Almost every woman knows the legendary publisher of Burda Moden magazine. In Soviet times, fashionistas could sew a “foreign” dress for themselves according to the Burda patterns, because there was no mention of it in the model stores, which at least looked a bit like those that decorated the pages of the publication. How did the daughter of the railwayman become the editor-in-chief and publisher of the largest fashion magazine in the world? How did she make a career? Was Enne Burda happy in her personal life?
Who is it?
Enne Burda loved to repeat that a miracle can be done with your own hands. Her whole life is a confirmation of these words. The success story of a girl from a simple family may seem like a fairy tale. She became a world-famous woman entrepreneur and one of the most famous figures in the fashion industry. At the same time, she didn’t have any kind fairies who could turn Cinderella into a princess with just the swipe of a magic wand. Enne Burda achieved everything herself.
Childhood
Anna Magdalena Lemminger was born in late July 1909 in a small provincial town in southern Germany. Still a very small girl decided that she would not live like her parents. Enne Burda's father was a machinist, and his mother a modest housewife. The girl felt that her motherly angelic patience and willingness to sacrifice herself would only hinder her from breaking up. Like many careerists, Anna was a "father's daughter." She rarely talked with her mother, she called her daughter a "nasty girl", but Enne was madly in love with her father. He paid her with the same strong love and support.
Youth
After leaving school at the monastery and receiving a certificate, Anna took a course at a local commercial school and went to work as a cashier at a power station. Then young Enne cut her braids so as not to be like everyone else. The girl accepted payments from local entrepreneurs for electricity. Then there was a meeting, which was destined to become fateful.
Enne Burda’s personal life improved after meeting Franz, the owner of a small printing house, a young businessman. July 9, 1931 lovers played a wedding.
The girl gave birth to her husband three sons - Franz, Frieder and Hubert. The family could afford enough for a normal life, because the affairs of Franz, husband of Enne, at first went pretty well. What more could a poor woman provincial want? But Anna did not want to be the wife of a famous entrepreneur. The woman strove for more - success, power and a life filled with events. She knew that this miracle would ever happen, or rather, she herself would create it with her own hands.
Carier start
The life story of Enne Burda began to change when in 1949 her husband bought and handed over to her a small publishing house in the nearby town of Lara. The woman hired a nanny and a servant, and she got down to business, because she firmly decided to create her own fashion magazine. The first edition was located in the hall of one of the local taverns, but this was enough for the woman to be able to develop her entrepreneurial talent. Anna had several tailors and one editor at her disposal, but very soon she was able to earn her first money.
The forty-year-old mother of the family was pushed into publishing by banal need. Almost all the ordinary women of Europe, drowning in world war, lived in cramped conditions. Yes, and personal life went downhill. Franz Burda cheated on his wife, more than one year. By the way, the woman was not only able to replace the unfaithful husband, but also took away a business - a non-profitable women's magazine.
Foundation of Burda Moden
Enne Burda, whose success story began with an abandoned publishing house, clearly analyzed the situation in the country and in the world as a whole. This allowed her to receive one of the main prizes in the history of the publishing business. The fact is that there were very few ready-made dresses in military Germany, and the fashion that Paris offered was not suitable for Germans by definition. It was necessary to establish the manufacture of fashionable clothes at home.
Patterns in the magazine are a novelty for those years. This was used before, but it was Enne Burda who brought the know-how to perfection. And the patterns themselves for making clothes, of course, have existed since the Middle Ages. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind took these out of the box to make herself a new dress from the curtains.
By the way, Enne Burda, whose biography is a story of dizzying success, herself could not sew or cut. She learned the basics of mastery in the process. But she gathered like-minded people around herself, was distinguished by German determination and unprecedented enthusiasm.
Anna tested the models on herself, going out into the light in dresses created from patterns from the magazine. In addition to fashionable ideas, tips on cooking, home economics and needlework soon began to appear in the periodical. Frau Burda created a magazine whose contents covered all spheres of domestic activity of the then representative of the middle class in Europe. And the editor-in-chief kept turning to readers with advice on moral and ethical issues - also a novelty.
In the work, the woman controlled everything herself. She took part in the creation of the issue, worked on the design of the cover, made a plan, agreed with specialists. Models for the magazine were created by famous designers of that time. Wolfgang Jopp, Heinz Ostergaard, Jill Sander, Karl Lagerfeld and others collaborated with the publication.
Success and recognition
Burda Moden Magazine has been appearing regularly since 1950. Anna’s main idea was to help each woman create her own style and create fashionable clothes herself. The publication became successful immediately. The starting circulation was one hundred thousand copies, and a year later reached half a million copies.
It was impossible to buy a magazine in ordinary kiosks; the publication was distributed through trade unions. But those who failed to buy a number had to turn to speculators. The price for one copy of the magazine reached one third of the salary of an ordinary engineer. Women exchanged numbers, redrawed patterns, rewritten pages and in other ways got out of the situation.
Since 1950, the magazine has been sold in all German-speaking countries, that is, in Germany itself, as well as in Switzerland and Austria. Two years later, the publication began to be published in eight more European countries, and since 1953 in Canada, the USA, Argentina and Brazil. Today, Burda Moden is sold in more than ninety countries in sixteen languages.
Burda Moden had no competitors, because the entrepreneur simply bought all the other fashion magazines. But difficulties, of course, were. An enterprise of this magnitude requires constant monitoring, significant moral and physical costs, hard work. It was also quite difficult to deal with the nascent mass market, the market for cheap and high-quality clothing. Many women preferred to buy a ready-made dress in a store rather than wasting time and energy on creating a unique outfit.
"Burda" in the USSR
Soviet women of fashion were able to sew fashionable dresses after they began to publish the magazine Burda Moden in Russian in the Land of Soviets. In 1987, this publication became the first Western publication in the USSR, as well as a vivid example of the democratic changes taking place in the country. Burda's arrival in the Soviet Union was connected with the personal initiative of Raisa Gorbacheva, the then "first lady" of the country, who received the magazine personally in her hands. In those years, it was only speculation, but now the fact is officially recognized.
On the occasion of the publication of the magazine in the USSR, a large event and a fashion show took place in the Hall of Columns. The best models of the world came to Moscow, and among the invited were only representatives of the party elite. But still “Burda” was called a publication that made a significant contribution to the democratization of women of the Soviet Union.
Citizens of the USSR “picked up” the quotes of the great Enne Burda, and for many purposeful women she became an example of success. "The most important thing is faith in oneself and one's own strength, " - said a charming German. And she said that “people are united by love, it counteracts everything that separates them.”
An interesting fact: the German Foreign Minister then said to Anna: "You have done more than the three German ambassadors before you."
Further development
Years passed, times changed and soon the magazine ceased to satisfy the tastes of the majority. I had to reorient myself to another audience. On the pages of the publication, women were told that they are the “creative elite”. Burda supported creativity. Enne Burda, whose biography at that time had already turned into the life story of a large entrepreneur, helped readers order the necessary fabrics through the editorial office and offered help in creating clothes. The publication has more text and photos of annual models. Famous couturiers, Western models, pop stars and famous fashion models were involved in creating the numbers.
After retirement
Enne Burda actively participated in the work until the early nineties. She herself supervised the work of editors and wrote author columns. After leaving the post of editor-in-chief, the biography of Aenne Burda was filled with creativity. She finally could devote herself to painting. This hobby marked the beginning of an acquaintance with the artist Hans Kun and a passion for Italy.
