Before the name Mayfair became associated with an English girlie magazine in 1965 it had a far more conservative, sophisticated reputation as Canada’s magazine of “culture, fashion, and social distinctions”. Intended for Canada’s fashionable elites (debutantes, brides, wives of important men…), Mayfair was launched in Toronto in May 1927 for 35 cents per issue.

The second issue hailed the success of Mayfair as proof Canada was now mature enough to have its own cosmopolitan publication. Until Mayfair, all Canadian fashion magazines were, at best, a Canadian printing of an English or American magazine with the same articles but Canadian advertisements. Alongside fashion reportage travel articles were popular, especially about London and Paris and luxury holidays like cruises to Bermuda.

Despite its highbrow readership, the price of the magazine was dropped in the heart of the Depression to twenty-five cents in 1934, and although its Toronto-centric advertisements catered to the FOOF (Fine Old Ontario Family) factor, the publishing was transfered to Montreal in 1937.

Circulation dropped off during the 1950s as the upper crust content became less relevant in a world where ocean liners were being displaced by jets, and an exploding teen population had little interest in old-fashioned social hierarchies. The magazine’s last issue was printed in December 1959.