Diana Vreeland, the legendary 1960s Vogue editor, is popping up everywhere these days. The passion for the eccentric fashion doyenne and her visionary layouts clearly endures. The question is: will today’s fashion and fashion magazines hold the same allure in 50 years?

“Allure is a word very few people use nowadays, but it’s something that exists. Allure holds you, doesn’t it? Whether it’s a gaze or a glance in the street or a face in the crowd or someone sitting opposite you at lunch… you are held.” – Allure by Diana Vreeland

Forgive me. I’m obsessed with Diana Vreeland, the legendary Vogue editor and style visionary. And it seems as if I’m not alone. The recent release of Amanda Mackenzie Stuarts’s biography Empress of Fashion: A life of Diana Vreeland caps off a three-year period of veritable Vreeland-mania. In addition to countless recent tributes and editorial layouts devoted to her bold signature style; and a widely celebrated documentary and accompanying book by granddaughter-in-law Lisa Vreeland, The Eye Has to Travel, Chronicle books published a third edition of Vreeland’s Fashion Classic Allure, with a foreword written by designer Marc Jacobs. Clearly, we can’t get enough.

Images: William P. O’Donnell/The New York Times

All this nostalgia for the past has me wondering if there’s a kind of cynicism growing for the future of fashion.

 Vreeland’s daring take on style and her ability to connect the dots between what we wear and the larger world of history, art, film and literature is inspiring us now more than fifty years since she left American Vogue. The current state of fashion inspiration begs multiple questions: Is today’s world of celebrity, fast-fashion, brand building and product placement leaving us hungry for something more? Has the focus on buy, buy, buy finally rendered the medium of fashion meaningless to its more intelligent followers? And shouldn’t we have our own version of Vreeland by now?

Whatever the explanation, the fact is we’re enjoying a mid-century moment in fashion that is truly worth embracing. For those starving fashion lovers wanting to embark on a journey of Vreeland-mania all of their own, may I suggest, in my best Vreeland impersonation, “Why don’t you… Get hold of a copy of her best-selling volume, Allure and see for yourself.”

Images: William P. O’Donnell/The New York Times

Authored in the ’80s, it’s a magical stream of Vreeland-consciousness paired with the work of some of the greatest photographers of all time – Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, Horst P. Horst and Man Ray. Edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Allure also captures the 20^th century’s most iconic cultural figures – Coco Chanel, Maria Callas, Greta Garbo, Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, Rudolph Nureyev and Audrey Hepburn.

As the great lady once said, “Fashion must be the intoxicating release from the banality of the world.” So if you’re sick of flipping through yet another predictable style magazine makeover, join the legion of new fans currently enjoying Diana Vreeland’s timeless and witty allure.

Check out the trailer for Diana Vreeeland: The Eye Has To Travel.

Top Image: WWD

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They’re hard to resist, but have modern-day fashion magazines lost their link to art and become too focused on celebrity culture?

French women as early as 1700 pored over magazines – then sketches of the latest dresses simply bound together – to see what was going on in fashion. Now blamed for causing eating disorders, wafer thin models and conspicuous clothing consumption, reading fashion magazines is a slightly spurious and increasingly guilty pleasure these days.

But before the influence of television and movies – let alone blogs and social media – fashion magazines were solely responsible for spreading Parisian fashion trends around the world. Both Harpers Bazaar, founded in the U.S. in 1867, and Vogue, in 1892 were created to provide sketches and patterns of fashion derived from Paris designs. Vogue was expressly designed to promote the superiority of French couture to an American clientele.

In 1900, fashion magazines began to publish photography and later fashion illustration by the most modern of visual artists, forever cementing the idea that fashion is an art form – and the glossy pages of fashion magazines, its catalogs.

Another perfect marriage appeared to be fashion and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The first fashion magazines fueled the birth of today’s celebrity culture with readers eagerly following the exploits of early movie stars like Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow from its pages.

