Sibylle (magazine)

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Sibylle
Editor-in-chief
Categories Fashion magazine
Frequency Bimonthly
Publisher
  • Modeinstitut Berlin
  • Verlag fur die Frau
Founder Sibylle Gerstner
Founded 1956
Final issue 1995
Country
Based in
Language German

Sibylle was a bimonthly fashion magazine that was published in East Germany and then in Germany from 1956 to 1995. The magazine was subtitled Zeitschrift fur Mode und Kultur ( German : Magazine for fashion and culture ). It is known as the most famous fashion magazine of East Germany [1] [2] and was called Vogue of East Germany . [3]

History and profile [ edit ]

Sibylle was launched by a photographer, Sibylle Gerstner , in 1956. [4] [5] She was also the founding editor-in-chief of the magazine of which the goal was first to educate women on how to dress. [6] In 1961 she was replaced by Margot Pfannstiel in the post. [6] Following this change the goal of Sibylle became to encourage feminine elegance and fashion with no political concern. [1] The magazine was published on a bimonthly basis [1] first by the Modeinstitut Berlin and then, by the Verlag fur die Frau. [7] [8] Therefore, the headquarters of the magazine moved from Berlin to Leipzig . [9]

Sibylle covered brands from East German and other communist countries without featuring those reflecting the Western consumerism . [4] In other words, it never focused on stimulating consumption or creating incentives to buy. [10]

However, the magazine did not always represent the official approach of the state, particularly by the late 1960s and during the 1980s. [1] Each issue of the magazine was controlled by the women's commission of the party's central committee before the publication. [11] Ute Mahler , a photographer and curator who worked for Sibylle , argued that the East German authorities did not consider the magazine as a significant publication and therefore, censorship was not strict. [11] Nevertheless, some of the issues of Sibylle were not permitted by the East German authorities due to its coverage of women wearing blue jeans or mini skirts ; [9] in one case, a frown was retouched into a smile. [5]

Although Sibylle was a fashion-oriented magazine, it also covered articles dealing with art, literature, travel, theater and included interviews. [7] The magazine allocated forty pages for fashion-related themes and the remaining forty pages for culture-related subjects. [11] The work by German photographers Roger Melis , Gunter Rossler , Werner Mahler and Sibylle Bergmann was frequently featured in the magazine. [5] [7] Arno Fischer was another photographer who worked for Sibylle . [9] His revolutionary fashion photographs showing the models in the middle of the street were first published in the magazine. [9] Dorothea Melis was one of the fashion editors of the magazine. [5] Following her assignment to the post by Margot Pfannstiel she redesigned and modernized the magazine. [6]

In addition to fashion photography , Sibylle included daily life photography which featured not only East Germany but also Eastern Europe countries and the Soviet Union . [1] Those taken in Moscow were very frequent. [1] The magazine became very popular among women due to its coverage of sophisticated self-sewing articles which was very popular in the country at that time. [5] It was also sold in Moscow introducing the fashion trends in East Germany to the Soviet women. [12]

For a long time the circulation of Sibylle was 200,000 copies. [9] Following the reunification of Germany the magazine continued to be published. However, due to financial reasons Sibylle folded in 1995. [4]

Legacy [ edit ]

In 2001 a documentary film was made about Sibylle . [8] It has also been subject of several exhibitions in different cities of Germany, including Rostock , Russelsheim and Cottbus . [13] One of them was in Dresden which opened in April 2018. [13] In June 2019 another exhibition entitled Sibylle ? Die Ausstellung was held in Berlin. [1] [4]

In 2016 Ute Mahler published a book covering the photographs and other items published in Sibylle . [11]

References [ edit ]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Gaby Reucher (14 June 2019). " 'Sibylle': the East German version of 'Vogue' magazine" . Deutsche Welle . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  2. ^ "East Germany's Leading Fashion Magazine, Sibylle" . Dangerous Minds . 12 July 2016 . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  3. ^ Cassidy George (3 October 2019). "Sibylle vs. Twen, a Cold War-era fashion bible for each side of the Berlin Wall" . Document Journal . Retrieved 24 October 2021 .
  4. ^ a b c d "The story behind the forgotten East German fashion magazine that evaded Soviet censorship" . Sleek Magazine . 24 April 2019 . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  5. ^ a b c d e Stefanie Dorre (November 2009). "Von Starken Frauen, Selbstgenahten Kleidern und Modepunks" . Goethe Institute . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  6. ^ a b c Candice M Hamelin (2018). "Sibylle. An Alternative Venue for East German Art Photographers in the 1960s". Third Text . 32 (4): 450?467. doi : 10.1080/09528822.2018.1510622 . S2CID   219626566 .
  7. ^ a b c Miriam Schaptke (25 January 2017). " "Sibylle" ? the Vogue of the DDR" . DDR Museum . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  8. ^ a b Heidi Scherz (May 2015). Nachdenken, ihr nach: Investigating Female Gender Identity and Subjectivity in the German Democratic Republic (MA thesis). University of Helsinki. hdl : 10138/157857 .
  9. ^ a b c d e Ann-Kathrin Riedl (6 June 2019). "Die Ausstellung "Sibylle" erzahlt von der befreienden Kraft der Mode(-magazine)" . Vogue (in German) . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  10. ^ Annekathrin Walther (17 August 2019). "Sibylle ? Das war Die "Ost-Vogue" " . Monda Magazin (in German) . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  11. ^ a b c d "kreativitat in zeiten der zensur: was so besonders am ddr-modemagazin "sybille" war" . i-D (in German). 12 January 2017 . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .
  12. ^ Anna Tikhomirova (2017). "Trust in the West or "West-Pakete" from the GDR?! Consumption of East German Clothing by Soviet Women in the Brezhnev Era". Journal of Modern European History . 15 (3): 357. doi : 10.17104/1611-8944-2017-3-350 . S2CID   148733314 .
  13. ^ a b "Sibylle 1956?1995. Magazine for Fashion and Culture" . Kunstgewerbemuseum . Retrieved 8 August 2020 .

External links [ edit ]

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