Vogue Takedown
It started when the publishers of Vogue magazine shot off a letter to a newly incorporated British company- Star Inn Vogue- expressing concern over the similarity of its name to the name of the magazine. What they didn’t realize was that the company in question was in fact, a pub in the Cornish village of Vogue, and had existed under that name as a partnership until its recent incorporation. More than that, the pub and the village had been in existence for much longer than the magazine.
According to a local news report, this is what one of the pub’s owners had to say:
When I opened the letter I thought some bugger in the village was having me on. Surely these people can’t be serious. In this modern day and age someone couldn’t be bothered to go onto Google and see that Vogue is a Cornish hamlet that’s been here for hundreds of years. It seems common sense has taken a backseat on this one.
And so the owners decided to write back with a meticulous and marvellously-worded letter that has gone viral. Excerpts:
Whilst I found your letter interesting on the one hand, I also found it hilariously funny. I presume your magazine bases its name on the dictionary term for being in fashion which is uncapitalised as used in the Oxford English Dictionary.
If a member of your staff had taken the time to investigate they would have discovered that our company, the Star Inn, is in the small village of Vogue, near St Day, Cornwall. Yes, that’s right, Vogue is the name of our village, which has been in existence for hundreds of years and in fact is a Cornish word, not English.
Therefore the name of our company was chosen on the joint name of the Pub and where it is located.
I note in your letter that you have only been in existence since 1916 and I presume that at the time when you chose the name Vogue in the capitalised version you didn’t seek permission from the villagers of the real Vogue. I also presume that Madonna did not seek your permission to use the word Vogue (again the capitalised version) for her 1990s song of the same name.
As a side note she did not seek our permission either.