Columbia University football coach Lou Little, seen from below, holding a football
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After the crowning of the Super Bowl champions and the end of the 2009/2010 football season, the National Football League and American Football League teams will move forward to the draft and next year’s season with new athletic talent and lots of hard work.
Football has its roots in the British game of rugby, but it has certainly become an American phenomenon. Football was one of the first outdoor sports to attract a huge audience – bringing together, for instance, 80,000 men and women, in all kinds of weather, to the New Haven “Bowl” to watch the Yale-Harvard match. The game was first played on a collegiate level, with many of the most popular bowl games, such as the Rose Bowl, crowning the best college teams. read more…
French cabaret singer Yvonne George
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As a company, Condé Nast has a long history of attracting leading photographic talents. Nast himself was a firm believer in the importance of having the best editorial photographers on staff, and his outrageous and, at the time, record-breaking offer of one hundred dollars a week, guaranteed to Baron Adolphe de Meyer in 1913, showed that he wasn’t afraid to pay top dollar for top talent.
In the 1920s and ‘30s, the Hungarian-born American photographer Nickolas Muray was one of the most important photographers in the business, and for a few years he was the world’s highest-paid photographer. According to one commonly repeated statistic, he made more than 10,000 portraits between 1920 and 1940. read more…
Self-portrait of Vogue photographer Cecil Beaton in Haiti
Cecil Beaton was a workaholic before the term existed. He also was an inveterate globe-trekker and fashionable houseguest, a winning combination if there ever was one. Many an upper-crust vacationer – whether on Long Island, in Biarritz, or on one of the Greek Isles – arrived at the breakfast table to find Beaton at work. Often he was simply sketching his surroundings, but just as frequently, he was writing a journal entry, an article for Vogue, or a letter (making arrangements for his next stop, no doubt).
Beaton was not a particularly good photographer from a technical standpoint. He used cheap cameras and film, didn’t care for printing, and certainly didn’t know how to develop film. When he first began shooting for Condé Nast, the publisher had to order him to learn how to use an 8 x 10 plate camera, instead of his cheap Kodak, so his photos would be sharp enough to publish. Before Beaton had the Condé Nast studio staff at his disposal, his maid was developing his film in the bathtub!
What made Beaton great was his knack for choosing desirable locations, many of which were off the beaten path, at least for the time. In 1935, one of his stops was the island nation of Haiti. He became enamored with the island and its people and chronicled the trip with a long article and series of photographs in Vogue.
Reproductions of his photographs from the story are now available as prints on the Condé Nast Store, with 50%* of the sale price of each image benefiting the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund and its ongoing relief efforts after the recent earthquakes. Click here to see them. You can also read more about the story from Vogue’s perspective here.
*Proceeds of sales in AL, IL, MA, ME, and SC will NOT be donated to the Red Cross. The American Red Cross name and emblem are used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, opinion or political position. The American Red Cross logo is a registered trademark owned by the American Red Cross.
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Actress Miriam Hopkins, leaning against convertible
Vogue has a long history of depicting women and their cars. Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, Peugeots, Pierce-Arrows, Chevrolets, Fords, and Pontiacs, both foreign and domestic vehicles, have all been photographed in Vogue.
The "Automobiling" issue of 1902.
One of the first automobiles to appear in the magazine is illustrated on the January 2, 1902 cover. It shows two women driving an early steam powered Locomobile for the “Automobiling” issue. read more…
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Illustration of Vogue title with letters denoting spring and birds forming Dalí's face in the air
About a decade after its emergence on the French art scene, surrealist art had become a sensational topic for American newspapers and was adopted by fashionable publications, especially Vogue. For America, the timing – when the world lay at the brink of war – was just right for new ideas such as surrealism. Although Vanity Fair was among the first American publications to publish the highly experimental surreal photographs of Man Ray, the grandfather of the art movement here in the U.S., Vogue waited until January 15, 1936 to make its first reference to a Dalínian dream landscape, described as putting “the atmosphere of dreams on canvas.” read more…
Model wearing "pyramid" hairstyle, by Robert at Ricci Burns of London
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“On the eve of the ‘AngloMania’ opening [at the 2006 Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York], I took Linda Evangelista around the exhibition,” remembers curator Andrew Bolton. “Once we arrived at the end, she said, ‘Yes, very interesting, but the show’s really about the wigs, isn’t it?’”
— from Sarah Mower’s “The Magic Maker,” Vogue, March 2009
This quote, about the famed “couturier of hair” Julien d’Ys, struck me with the thought: hair is powerful. Hair communicates; its impact on our eyes is immediate. It can draw stares completely away from the body to the head. The latest fashions, and an individual’s character and attitude, are made complete, even enhanced, with an ideal head of hair. read more…
Model in green dress, photographed by John Rawlings in the July 15, 1943 Vogue
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Each month, “The Color Wheel” will take a color-coordinated approach to exploring Condé Nast images. These color collections will help decorators and designers select images to inspire an environment, theme, or room.
Our first hue is the color of the moment. From the environment to the economy, green seems to be everywhere. read more…
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Countess Bismarck, photographed by Cecil Beaton in the July 1, 1959 Vogue
In 1930, Cecil Beaton, the celebrated fashion and portrait photographer, published the first of his many books, The Book of Beauty. The small coffee table book is filled with beauties, from Beaton’s first love, Lily Elsie, to his last, Lady Diana Cooper. Sandwiched between the two is his selection of socialites, actresses, and artists from America and Britain. read more…
Model posed over glass table, photographed by Richard Rutledge in the April 1, 1958 Vogue
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In the years following World War II, Condé Nast had a grand photography studio in the Graybar Building in midtown Manhattan. It was stocked with the latest equipment, and a stable of photographers and assistants cranking out fashion spreads, portraits, and product still lifes. One of those studio photographers, Richard Rutledge, is relatively unknown to us today, but for a 15-year period following the war he was one of the most frequently published photographers in Vogue, Glamour, and House & Garden. read more…
Vogue January 15, 1936 cover, illustrated by Pierre Mourgue.
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Hats were an ideal wardrobe refresher during the Great Depression, appealing to women who couldn’t afford new clothes but wished to update their look. Accessories could take the focus off last season’s clothing for a fraction of the price of a new dress or coat, and hats were better attention grabbers than shoes or bags. As it framed the face, a hat provided an instant focal point that drew the eye up and away from shabby or unfashionable clothing.
Vogue August 1, 1935 cover, illustrated by René Bouét-Willaumez
