I am very proud to present the second article by our contributing writer Ann-Katrin today. As a curator and art historian who lives part time in London she explores exhibitions and the art scene there for us. Read about her visit of the great exhibition “Vogue 100” today and find her other article here.
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“Really and truly, such amazing things are going to happen to you that you would never believe them, unless you saw them in Vogue.”
It almost sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale, but these words were actually printed on the very first page of Vogue. Certainly a big promise, but Vogue has kept it and over a century later it is still the most influential fashion magazine in the world. This year British Vogue, the first branch-off of the original American magazine, is published in its 100th year, and as part of the magazine’s centenary celebrations the National Portrait Gallery, London has organised a remarkable exhibition in collaboration with British Vogue: “Vogue 100: A Century in Style”. 280 photographs from the Condé Nast archive (Vogue’s publishing house) and international collections are being shown together for the first time to tell the story of the magazine and showcase the remarkable range of photography that has been commissioned by British Vogue since it was founded in 1916.
Much to my surprised British Vogue has been published without interruption for the last ten decades. Not only was it founded in 1916, when the First World War made transatlantic shipments of American Vogue impossible, but the magazine kept being published through the Second World War as well. It even took part in reporting the war: In 1944, the American photographer Lee Miller – a former Vogue model herself! – persuaded the magazine’s editor Audrey Withers to send her to Normandy to produce an article on wartime nursing. Miller then followed the Allied advance through Europe, reporting the liberation of Paris and sending a story from Buchenwald concentration camp. Her colleague Cecil Beaton shot his models in front of the ruins left by the Blitz, demonstrating that “Fashion is indestructible”.
art history & literature | art(book) lover | shoe, handbag and travel addicted | contemporary art | art museums | lifestyle | fashion | design View all posts by Michelle van der Veen