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Vogue is a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers many topics, including fashion, beauty, culture, living, and 'runway'. Based in NYC it began as a weekly newspaper in 1892, before becoming a monthly magazine years later. The British Vogue, launched in 1916, was the first international edition, while the Italian version of Vogue Italia has been called the top fashion magazine in the world. As of today, there are 26 international editions. It is the embodiment of an aspirational mainstream title, appealing to an ABC1 audience and on the surface conforms to Hesmonhalgh's ideas about minimising risk and maximising profit.

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The EDUQAS set edition from 1965 is at the cusp of what some people refer to as the 'swinging sixties' to denote the complex inter-related cultural and political trends during this era. ​​​​​​​This included a revolution in social norms about clothing, music, drugs, dress, and sexuality. At Vogue Diana Vreeland was editor-in-chief from 1963 and the magazine began to appeal to the youth of the sexual revolution by focusing more on contemporary fashion and editorial features that openly discussed sexuality. While hardly shocking, the set edition is notably for the inclusion of the work of cutting-edge celebrity photographer David Bailey on the cover. A 'face' of the Sixties (and the inspiration for the film 'Blow Up') the use of Bailey confirms Richard Dyer's star theory. Likewise Vreeland's innovation with the title corroborate's Steve Neale's assertion that genres evolve through repetition and difference.

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The title of the magazine is, of course iconic, with its own set of what Roland Barthes would term mythologies: synonymous with glamour, fashion, celebrity and perhaps even white Western cultural imperialism. However, the word 'vogue' denoted on the front cover masthead also has a number of specific connotations. In the first instance, it means the prevailing fashion or style at a particular time. Although to a more contemporary audience it retrospectively infers intertextual allusions to the 1990 hit by American singer Madonna in which the 'vogue' means to dance to music in such a way as to imitate the characteristic poses struck by a model on a catwalk. This is an example of Stuart Hall's reception theory and the way in which the meanings encoded in a text can be decoded by audiences different according to cultural context and time period. It is also symptomatic of the way in which Jean Baudrillard would argue that meanings are negotiated and recycled in postmodern culture. The brand values are reinforced by the sophisticated connotations of the use of the French language and the slim, italic font.​​​​​​​

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The use of Sophia Loren as the cover star connotes both Hollywood glamour and European style. Born in 1934 the Italian actress starred in a number of 1960s films as a sexually emancipated persona and was one of the best-known sex symbols of the era. With her full figure and dark skin, however, she is very different to the kind of androgynous look made famous by British model Twiggy.  While Twiggy anticipated Judith Butler's 1990s work on gender performativity, this shot of Sophia Loren is the embodiment of Laura Mulvey's 1970s work on the male-gaze​​​​​​​. The heavy make-up, feline eyes, and passive pose connote a 'to be looked at ness' that implies sexual objectification. This is reinforced by the use of sensual fabrics including lamé, feathers and gauze. However, there is a second set of discourses that is invoked by the turban, jewels and colour turquoise. These connote not only luxury and wealth but also the exotic. In this sense, the image constructs an orientalist narrative in which Sophia Loren is being fetishised for her 'otherness'.  This echoes the work of Edward Said in Orientalism, and also Paul Gilroy's claims about post-colonialism.  Put simply, the way in which the image positions the audience reinforces their white Western cultural privilege.

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Overall, the magazine reinforces the dominant ideas of Western consumer capitalism. The alliterative cover lines "marvellous, mad, midsummer, sun, swims, sea, sun" implies a carefree, wealthy, glamorous lifestyle. Inside, the article on "Picnics: Probable and Improbable" constructs a narrative of gracious living and largesse through the recreation of scenes inspired by the 19th Century French painter and illustrator James Tissot. These reinforce very traditional representations of women connoting domesticity and maternal femininity. This echoed in the advert for Imperial Leather soap in which the conservative image of the female model reinforces the idea that a woman's societal role is as a mother.

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Other images connote adventure and exotic romance. For example, the two glasses and glamourous couple denoted on the double-page spread shot on The Nile. While the gesture codes make the women seem powerful, this sits within a slightly uncomfortable postcolonial narrative. Once again, we see symbols of 'the exotic' (the silken drapes and oriental lanterns); the non-white male figure is in a subservient position. This reminds of us bell hooks' view that female empowerment is experienced very differently by people of colour. This is something reinforced by the absence of non-white women through the set addition. Indeed, the open frames used on such set pieces connote the freedom of white upper-middle-class, as well as the privilege and the glamour of air travel synonymous with the 'jet-set'.

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The contested nature of feminism in the 1960s is reinforced by the conflicted images of women use to accompany the “Heatwave Holiday” feature. On the one hand, they construct (white, middle-class) women as independent travellers, strong and active, using the iconography of suitcases in particular. However, the women are objectified and fetishized through the setting (the bed), make-up, facial expressions and body language (the arms behind the head) and the costume (e.g. the “vest” with undone ribbon or the kitten heels). More forward-thinking imagery is constructed in the double-page spread of horse riding.  The bareback rider image has a dominant female with the male here used as ‘eye candy’ to attract the gaze – objectified by female readers. The shallow focus draws attention to the figures and the woman’s costume is casual and less traditionally feminine (although she is blonde and made-up).

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In conclusion, the way in which the set addition of Vogue uses media language is very much a product of its time. It conforms to the aspirational codes of the women's magazine format that it helped pioneer. It also reinforces dominant ideas about white middle-class privilege and the fantasy and allure of Western consumer capitalism. There are glimmers of the sexual and cultural revolution that is unfolding: most notably in the bare-essential theme of Cutex advert nail polish advert, which gestures towards the flower power aesthetic of the hippy movement. There is also a sense in which more serious issues like financial matters are dealt with in the 'Money' article. However, these are really only fragments. In the main, the magazine reinforces very traditional ideologies and where women are presented in ways that are empowered this is off-set by the absence of women of colour, the working class and the subservient role of native people.