ABSTRACT
One of today’s best-selling women’s magazines in the haut de gamme (luxury) monthly category, Marie-Claire is aimed at young, professional women.
It was first launched as a weekly magazine, in 1937, by the powerful Prouvost press group. In 1939, the magazine was moved to Lyon, its distribution restricted to the Vichy zone. The extension of Nazi rule to the south forced the magazine to cease production in 1943. After 1945, Marie-Claire, along with other publications which had continued under Vichy rule, was banned. However, 1954 saw the relaunch of the new Marie-Claire as a luxury but affordable monthly, whose professed aim was to promote the interests of modern, young women who had obtained the vote in 1944.
