In 1990, S.I. Newhouse Jr., chairman of Condé Nast, and then editorial director Alexander Liberman approached Linda Wells to develop a concept they had for a beauty magazine. At the time, Wells was the beauty editor and the food editor at The New York Times Magazine.
The magazine's prototype was shredded shortly before the scheduled launch date and, after overhauling everything (including the logo), Allure made its debut in March 1991. The magazine's original format was oversize, but this prevented it from fitting into slots at grocery-store checkouts and required advertisers to resize their ads or create new ones. After four issues, Allure changed to a standard-size glossy format.
The magazine's prototype was shredded shortly before the scheduled launch date and, after overhauling everything (including the logo), Allure made its debut in March 1991. The magazine's original format was oversize, but this prevented it from fitting into slots at grocery-store checkouts and required advertisers to resize their ads or create new ones. After four issues, Allure changed to a standard-size glossy format.