Nearly 100 years later – and inundated with dumbed-down celebrity fashion face-off stories- we might do well to reestablish the link between high culture and fashion magazines – and pay more attention to the effects on ordinary women of glorifying imagined “ideal” lives via mass media.

The Way They Were – Lets take a look back at some of fashion media’s most important milestones:

1886, Cosmopolitan is launched in the U.S. as a fiction magazine for the family.

1937,  Diana Vreeland writes her first “Why Don’t You?” column for Harper’s Bazaar, she eventually becomes editor.

1938, Harpers Bazaar editor, Carmel Snow hires Russian-born Alexey Brodovitch as Art Director. Revolutionizing editorial layout and design he was known for his signature use of white-space. He inspired some of the greatest visual artists of the 20th century (including protégés Irving Penn and Richard Avedon) to create some of fashions most legendary images.

1965, Helen Gurley Brown becomes the editor-in chief of Cosmopolitan turning it into the bible of single girls worldwide and the magazine for “fun, fearless, females.”

1988, Anna Wintour’s first cover as Vogue editor. Wintour wrote. “This one broke all the rules.”

2005, Scott Schuman’s street style blog The Sartorialist is launched, unleashing a tsunami of DIY camera-phone-in-the-mirror-shots online.

Want to catch up on some more fashion history?

Now & Then: The History of the Bikini

Now & Then: The History of the White Wedding Dress

Now & Then: The History of the Ballet Flat

Now & Then: The History of the Breton Shirt

Now & Then: The History of the Pencil Skirt

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Read more Now & Then articles here.

The post Now & Then: The History of Fashion Media appeared first on EcoSalon.

Fashion eccentrics like the late Anna Piaggi flouted the rules of conventional fashion.

“Good taste is the worst vice ever invented,” Dame Edith Sitwell famously declared. We can only wonder what the unconventional poet would’ve made of today’s fashion magazines, and their endless style guides proffering hints, tips, dos, dont’s and – of course – “must-have” buys.

We know that mass-produced fashion is destroying the planet, but it might well be destroying style too. Touted as democratic; what fast fashion has really delivered is so much sameness, it’s stifling.

Our taste for copycat style came into sharp relief earlier this month with the news that Italian fashion editor, Anna Piaggi, had died. The photos that accompanied the style icon’s obituaries showed her talent for unbridled, imaginative outfits but most strikingly, the confidence of an original woman who truly lived the life she envisioned – reminding us just how dreary wanting to look merely “pretty” really is.

So if you’re interested in developing a look beyond the inspiration of fashion magazines and the boring, bland and safe choices of their film star cover girls, take a look at some of fashion’s favorite style anarchists now and then. As the late Alexander McQueen declared, ‘”Fashion needs eccentrics, of course, but so does the world. God, the world would be boring without them.”

Marchesa Casati

Once quoted saying, “I want to be a living work of art,” Luisa, Marquise Casati Stampa di Soncino was an Italian heiress in early 20th century Europe. Known as the first female dandy, she was muse to and patronized some of the biggest artists of her time. Even now her outrageous and flamboyant style still manages to inspire designers to this day, including Lagerfeld, Tom Ford and John Galliano.

Diana Vreeland

Described by her mother as an “ugly little monster,” legendary Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland highlighted her so-called flaws and defined her motto, “elegance is refusal.” Scraping her blue-black hair into a severe knot to spotlight her unconventional profile, her garishly rouged cheeks and scarlet fingernails became her signature. “You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody,” she said.

Isabella Blow

Style icon and international magazine editor, Blow was credited for discovering and nurturing fashion talents such as Alexander McQueen, Sophie Dahl, Hussein Chalayan and milliner Philip Treacy. Treacy’s muse, she was rarely photographed without one of his extravagant and flamboyant headpieces. Suffering with depression throughout her life, she tragically committed suicide in 2007.

