Nast did not take well to law and, upon graduation, took on a job working for a former Georgetown classmate, Robert Collier, as advertising manager for Collier's Weekly. Over the course of a decade, he increased the advertising revenue a hundredfold. He published books and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine with Robert M. McBride. After leaving Collier's, Nast bought Vogue, then a small New York society magazine, transforming it into one of America's premier fashion magazines.
He then turned Vanity Fair into a sophisticated general-interest publication, with the help of his friend Frank Crowninshield, who was editor and a major influence for more than 20 years. It published many new and high-quality writers and displayed reproductions of modern art.
Nast eventually owned a stable of magazines which included House & Garden, British, French and Argentine editions of Vogue, Le Jardin des Modes and Glamour – the last magazine added to the group while he was alive. While other publishers simply focused on increasing the number of magazines in circulation, Nast targeted groups of readers by income level or common interest. Among his staff were Edna Woolman Chase, who served as the editor-in-chief of Vogue, Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley.
Personal life
Nast was married twice. His first wife was Clarisse Coudert, a Coudert Brothers law-firm heiress who became a set and costume designer. They married in 1902, separated in 1919 and divorced in 1925. They had two children, including Charles Coudert Nast.[4]
His second wife was Leslie Foster, granddaughter of short-time governor of Wyoming Territory, George W. Baxter. They married in 1928 when she was 20 and he was 55 and divorced around 1932. They had one child.[5]