FORM AND FUNCTION.

Byline: Anna Wintour

Recently I was asked to give a speech at a business meeting about Vogue as a brand-superbrand was the term the conference organizers used-and my role in its very special history. When I thought about what I was going to say, I kept coming back to this issue, which is devoted to shape, because it seemed to me to exemplify both the core values of Vogue, from its turn-of-the-century inception, and the intelligent, happy evolution of those values over time.

For more than 100 years, this magazine has been synonymous with sophistication, glamour, and a highly cultured approach to living. It was founded in New York in 1892, and its purpose was to cover, in the most tasteful way possible, the lives and milieu of the Four Hundred families at the top of New York society. (Four hundred was supposedly the number of people the Astors could squeeze into their Fifth Avenue ballroom.) I'm pleased to say that we've grown a little since then. But throughout Vogue's history, the mission has remained constant: to celebrate what is beautiful, creative, innovative, and exciting, and to do so in collaboration with the most gifted artistic talents of the age-Edward Steichen, Diane Arbus, Man Ray, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Joan Didion, John Updike.

We are, and have always been, the gold standard in cultural taste. The question is, in a world flooded with information and images and opinions about fashion and so forth, how does Vogue maintain its authority? My staff and I always keep three things in mind:

(1) Aim high-very high. When we cover politics, no expense is spared: We send our reporters to Africa and South America and the Middle East to meet heads of state, rebels, and humanitarians. In this issue, Nancee Oku Bright reports from Liberia on the election and inauguration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. We know you come to Vogue to find out that platforms and wide belts are back (read Sarah Mower's "Totally Waisted," View), but you expect a few surprises, too.

(2) Have fun. This can mean sending the hip-hop star Pharrell Williams to Rio with Karolina Kurkova for a swimsuit story (see "Rockin' the Boat"), or capturing a very pregnant Melania Trump stepping out of the Trump jet in a gold bikini. We have Jennifer Aniston laughing with Jonathan Van Meter about

the nightmare of being part of what she calls ...