Anna Piaggi, with milliner Stephen Jones

With a wave of blue hair curled over one eye, vivid lipstick and a bright dash of rouge on each cheek, fashion journalist Anna Piaggi was a front row regular who was said to be “the world’s last great authority on frocks” – of which she owned more than 2,800. London’s V&A Museum dedicated an entire exhibition to her remarkable career in fashion journalism. Muse to milliner Stephen Jones, who released a statement upon her recent death describing Piaggi as “a talisman for all those around the world who believe that fashion is a way of life and that freedom of expression should manifest itself in what we wear.”

Lynn Yaegar

Instantly recognizable by her bright red hair, doll-like face and painted-on cupid-bow lips, Yaegar is a contributing fashion editor and writer to Vogue. She is a former fashion reporter for The Village Voice, having worked for the paper for 30 years. Known for her love of vintage clothing, she is a rare original on today’s style scene.

Daphne Guinness

Heiress of the Guinness family and muse to photographers Steven Klein and David LaChapelle, Daphne Guinness has an intensely cultivated sense of dress and her rejection of style status quo makes her one of today’s most enigmatic style icons. “I truly hate the word [eccentric]…I’m actually very grounded…Also, eccentrics are almost asexual, and that is not something you can say of me, by any means…What drives me now is the idea of something being against the world. I’m an artist, I suppose.”

The post Now & Then: The Fashion Eccentrics appeared first on EcoSalon.

Pick up a fashion-fueled read for your vacation with our guide to the most stylish books for summer.

You live and breathe fashion and now you’ve finally got some time to settle down with a good book. Why not indulge your passion with a read on your favorite subject this summer season? From behind-the-scenes tales to designer biographies and style guides, here is essential fashion reading for any fashion follower.

Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Ines de la Fressange

(Paperback)

French women may not get fat, but they’ve definitely got personal style down to an art form. Former Chanel muse Inès de la Fressange shows us how to dress like chic Parisian women. This lighthearted step-by-step guide that features adorable illustrations and photography, is a must-have for those looking to enjoy a lighthearted read poolside this season.

Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War, by Hal Vaughan

(Paperback) / (Kindle)

A fascinating look at the life of one of fashion’s most legendary stars. Revealing her secret history as a Nazi agent, the book‘s discoveries of what it took for Coco to become Chanel caused a media sensation when it was released last year.

Vivienne Westwood, by Claire Wilcox

(Paperback)

“You have a much better life if you wear impressive clothes,” Westwood famously said. Based on a retrospective of Westwood’s work shown at London’s Victoria & Albert and San Francisco’s De Young, this book catalogs the work and impressive achievements of one woman’s creative journey through fashion.

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, by Dana Thomas

(Paperback) / (Kindle)

Ever wondered why certain fashion items have become enduring icons? A revealing exposé that documents the rise and the recent decline of the luxury fashion industry – and why most so-called luxury goods are now mass-market manufactured in China along with most of our other clothes.

Blow By Blow, by Detmar Blow

(Paperback)

For anyone intrigued by one of fashions most eccentric and beloved characters. Insightfully written by her husband, this book recounts Isabella Blow’s tragic background and inspiring career. Blow bought Alexander McQueen’s entire degree show, becoming both his muse and cementing her position as a true visionary and talent.

Fashion and Sustainability: Design For Change, by Kate Fletcher and Lynda Grose

(Paperback)

A fascinating look at the potential for change in the fashion industry. Ideal for those wanting to become part of the solution, this book outlines the ideas, industry practices and innovations that will help transform the existing fashion system.

A.L.T.: A Memoir, by André Leon Talley

(Paperback)

Vogue editor-at-large, André Leon Talley apprenticed under legendary editor, Diana Vreeland. A profound influence in his life, he remembers her and other celebrities warmly in this spellbinding book detailing a 50 year long career in fashion. You won’t be able to put it down!

D.V., by Diana Vreeland

(Paperback)

Everybody loves legendary editor, Diana Vreeland. Brilliantly ahead of her time, her memoir of her early life and time spent at Vogue and at the MET is engaging and uplifting. A great book to tuck into chapter by chapter, whenever you need some inspiration – her witty observations will have you chuckling away under your breath.

