Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The September 1997 issue of Vogue is one of the most discussed and sought-after editions in the magazine's modern history, and the reasons for that status begin with the cover. Linda Evangelista photographed by Steven Meisel for a September Vogue is not simply a strong cover — it is a meeting of two of the most significant creative forces in late-twentieth-century fashion image-making, produced for the single most important annual issue in fashion publishing, at a moment when both the supermodel era and the cultural supremacy of the nineties fashion establishment were approaching their final, most self-assured expression. Evangelista had spent the late eighties and early nineties as the most technically accomplished and editorially trusted model in the world — her willingness to transform, her understanding of the photographer's intent, and her command of the camera had made her the first call for the most ambitious fashion shoots of the decade. Meisel had been her most important creative collaborator throughout that period, and their working relationship had produced some of the defining fashion images of the era. A September Vogue cover by this pairing in 1997 was the establishment asserting itself with full confidence — a statement that whatever was changing in fashion culture, the standard they had set together remained the benchmark. For collectors building a comprehensive archive of Linda Evangelista magazine covers, this September 1997 Vogue represents the apex of her collaboration with Meisel on the publication that mattered most.
The timing of this issue within fashion's cultural history adds a layer of significance that is easy to underestimate from a contemporary vantage point. September 1997 arrived just weeks after the death of Gianni Versace in July of that year and in the same month as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales — two events that, within the space of a single summer, removed two of the most defining presences in the intersection of fashion, celebrity, and public life that had shaped the nineties aesthetic. The September Vogue went to press before Diana's death on August 31, which means the issue was produced and largely completed in the specific window between Versace's murder and Diana's accident — a period when the fashion world was already in mourning for one of its most important patrons and collaborators, without yet knowing that a second, even more seismic loss was coming. That biographical and cultural context surrounds every page of this issue, even though its contents could not have acknowledged it. Collectors researching Vogue September issues from the nineties will find the 1997 edition uniquely situated at a moment of transition that the magazine itself could not fully document in real time.
The editorial contents documented in the listing make this one of the more substantive September Vogues of the decade beyond its cover. The profile of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright by Julia Reed engages one of the most significant American political figures of the Clinton era at a moment of considerable diplomatic activity, and its placement in Vogue reflects Anna Wintour's consistent editorial interest in presenting women of genuine achievement and authority alongside the fashion and celebrity content that defined the magazine's public identity. The feature on Elisabeth Shue, the Robert Rauschenberg interview, the Wayne Koestenbaum review of Memoirs of a Geisha, and Barbara Amiel's comparative commentary on Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair collectively constitute an editorial package of unusual political and cultural range for a fashion magazine — and the "People Are Talking About" section's documentation of Shalom Harlow, Reese Witherspoon, and Demi Moore in the same pages is a snapshot of where Hollywood's female talent was positioned in September 1997 that has only grown more historically interesting with the subsequent decades of those careers. Collectors researching fashion and cultural magazines from 1997 will find this issue a layered and richly documented primary source of the era's aesthetic and cultural preoccupations.
About the Publication
Vogue was founded in 1892 and has been published by Condé Nast since 1909, operating continuously as the most authoritative fashion magazine in the American market across more than a century of publication. Under Anna Wintour's editorial direction, which began in 1988 and extended well through this 1997 issue and beyond, the magazine combined its traditional fashion authority with expanded cultural journalism, celebrity features, and political and social commentary that distinguished it from competitors whose fashion credentials were comparable but whose intellectual range was narrower. The September issue in particular had become, under Wintour's stewardship, a cultural institution unto itself — its size, its cover selection, and its editorial ambition received mainstream media attention that extended well beyond the fashion press, and the Evangelista-Meisel cover of September 1997 was among the most discussed September covers of the decade. By 1997 Vogue's authority over the fashion conversation was absolute, and the September issue was where that authority was most fully expressed — making surviving newsstand copies of this specific edition among the more coveted entries in the Vogue back-catalog from the nineties.
