The history of fashion is written on the names of women who have set the pace of the sector’s evolution. Models, designers, entrepreneurs and, of course, editors responsible for bringing the latest trends to all the women who approached their publications, regardless of age, style, or social class. And if there is a pioneering figure and a reference in the universe of fashion editors, that is, without a doubt, Diana Vreeland.
Diana was born in Paris in 1903, with a new century ahead of her in which, unknowingly, she herself would lay the foundations for some of the style milestones we still remember today. Daughter of an American socialite and a British stockbroker, she and her family had to emigrate to New York after the outbreak of World War I. It was there that she discovered dance, the discipline that first led her to explore the artistic possibilities of fashion.
In March 1924, at the age of 18, Diana married Thomas Reed Vreeland at the Church of Saint Thomas in New York, although one of the couple’s first destinations was London, where the already Mrs. Vreeland ran a lingerie boutique. During her stay in London, trips to Paris to acquire garments from designers such as Coco Chanel were frequent, and her refined aesthetic taste brought her boutique closer to clients as notable as Wallis Simpson. But New York returned to their life and the couple, together with their two children, eventually moved back to the city that had witnessed the birth of their story and that would end up being the place where Diana Vreeland would become a true icon.
Diana Vreeland not only had an unusually discerning taste for fashion and an artistic sensibility that would take her far, she also knew how to turn her insecurities into a virtue. And, from a very young age, she had to learn to deal with the comparisons her mother made between her and her younger sister, asserting cruel things such as it was a pity she had such a beautiful sister when she was “so extremely ugly.” Despite the harshness of those words, Diana knew how to turn it into fuel to drive her creativity and build one of the most magnetic personalities of the 20th century.
Diana Vreeland, pioneer and reference among fashion editors
After the boutique, Vreeland continued to devote herself professionally to fashion, this time from a less common sector, but no less influential. In 1936 she crossed paths with Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, in a ballroom at the St. Regis Hotel in New York, and at that very moment, she decided to offer her the opportunity to write a column for the publication. After offering readers completely innovative content, far removed from the domestic-focused fare to which women of the era were accustomed, she joined the magazine staff in a role never before seen: the position of fashion editor.
Diana Vreeland
One of her main duties in this new role was to push fashion photography further. For her, photography should not be limited to capturing garments: it had to tell stories and make what was shown desirable to the public. Fashion, according to Vreeland, should be an engine of fantasy. In the 25 years she held the post of fashion editor at this publication, she managed to create a legacy that shaped twentieth-century fashion photography, favoring the theatrical and narratives that escaped conventional boundaries.
After two decades at Harper’s Bazaar, Diana Vreeland made the leap to Vogue, where she continued doing what she did so well: revolutionizing the conception of fashion and embracing a different vision. Her drive succeeded in turning this sector into part of popular culture, for it was no longer just about the garments; those who wore them and the context in which they wore them were placed in the public eye, inside and outside the magazines.
Diana Vreeland’s influence did not stop at her job. For her, any situation was the perfect opportunity to flaunt her style and her particular way of looking at fashion, with eccentricity and spectacle as guiding principles. In the midst of the cultural explosion of the 1960s, her outings and excesses not only earned her a name among the jet set of the moment, but also helped her meet profiles that she herself would popularize in line with the aesthetic she sought to project in her work.
Her time at Vogue ended with a dismissal, but not her professional life. In 1971 Diana Vreeland began working as a consultant for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where she led fashion exhibitions that had a tremendous impact. Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, and Hollywood’s own universe were some of the sources of inspiration from which Vreeland drew to mount these exhibitions in which she turned fashion into a true visual show.
Time, in the end, turned Diana Vreeland into what she had spent her life fighting to be: a reference in the fashion world who was not afraid to challenge established norms, turning her insecurities into her greatest strength and turning flamboyance into the attribute that, personally and professionally, would take her to the very top. Moreover, not only did she institutionalize the role of fashion editor, she also made this figure influential in the sector, laying the foundations of what it is today. Diana Vreeland died in 1989 in New York, but her legacy remains more alive than ever, especially for those who look beyond what was established in fashion and are not afraid to seek fantasy in everything.
