L I N D A. A. W E L L S '80

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in November, 1998.

DELVING BENEATH THE SKIN TO COVER BEAUTY

The Keatsian adage of beauty being truth and truth beauty seems also to guide Linda A. Wells ’80, founding editor and editor-in-chief of the women’s magazine Allure. Unlike most women’s magazines that concentrate solely on the latest fashion trends and beauty prescriptives, Allure tackles head-on some of the more serious issues that affect women.

"We were the first women’s magazine ever to write about the dangers of breast implants," Wells explains. "We did the first story on models who were addicted to heroin. We’ve written about eating disorders in a way that no magazine has done. I think magazines were afraid to pull the curtain back on Oz and find out that Oz is just this little man. We pull the curtain back and say, ‘Here’s what’s going on in the world.’"

As a result of Wells’innovative and bold approach, the magazine’s circulation has soared from 200,000 to 800,000 since its launch seven years ago by Condé Nast Publications, Inc., won awards from the publishing and advertising industries, and put a fresh face on women’s magazines. In a report on the beauty industry, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs praised Allure as the one magazine that consistently gives consumers the information they need.

Aesthetics and writing

Wells’ ability to delve beneath the surface of the beauty business reflects her journalistic point-of-view, a view she developed while working at The New York Times. Complementing her reporter’s perspective is a strong aesthetic sense, the result of her work at the women’s beauty bible, Vogue magazine.

Wells, who grew up in Greenwich, CT, traces the origins of her aesthetic sense and interest in writing to her Trinity experience, during which she spent a considerable amount of time writing poetry and taking photographs. "I wasn’t writing for publication," she notes. "I wasn’t photographing for anything but to make an interesting photograph. I was learning the very basics about aesthetic judgment."

Being able to articulate that aesthetic sense is an ability that began to take hold when she enrolled in a first-year seminar in creative writing taught by Professor of English Hugh Ogden. "Professor Ogden would become inspired and make us inspired," Wells recalls. "As soon as I met him, I knew I was going to major in English, take as many classes of his as I could, and just float on that wonderful inspiration, that real love of learning, ideas, analysis, and great writing." Professor Ogden recalls Wells as "an extremely good student who was well-rounded and gifted in her writing skills and in her sensitivity to others. Linda was the kind of student who could have gone on and been successful in any number of fields."

After graduating from Trinity in 1980 with a degree in English, Wells headed for New York and landed a job as editorial assistant at Vogue. She spent five years there, immersing herself not only in the heady world of haute couture but also in the magazine business itself. It was at Vogue that she began to write about issues under the veneer of beauty, like exercise and osteoporosis.

Seeking to expand her writing experience, in 1985 Wells accepted a position as an editor on a biannual supplement formerly published by The New York Times called Good Health Magazine, where she worked briefly before being named a style reporter at the newspaper. After several months in that position, she was named beauty editor at The New York Times Magazine, where she wrote about trends in beauty by interviewing ordinary women and placing their experiences within a cultural context. "It was a way of writing about beauty that no one else was doing," she recalls.

When the food editor at the magazine quit, the magazine’s editors turned to Wells, who leapt at the opportunity to indulge a long-time interest in food and work with such culinary luminaries as Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey. Once again she blazed new ground. "I remember being one of the first people to write about the obsession with ingredients and menus with all these strange pedigrees, like Oregon mushrooms and line-caught swordfish from Maine. You had to have a family tree on each menu," she quips.

Today Wells’ wit and ability to keep her finger on the pulse of issues in the world of beauty is evident not only in her own monthly editor’s column but also during guest appearances on such national television programs as Oprah Winfrey’s talk show and "Entertainment Tonight," where her nickname is "Miss Soundbite." When she isn’t busy being interviewed or running Allure, Wells is usually running after her young children. She and her husband, Charlie Thompson, a banker, have two sons: Charlie, who’s almost four, and Webster, 18 months.

Has Wells succeeded in her goal of creating a women’s magazine that is informative and truthful? Definitely, she says. "Readers really know that when we recommend something, we’re not recommending it because we’re trying to satisfy or entice advertisers," she explains. "We are doing it because we truly believe in a product. We’ve gotten into some trouble after publishing stories that surprise -- even enrage -- advertisers who then choose to pull out. At the moment, knock wood, no one’s angry with us. But I say that today and tomorrow the phone could ring."

- Suzanne Zack