Empress of Fashion

by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart

  309 “What Mrs. Vreeland likes”: George Trow, “Turnout,” The New Yorker, December 17, 1979, p. 38.

  309 “The thing that unites the textile department”: Roy Strong quoted in Suzy Menkes, “Stripping Off for Dressing Up,” The Times, May 31, 1983.

  310 There were further objections: the criticisms outlined in this article provoked a letter to the editor of The Times from Elizabeth Daubeny on June 13, 1983. She had worked for several years as a volunteer at the Costume Institute, cited the scholarship of Stella Blum, Elizabeth Lawrence, and Judith Jerde and said it was unthinkable that eighteenth-century petticoats or any other garment would ever be treated in the manner implied.

  311 “her vision of Diana Vreeland”: Liz Smith, New York Daily News, December 10, 1986.

  311 “nourished fantasies”: Silverman, Selling Culture. p. 45.

  312 “the leader in all fashion today”: Yves Saint Laurent (London: Thames & Hudson, 1984), published on the occasion of the Costume Institute exhibition, 1983, p. 8.

  313 “I”ve never understood that—about art forms”: Trow and Rose, “Eclectic, Reminiscent, Amused, Fickle, Perverse,” The New Yorker, p. 79.

  313 a photograph she took of Marina Schiano: Martin and Koda, Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style, looseleaf.

  313 “The curious thing”: Allure Manuscript, DVP, Box 35, Folder 2, p. 192.

  314 “On my arrival”: DVP, Box 53, Folder 1.

  315 “Water, flowers, moonlight”: DVP, Box 12, Folder 9.

  315 “André, I’ve had such a wonderful life”: Talley, A.L.T. p. 194.

  316 “Great dance dresses”: Vogue (UK), December 1986, p. 32.

  316 “She came in one day”: Andrew Solomon, “Invitation to the Dance,” Vogue, November 2007, p. 114.

  317 “I need a great deal of fanfare”: Kornbluth, “The Empress of Clothes,” p. 36.

  318 “I think we”ll have a telephone relationship”: Lerman, The Grand Surprise, p. 574.

  318 “She seems more relaxed”: DVP, Box 55, Folder 5.

  320 “The last details of any story”: Vreeland, Allure, p. 107.

  320 “Before her it was society ladies”: by permission of RAF, and quoted in Martin and Koda, Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style, looseleaf.

  321 “stumped over how to sum her up”: Cathy McGuigan, “The Style Maker’s Best Creation Was Herself,” Newsweek, September 4, 1989., p. 62.

  321 “an entomologist of style”: Martin and Koda, Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style, pp. 8 and 9.

  322 “Mrs. Vreeland was a genius for understanding”: John Ross, Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives.

  323 “Whatever their shortcomings”: Elizabeth Wilson, Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010), p. 268.

  324 “Should we spend this much time on ourselves?”: quoted in Lieberson, “Empress of Fashion,” p. 22.

  324 “I’m an idearist”: quoted in ibid., p. 26.

  324 “The day you give a dinner”: quoted in ibid., p. 25.

  325 “We can only see her”: Martin and Koda, Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style, p. 28.

  325 “I don’t like to work”: remembered by Stephen Jamail in ibid., looseleaf.

  325 “ I can’t stand a dream that’s stronger than my own day”: Allure Manuscript, DVP, Box 35, Folder 2, p. 177.

  325 Diana’s greatest feat: The Eye Has to Travel, documentary directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, 2012.

  326 “haikus”: Harold Koda’s word for Diana’s more mystifying instructions in ibid.

  326 “I call it a ‘dream’ ”: Allure Manuscript, DVP, Box 35, Folder 2, p. 165.

  326 “I’m looking for something else” : Vreeland, Allure, p. 13.

  327 “Vreeland understood that”: Carol Phillips to DK, DKP, p. 9.

  327 “Editing is not just in magazines”: quoted in Lieberson, “Empress of Fashion,” p. 25.

  328 “I think I’ve been a realist”: Allure Manuscript, DVP, Box 35, Folder 2, p. 191.

  328 life had its up-and-down trips: quoted in Cathy McGuigan, “The Style Maker’s Best Creation Was Herself,” Newsweek, September 4, 1989, p. 62.

  328 “Socially determined we may be”: Wilson, Adorned in Dreams, p. 244.

  328 “There will . . . never be”: ibid., p. 246.

  329 “you’ve got to look in the mirror”: Allure Manuscript, DVP, Box 35, Folder 2, p. 190.

  Selected Bibliography

  WORKS BY DIANA VREELAND

  Vreeland, Diana. D.V., ed. George Plimpton and Christopher Hemphill. New York: Knopf, 1984. Reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1997.

  ———. Allure, with Christopher Hemphill. Boston: Bulfinch, 1980. Reprint, 2002.

  ———. Vreeland Memos: Visionaire 37. New York: Visionaire, 2001.

  SELECTED PRIMARY SOURCES

  Diana Vreeland Papers. Manuscript and Archives Division, the New York Public Library and Estate of Diana Vreeland.

