Description:
<jats:p>This article examines men’s writing about women as vectors of enchantment in three interwar French women’s magazines, La Femme Chic à Paris, Vogue and Gazette du Bon Ton. Such articles appeared frequently, and modernised the ancient discourse of feminine enchantment by locating it in tropes of industrial modernity, including women’s fashion and style. While enchantment is a promising concept for feminist and critical scholars, its representation in this genre of men’s writing domesticates its potential to disorient and challenge masculine subjects and conventional knowledges. The essay explores how the generic qualities of the modern women’s magazine contribute to such a domestication, and shows that tropes of modern alienation appear as the underside of feminine enchantment. The analysis suggests that we must view the women’s magazine not as women’s space, but as a heterogeneous cultural space that intermittently reinforces masculine authority.</jats:p>