Key Highlights Inside
- Linda Evangelista cover photographed by Steven Meisel — a primary document of the most celebrated model-photographer creative partnership in nineties fashion photography, produced for the most important annual issue in fashion publishing at the precise moment when the supermodel era was reaching its final and most confident expression before the cultural shifts of the late nineties began to reshape the industry's visual language.
- Madeleine Albright profile by Julia Reed on page 638 — a feature on the first female United States Secretary of State at a significant moment in her tenure, representing Vogue's consistent editorial commitment under Wintour to presenting women of genuine political and institutional achievement alongside the fashion and celebrity content that defined the magazine's public identity.
- "People Are Talking About" section spanning pages 413–516 and documenting Shalom Harlow, Demi Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth, French cinema, and six women artists to watch — a comprehensive snapshot of where cultural attention was directed in September 1997, particularly valuable for researchers tracking the early career trajectories of figures whose subsequent prominence gives this documentation a retrospective significance it could not have had at the moment of publication.
- Wayne Koestenbaum's review of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha on page 500, and Barbara Amiel's comparative commentary on Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair on page 504 — editorial content that reflects Vogue's range under Wintour as a publication engaging seriously with both literature and politics, and that places the issue in direct dialogue with the specific cultural and political conversations of the Clinton-Blair transatlantic moment.
- Anorexia feature on page 670 engaging Peggy Claude-Pierre's work alongside clinical research by B. Timothy Walsh, M.D. — a serious health journalism piece that reflects Vogue's consistent if sometimes contested engagement with eating disorder discourse in the nineties, and that holds particular documentary interest given the ongoing cultural conversation about the fashion industry's relationship to body image during this period.
- Health and beauty editorial spanning multiple features including Amy Astley's profiles of seven cosmetic experts, Plum Sykes's "Diary of a Beauty Virgin," and Robert Sullivan on Dr. Bronner's cleansers — the full beauty journalism architecture of a September Vogue at its nineties peak, alongside Robert Rauschenberg interview, Elisabeth Shue profile, Jeffrey Steingarten on pan-Pacific cuisine, and Oscar de la Renta's Connecticut garden feature by Hamish Bowles.
Condition & Rarity
September issues of Vogue from the late nineties present specific condition considerations that differ meaningfully from standard monthly editions. Their exceptional size — the September 1997 issue would have run to several hundred pages — creates structural pressures on the binding and spine that smaller issues avoid, and copies that have been stored upright without support or flat under significant weight frequently show the spine curvature or stress that this format produces over time. A copy graded Very Good with only minor edge wear represents a strong survivor for a nearly thirty-year-old monthly of this physical scale — the grade indicates a copy that displays cleanly, reads completely, and shows no structural compromise beyond the minimal evidence of its age. The confirmed cover identification as an Evangelista-Meisel September cover in Very Good condition, with photos available for verification, provides the condition transparency that serious collectors require. The plastic protective sleeve indicates deliberate preservation, which for a coated-stock publication of this size correlates with better cover surface condition and reduced likelihood of the binding stress that unprotected September issues accumulate in storage. Collectors evaluating surviving examples of this issue should prioritize cover surface quality and the integrity of the Evangelista-Meisel image, spine condition given the issue's exceptional size, and the completeness of the interior editorial content — particularly the Albright profile and the "People Are Talking About" section — as the primary condition criteria most relevant to both the issue's display value and its research utility.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
A Very Good copy of the September 1997 Vogue with the Linda Evangelista cover by Steven Meisel is among the most consistently sought-after entries in the nineties Vogue back-catalog — the combination of cover subject, photographer, issue significance, and editorial content gives it a collector profile that ensures sustained demand well beyond the fashion photography community. If this issue is no longer available, the Linda Evangelista magazine collection at OriginalMagazines.com is the most focused place to search for other cover appearances and features across publications and years from her career. The full Vogue collection offers surviving issues across the magazine's history for collectors building a broader archive of September editions, notable covers, or specific editorial eras, and the 1997 magazine collection brings together issues from across that year's major publications for collectors interested in the full fashion and cultural landscape of this pivotal and elegiac moment in nineties style history.