The following video was written, produced, and edited by Condé Nast Archive staff. It is the first in a quarterly series and another way to bring to life the wealth of material in the archive. Future pieces will focus on a specific topic, artist, period, or school. Please feel free to provide feedback, and if you enjoyed it, don’t be afraid to share it.
Producer: Pamela Griffiths
Editor: Katherine Aguilera
Vogue September 15, 1927 cover, illustrated by Harriet Meserole
Voluminous plumes, bouquets of blooms, avian taxidermy, and wide swags of ribbon were among the typical adornments of women’s hats in 1909, when Condé Nast became the publisher of Vogue. At the dawn of the 20th century, the large, heavily embellished hats that characterized women’s fashion millinery sat on top of complex arrangements of hair, to which they were often precariously anchored with hat pins.
Vogue December 4, 1909 cover, illustrated by Will Foster
Unpublished photograph of the Guggenheim Museum, taken for Vogue by Evelyn Hofer
Historically, in many ways, Condé Nast’s creative departments were run like a classic Hollywood studio. The Archive is filled with marquee names that were closely identified with Condé Nast throughout their respective careers – Steichen, Horst, Beaton, Penn, and Leibovitz immediately come to mind. But the Archive is also home to hundreds of supporting characters – photographers and artists who passed through Condé Nast for a variety of reasons, but still left an indelible mark on the company. While one will find some giants of 20th-century photography in in this group – Man Ray, Cartier-Bresson, Weegee – one is more likely to discover a brilliant and talented photographer who silently contributed 100 or fewer works over the course of many years, for whom employment by Condé Nast was a means to an end, and whose notoriety was not equaled by her talent.
The German photographer Evelyn Hofer, who died at her home in Mexico on November 2, belonged to the supporting cast. Her work appeared in at least five different Condé Nast titles – Vogue, Brides, House & Garden, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker – over the course of 40 years. Originally hired to shoot fashions for Vogue in the late 1950s, Hofer quickly discovered that her true talent and interest lay in shooting “real” people and locations. Her work for Condé Nast centered on portraits of artists and those involved with the arts.
read more…
Courtesy of NARS Global Communications and the 15 x 15 Project.
François Nars founded the cosmetics company that bears his name in 1994, and with it, he introduced a new way of thinking about the identity of a color. The names of the shades of lipstick he created, including Funny Face, Jungle Red, and Heatwave, expressed a personality that went beyond the simple hue itself, and Nars’ innovation soon became standard practice in cosmetics companies everywhere.
In celebration of the company’s 15th anniversary this year, NARS Cosmetics is releasing a limited-edition book of celebrity portraits inspired by NARS products. Purchase the book here beginning on Thursday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET. read more…
Vogue June 1, 1939 cover, by Salvador Dalí
From Condé Nast’s purchase of the magazine in 1909, Vogue presented readers with the newest in art, fashion, and design. In the 1920s, Vogue helped disseminate Art Deco across the American continent by hiring artists who specialized in that mode to illustrate the covers and draw the fashions. By the 1930s, surrealism had stolen the scene.
read more…
Unpublished photograph of Joséphine Baker by George Hoyningen-Huené
Throughout history, pearls have been prized by the world’s most powerful and influential people. King Henry VIII, Coco Chanel, Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Vreeland, and Queen Amidala of Star Wars have all been seen wearing the precious gem. Whatever the length or color, a string of pearls is an important fashion statement, a symbol of wealth and power, and an object of desire and mystery. As such, the gem has featured prominently in Vogue since the magazine’s earliest issues.
read more…
Vogue, August 1, 1937, by Carl Erickson
In an earlier post introducing our series, “The Vogue of Hats,” we mentioned the high stature given to the millinery industry in fashion publications during the first half of the 20th century. The story behind the Carl “Eric” Erickson illustration above provides an example: So crucial was the hat industry at the time that Edna Woolman Chase, then the editor-in-chief of Vogue, wrote a disapproving letter to Eric when he submitted the drawing above, simply because he included models wearing coats without hats.
Roberta Flack, photographed by Robinson in the January 1, 1970 Vogue
This is the first post in a monthly series focusing on some lesser-known Condé Nast contributors.
Seeing an ad for the upcoming exhibit “Who Shot Rock & Roll?” at the Brooklyn Museum got me thinking about the photographer Jack Robinson. Robinson was a Mississippi native who had established a reputation as a leading New York fashion photographer by the late 1950s. He began working with famed New York Times fashion editor Carrie Donovan in the mid 1960s, and, when Donovan moved to Vogue, she brought Robinson along. Vogue editor Diana Vreeland liked him personally and artistically and frequently sent him assignments for one of the magazine’s new monthly features, “Vogue’s Own Boutique.” Many of the assignments were portraits of the leading pop musicians of the day, several of which can also be seen in the exhibit at the Brooklyn. The singer/songwriter craze dominated the pop music landscape at the time, and Robinson captured many of the greats – Elton John, Carly Simon, James Taylor, and Leonard Cohen, to name a few.
read more…
Large flowered hat by Dior, photographed by Bert Stern for the February 1, 1964 Vogue cover
In the first half of the 20th century, hats were an essential part of a woman’s wardrobe. Women from all levels of society, rich and poor, wouldn’t think of leaving their house without a hat. More than merely punctuating an outfit, wearing a hat was a matter of decency and self-respect, and millinery was a huge part of the fashion business.
read more…
Vanity Fair January 1936 cover, illustrated by Alexander Deyneka
-
- Vanity Fair August 1916 cover, illustrated by Ethel M. Plummer
-
- Vanity Fair June 1920 cover, illustrated by John Held, Jr.
-
- Vanity Fair April 1921 cover, illustrated by John Held, Jr.
-
- Vanity Fair November 1924 cover, illustrated by Joseph B. Platt
-
- Vanity Fair November 1930 cover, illustrated by Constantin Aladjálov
-
- Vanity Fair August 1932 cover, illustrated by Miguel Covarrubias
-
- Vanity Fair August 1933 cover, illustrated by Constantin Aladjálov
-
- Vanity Fair September 1933 cover, illustrated by Miguel Covarrubias
-
- Vanity Fair September 1935 cover, illustrated by Jean Charlot
Fall is the season for sports fans: baseball crowns a champion, and football, hockey, and basketball seasons begin, while boxing and winter sports loom on the horizon. With that in mind, I began to look at the history of Vanity Fair sports coverage, and some Jazz Age Vanity Fair illustrated covers that had sports on the brain.
read more…
