its publisher and Naoko Kikuchi as its editor-in-chief; it was published by ''Éditions Jalou'' and '' Seven & I Publishing''. The magazine ceased publication in December 2016, but its last issue was January/February 2017.

In early 2020 it was reported that within two years a Japanese edition was aiming to be launched along with editions for Australia, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The same was confirmed about a Japanese edition in late 2022.

'' WWD Japan'' in May 2024 reported that the magazine would relaunch in September with Takafumi Kawasaki as its editor-in-chief, he previously worked for '' L'Uomo Vogue'' and '' GQ Japan''. The magazine relaunched in September with Rie Miyazawa on the cover.

L'Officiel USA

''L'Officiel USA'' was originally launched in 1976 as one of the first international editions of the magazine, but was later shuttered in 1980. This original edition of the magazine was edited by Dorothy Coleman Seeman however she was replaced in 1979 by Himilce Novas who Diana Vreeland called "terrific". The owner and publisher was Evan Katz and by ''L'Officiel USA'''s second issue it had a subscriber count of 124,000.

In 2017 ''L'Officiel USA'' launched online led by Joseph Akel with funding from Global Emerging Markets, the first print edition was released in February 2018. The magazine is based in New York City. In December 2021, the City of New York brought an action against L'Officiel USA Inc. under the Freelance Isn't Free Act, claiming that the magazine had failed to pay freelance contributors. Archived 2 December 2021. A settlement was reached in July 2023 with ''L'Officiel'' agreeing to pay 41 freelancers US$275,000.

International editors

See also

* List of ''L'Officiel'' cover models
* '' L'Officiel Hommes''

Notes

References

External links

''L'Officiel''
French website

''L'Officiel USA''
American website
*
L'Officiel Coffee
' Coffee website

''L'Officiel House of Dreams''
Virtual museum
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Officiel
1921 establishments in France
Women's fashion magazines
French-language magazines
Monthly magazines published in France
Magazines established in 1921
Magazines published in Paris
Women's magazines published in France
2022 mergers and acquisitions
Multilingual magazines
Lists of L'Officiel cover models
L'Officiel