Shocking! The Art & Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli, by Dilys E. Blum

(Paperback – for those with deep pockets!)

If you caught the Met’s Spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, you’ll want to get the backstory on this celebrated designer. An insight into the fashion of the 1930s and 40s with hundreds of photos, this book showcases the vivid designs of a talent who continues to influence today’s designers.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, by Elizabeth Cline

(Hardcover) / (Kindle)

Looking to change up the way you consume fashion? Let Elizabeth Cline’s fast fashion journey guide you to a new approach. Every woman can relate to Cline’s frustration at her over stuffed closet and the desire to get to the bottom of a seemingly endless desire for ever more clothing.

The post Top 10 Stylish Reads for Summer appeared first on EcoSalon.

The trend for the double cuff makes a strong aesthetic statement and gives a feeling of indestructibility to the wearer.

For the past few seasons, cuffs have been decorating the wrists of fashion’s most stylish models and muses. The big, indestructible-looking bracelets looking like shields of armor, are studded and gilded in gemstones, one on each arm. You’d be forgiven if the trend reminds you of Wonder Woman striking her signature battle pose, crossing her wrists and deflecting bullets with her cuffs.

Coco Chanel’s iconic Maltese Cross Vendura cuffs were inspired by Byzantine artwork discovered during her travels. The cross was the symbol of the Knights of Malta, a Christian military order charged with the defense of the Holy Land after the First Crusade. 

Superhero powers aside, it’s a bold, powerful look that has appealed to warrior women through fashion history. Audacious and assertive, Coco Chanel was rarely photographed without her iconic Maltese Cross cuffs designed for her by Vendura in the 1930s. Matching cuff mainstays moored Harper’s Bazaar editor Diana Vreeland indomitable style through the 1960s. Leading the charge for modern day lionhearted style is Elle’s Kate Lanphear, whose chunky cuffs work to assert her cult androgynous and punky aesthetic.

Elle’s Style Director and modern day fashion icon, Kate Lanphear’s all-black looks are often armored with a mixture of leather studded cuffs.

While combined with other jewelry, the look is most definitely an eccentric style statement. Worn alone, matching cuffs look clean and modern. Match the scale of your cuffs to your sleeves. With a delicate cuff go with a simple sleeve, with ornate, embellished cuffs balance with a strong shoulder or architectural sleeve. Feel the power of an accessory that can transform a look from glamor girl to amazon in a flick of a wrist.

The growing love for cuffs means there are plenty of options to choose from this season, from plain gold or silver to studded and ornate. 

ALSO READ:

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of the Cuff Bracelet appeared first on EcoSalon.

A new book and film about legendary fashion editor, Diana Vreeland offers lessons in sustainable style.

Part of covering sustainable fashion is exploring opportunities for eco-sound fashion experiences. The idea of developing personal style has very much become polluted by marketers – and indeed modern mainstream fashion editors – who’ve figured out that while the realms of art and aesthetics can be a genuine source of pleasure and empowerment, it’s also an effective technique for getting us to buy more stuff. Yet, a quick look through the society pages proves the old adage still stands true, “Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess.”

Diana Vreeland, the legendary Vogue editor and subject of The Eye has to Travel, a newly released book and film (set to open in theaters spring 2012) would be the first person to agree that style can never be achieved simply via an act of consumption, but is a continuously developing form of personal expression that is built organically out of a lifetime’s experience.

Illustrating it’s not what you have, but what you do with it that counts, Diana Vreeland was far from being conventionally beautiful – her mother called her “ugly little monster” – but she transformed herself into a work of art. Together with her boundless passion and curiosity, her flamboyant style was responsible for putting her at the center of New York society for over 30 years.

I highly recommend curling up with a copy of this exquisite book if you can. Filled with essays and over 350 images of Vreeland’s groundbreaking work, the wisdom and vision of this American original has enormous impact today for those who want to live a sustainable life rich in style.

Known for her memorable turn of phrase and incredible aphorisms, her legacy is best found in her own words.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Style: All who have it share one thing – Originality.

