STYLIST MAGAZINE: Words: Anna Hart, Photos: Rex Features
"NEVER FEAR BEING VULGAR, JUST BORING"
Diana Vreeland in focus
She was the visionary taste-maker who dictated the fashion agenda for over 50 years. Stylist celebrates the icon whose influence will never go out of style.
Looking back at her four decades in fashion journalism, Diana Vreeland once remarked, "If I hadn't done what I did, I'd have done nothing." This wasn't merely a declaration of steely determination and consummate passion (although clearly she possessed both). As a wealthy, well-connected wife in New York high society, Diana didn't need to show up at the magazine offices of Harper's Bazaar then Vogue every morning for 34 years. As Mrs Reed Vreeland, she could have lived a comfortable existence as a wife and a mother. Instead, she went to work and became Diana Vreeland, legendary fashion editor and, later, consultant to the costume department of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But, as is brilliantly portrayed in a new documentary, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, Diana always gave the impression she’d have done it all for free. That’s when you know you’re in the job you were made for.