The magazine was founded by
Thomas Gibson Bowles (1842 – 1922), the maternal grandfather of the aristocratic and eccentric
Mitford sisters. Bowles also founded the English magazine
Vanity Fair. The first issue of
The Lady, dated 19 February 1885, bore the subtitle "A Journal for Gentlewomen" and had advertisements for "fashionable bonnets", linen and silk fabrics, "iced savoy moulds" and sheet music for dances and for songs "for ladies voices". Bowles himself wrote most of the first issue, under pseudonyms.
Rita Shell, who had been
governess to Bowles' children, served as editor of
The Lady from 1895 until her retirement in 1925, and put it on a successful footing. She took over from
Arline Usden who became an editor at large. A
Channel 4 programme,
The Lady and the Revamp, screened in March 2010, followed the new editor in her quest to raise awareness of the magazine and increase circulation. Johnson's axing of
The Lady Laughs, a cartoon series by
Patricia Drennan that ran from 2000 to 2009, led to complaints by readers. Johnson responded with old issues of the magazine to show how bland it had been.
Matt Warren was appointed the tenth editor in January 2012. In November 2013, he was named Editor of the Year (Women's Brand Weekly or Fortnightly) by the British Society of Magazine Editors. In 2014, he was Highly Commended in the Editor of the Year category at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards. Sam Taylor became the magazine's eleventh editor in August 2015. Under her editorship, the magazine was shortlisted for multiple awards, including PPA Cover of the Year (2016), PPA Cover of the Year 2017 and BSME Cover of the Year 2018. Taylor was shortlisted for Editor of The Year, Women's Brand 2016 at the BSME awards.
The Lady occupied premises at 39-40 Bedford Street, in the
Covent Garden area of central London, until 2019, when Budworth sold the building and the magazine relocated to a business park in
Borehamwood in Hertfordshire. The move was opposed by Sam Taylor and prompted her resignation. In 2022 Budworth appointed his wife, Helen Budworth, as editor. In late March 2025, creditors were informed that the board had agreed to begin liquidation. The last issue contains a recipe for
gugelhupf by
Tom Parker Bowles and a short story about a grandmother celebrating her 90th birthday. ==In popular culture==