Coins the term "youthquake"

In 1965, while serving as editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Diana Vreeland coined the term "youthquake" to describe the seismic cultural shift being driven by young people in fashion, music, and popular culture during the 1960s. The term captured the era's mod fashions, the British Invasion, and a broader generational upheaval that was reshaping Western culture.

Vreeland's neologism proved remarkably durable, entering common usage and eventually being recognized by major dictionaries; Oxford Dictionaries even selected "youthquake" as its Word of the Year in 2017, more than five decades after Vreeland first used it, testament to the term's lasting cultural resonance.

The coining of this term exemplifies Vreeland's broader editorial genius: her ability to identify, name, and thereby help crystallize cultural phenomena as they were unfolding. Rather than merely reporting on youth culture, Vreeland's Vogue actively participated in constructing the visual and linguistic vocabulary through which that culture would be understood and remembered.

This moment reflects the significant, if often underappreciated, role of fashion editors in shaping broader cultural discourse beyond the narrow confines of clothing and style, cementing Vreeland's legacy as both a fashion tastemaker and a keen cultural observer of her era.