From cronista to directora de moda: The Birth and Evolution of the Role of Fashion Editor in the Women's Press in Spain

Abstract

This research falls within the framework of studies on fashion journalism and the women’s press in Spain. During the 1930s the previously unknown professional role of fashion editor began to take shape in the American media: a position whose main activity was no longer directly linked to writing and which was implicitly associated with the photographed image. In Spain, where fashion reporting had not yet been professionalised into such specific positions, women’s publications consolidated the practice of including journalists in their staff, writing being their main activity. Adopting a comparative perspective across a series of newspapers from the Francoist period and through a methodological approach that combines the use of oral and newspaper sources, this article focuses on describing the birth of the role of fashion editor in the Spanish context. Our research starts with the columnists of the illustrated press of the early 20th century, goes through the journalists affiliated to the Círculo de Escritores de la Moda [Circles of Fashion Writers] in the 1960s, and concludes with Sofía Torga de Caruncho’s appointment at Telva and the institutionalisation of the “directora de moda” position.

Keywords

• círculo de escritores de la moda
• journalism
• francoism
• spanish fashion
• sofía torga de caruncho