Diana Vreeland, who was editor-in chief of Vogue magazine from 1963 to 1971, was believed to be essential in the changes and transformations within the fashion industry. People described her as having an “ornate and overbearing style that she has imposed on the magazine” (Angeletti and Oliva, p.204). Her enthusiasm for extravagance and “dress-up fantasy” came with mixed feelings. Some argued that her taste and new styles and trends were polluting the magazine with unappealing and unrealistic images. However at the same time, Vreeland became editor-in-chief during what was known as the youth-quake and sexual revolution, in which individuals were breaking away from the traditions of the older generations.
Vreeland’s extravagance and fantastical vision is very apparent in the Vogue Covers with which she was responsible for. She continuously attempted to represent a type of environment and women that were considered exotic and extraordinary either shooting the stories in “exotic” locations or dressing the models in “exotic” clothing. As Sturken and Cartwright discuss in Practices of Looking, Vreeland attempted to transport the readers of Vogue to “an unidentified exotic locale” (Sturken and Cartwright, p.112). Color and various patterns were a constant in all of Vreeland’s covers for Vogue magazine.
In the four covers I have attached to this post, excess appears to be a common theme throughout. Whether it’s fur, jewelry, makeup, hats or all of the above, Vreeland always went for more. In addition, the covers still seemed to focus more on the image of the woman rather than text. In many of the covers there is little if any text other than the cover title. The images focus mainly on the face or faces of the models. While the images are filled with color and various textures, they still only consisted of headshots, showing little below the neck or in the background.
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