The only real elegance is in the mind. If you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it.

But you gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it you’re nobody. I’m not talking about lots of clothes.

There’s nothing more boring than narcissism –the tragedy of being totally… me. We’re all capable of it. And we all know examples of it – these beautiful tragedies. Many of them, of course, are mannequins. Mannequins are either divine – or they’re the most boring girls in the world.

Whatever you are going to decide for yourself is going to be the right thing. Don’t get influenced.

Anyone who’s afraid and does not search and give as much as possible to the world of pleasure is a totally ignorant person. We were put here for the joy of it. For the hell of it. And it’s all here now; nothing has been taken away. It’s a question of creating it.

I had a marvelous life – I always stuck to my dreams.

The post The Eye Has to Travel: Sustainable Style Lessons from Diana Vreeland appeared first on EcoSalon.

Five low-impact suggestions to create a smart Fall 2011 wardrobe.

Thinking about our relationship to fashion beyond conspicuous consumption is a core principle here at EcoSalon and as we all know is as challenging as it is enlightening. Identifying what fashion truly means to you is the first step to figuring out how to re-design a stylish future that better serves you and the planet. For me, the fun of fashion is in its unique ability to express the outlandish, a sense of wit and imagination, as exemplified by icons such as Alexander McQueen, Isabella Blow and Diana Vreeland.

Vreeland, Editor-In-Chief of Vogue from 1963-1971, created the fashion media as we know it today. She imparted her sparkling wit and ingenuity into the style scene, qualities that are mostly missing in these days of carbon-copy consumerism.

Vreeland began her career as a columnist for Harper’s Bazaar in 1936. Her tongue-in-cheek “Why don’t you” columns – “Why don’t you use a gigantic shell instead of a bucket to ice your champagne?” and “Or paint a map of the world on all four walls of your boys’ nursery so they won’t grow up with a provincial point of view?” for example – inspired her post-Depression readers to think outside of the box and break the rules of fashion.

It was Vreeland’s fearless, slightly madcap voice saying “Why Not” that came to mind as I watched last week’s New York runways with a view to how I could adapt my own wardrobe to reflect some of the trends. In the spirit of fashion risk taking, and with humble acknowledgment paid to a true genius (she actually invented the word “Pizazz” for goodness’ sake), here are my five low-impact suggestions to create a smart Fall 2011 wardrobe.

Why not…tie one on? Menswear is a huge trend. With Yigal Azrouel, Alexander Wang and Prabal Gurung (above) showing tuxedo inspired ensembles, the easiest way to get the look is to borrow a tie or cut a thin strip of black silk. Tie the knot a little looser and lower  than you would on your male counterpart or forget a collar completely and rock the androgynous look with a tee.

Why not…stop playing so safe? It’s not until you’re confronted with a chartreuse dress or bright orange pants that you realize you’ve essentially been weaned on a diet of safe neutrals and black. If you’re going to buy one thing for next season, choose a piece that gives your neutral ensemble an unexpected pop of color, as seen at Peter Som, Preen and Phillip Lim (above).

Why not…chop off the arms of your old trench or jacket? If this idea makes you squirm, get your tailor to do it. Make sure to save the arms to create a bias binding to neatly finish off the look. Vest coats looked fresh at Alexander Wang, Richard Chai Love and Rachel Roy.

Why not…nix the match? Clashing textures, plaids and prints is the way to go, as seen at Marc Jacobs, Rag and Bone (above) and Thakoon. Consider it  the perfect excuse to try on all your old clothes again to see what clashes with what!

Why not…make a sweeping entrance? Flowing, mid-calf and longer skirt lengths feel radical, even mildly uncomfortable, after years spent in form fitting tops and skinny pants. Dig around your local thrift store and I guarantee you’ll find some floor-skimmers left over from the early 1990’s. Pair with a utilitarian jacket to get the new silhouette, as seen at Tommy Hilfiger, Rachel Comey and Tory Burch.

All images from style.com

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