Diana Vreeland
“The eye has to travel”
Journalist (1903-1989)
Vreeland was a fashion journalist who worked for Harpers Bazaar and Vogue. She was an influential figure in American fashion during the 20th century. She was born in Paris in 1903 and began her career at Harper’s Bazaar in 1936. Later she became the magazine’s fashion editor and established herself as one of the country’s leading arbiters of style.
In 1962 she joined Vogue as an editor in chief and continued to be a powerful force in the fashion world. While she left Vogue in 1971 Vreeland didn’t leave the fashion world. She worked as a consultant for the Metropolitan museum of Art putting together fashion exhibitions. Diana died in 1989.
You must wach the movie "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" which gives a look at the life and work of the influential fashion editor of Harpers Bazaar.
Richard Avedon
A New York City native, Avedon began his career while he was in the Merchant Marines, photographing identification photos of crewmen. After two years of service, he left in 1944 to work as a photographer and study under the legendary Alexey Brodovitch, then art director of Harper's Bazaar, at the New School for Social Research. Deviating from the conventions of fashion photography, Avedon presented an original approach — displaying his models filled with expression and vulnerability. After a 20-year tenure with Harper's Bazaar as a staff photographer, Avedon left in 1965 to photograph for Vogue through 1988 and continued to make portraits and fashion photographs for magazines throughout the rest of his career. Avedon's legacy of work continues to be widely exhibited and lives on in the collections of nearly every major museum around the world.
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ELSA SCHIAPARELLI (1890-1973)
Long before Lady Gaga wore a dress made of meat or other celebrities dressed unexpected outfits for Met Ball, There was Elsa Schiaparelli.
An Italian born French couturiere. She was Chanel's arch enemy, who flirted with surrelism and brought shock factor into fashion. She was mixing in Parisian society's right circles which took her to Hollywood where she dressed Greta Garbo and Mae West. Coco Chanel referred to her as "that italian artist who is making clothes".
She was born in Rome and was surrounded by beauty, sophistication and elegance. Schiaparelli was a provocateur who took pleasure in challenging typical notions of dress. She worked within the confines of traditional tailoring but played with classic silhouettes through the addition of subversive details, be it print, embroidery, embellishment or unusual materials, which transformed her garments into unique fashion statements. These details which appear as bizarre, often humorous, interventions invite the viewer to look and look again.
"working with artists like Bebe Berard, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Vertes, Van Dongen; and with photographers like Hoyningen Huene, Horst, Cecil Beaton and Man Ray gave one a sense of exhilaration. One felt supported and understood beyond the crude and boring reality of merely making a dress to sell."