  Diana Vreeland Tapes. Estate of Diana Vreeland.

  Correspondence between Diana Vreeland and Mona Bismarck. Filson Historical Society Special Collections Department. Louisville, Kentucky.

  The Richard Avedon Foundation archive, New York.

  Papers of Sir Cecil Beaton, St. John’s College Library, University of Cambridge.

  Costume Institute Archives, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  Louise Dahl-Wolfe Archive, Center of Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson.

  Hoffman and Dalziel Family Albums.

  Dodie Kazanjian Papers. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

  Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives.

  Calvin Tomkins Papers, Series 11. Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.

  SELECTED ARTICLES

  Collins, Amy Fine. “It Had to Be Kenneth.” Vanity Fair, June 2003.

  ———. “The Cult of Diana.” Vanity Fair, November 1993.

  Dalziel, Emily Hoffman. “Ten Thousand Miles from Fifth Avenue.” Harper’s Bazaar, February 22, 1922.

  Donovan, Carrie. “Diana Vreeland, Dynamic Fashion Figure, Joins Vogue.” New York Times, March 28, 1962.

  Druesedow, Jean L. “In Style: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Costume Institute.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, fall 1987.

  Fraser, Kennedy. “On and Off the Avenue: Feminine Fashions.” The New Yorker, June 16, 1973.

  Kornbluth, Jesse. “The Empress of Clothes.” New York magazine, November 29, 1982.

  Lieberson, Jonathan. “Empress of Fashion: Diana Vreeland.” Interview, December 1980.

  ———. “Embarras de Richesse: The Life of Diana Vreeland.” New York Review of Books, June 28, 1984.

  Macdonald, Nesta. “Diaghilev Retrieved.” Dance Magazine, March 1979.

  McCooey, Meriel. “Why Don’t You Knit Yourself a Little Skullcap?” Sunday Times, March 17, 1968.

  McGuigan, Cathy. “The Style Maker’s Best Creation Was Herself,” Newsweek, September 4, 1989.

  Menkes, Suzy. “Stripping Off for Dressing Up.” The Times, May 31, 1983.

  Morris, Bernadine. “The Era of Balenciaga: It Seems So Long Ago.” New York Times, March 23, 1973.

  ———. “This Show Will Have the Most Shattering Effect on Fashion,” New York Times, December 14, 1973.

  ———. “Metropolitan Toasts a Dazzling Russia of Old.” New York Times, December 7, 1976.

  Perelman, S. J. “Frou-Frou, or the Future of Vertigo.” The New Yorker, April 16, 1938.

  Pumphrey, Martin. “The Flapper, the Housewife and the Making of Modernity.” Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, (May 1987).

  Solomon, Andrew. “Invitation to the Dance,” Vogue, November 2007.

  Tomkins, Calvin. “The World of Carmel Snow.” The New Yorker, November 7, 1994.

  Trow, George W. S. “I
nventive.” The New Yorker, December 24, 1973.

  ———. “Haute, Haute Couture.” The New Yorker, May 26, 1975.

  ———. “Women of Style.” The New Yorker, December 29, 1975.

  ———. “Turnout.” The New Yorker, December 17, 1979.

  ———, and Alison Rose. “Eclectic, Reminiscent, Amused, Fickle, Perverse.” The New Yorker, June 5, 1978.

  ———.“Notes and Comment.” The New Yorker, December 20, 1976.

  Weymouth, Lally. “A Question of Style: A Conversation with Diana Vreeland.” Rolling Stone, August 11, 1977.

  “How to Get into the Fashion Business.” Harper’s Bazaar, August 1939.

  SELECTED COSTUME INSTITUTE EXHIBITION PUBLICATIONS

  The publications listed here were produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to accompany Diana Vreeland’s costume exhibitions. Books produced by other publishers in conjunction with her exhibitions are listed under “Selected Books” below.

  The World of Balenciaga. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973.

  The Tens, the Twenties, the Thirties: Inventive Clothes 1909–1939. Checklist. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973.

  The Tens, the Twenties, the Thirties: Inventive Clothes 1909–1939. Catalog. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973.

  Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974.

  American Women of Style. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.

  Vanity Fair. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.

  Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes. Checklist. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978.

  Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes. Catalog. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978.

  The Fashions of the Hapsburg Era: Austria-Hungary. Checklist. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978.

  The Eighteenth-Century Woman. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1981.

  La Belle Époque. Checklist. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.

  Jullian, Philippe, with illustrations selected by Diana Vreeland. La Belle Époque. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.

  Yves Saint Laurent. Checklist. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.

  Yves Saint Laurent. Essays to accompany the exhibition by Yves Saint Laurent and others, introduction by Diana Vreeland. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984.

  Martin, Richard, and Harold Koda. Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.

  Chanel. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.

  SELECTED COSTUME INSTITUTE ACOUSTIGUIDES

  The Tens, the Twenties, the Thirties: Inventive Clothes 1909–1939. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973.

  Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974.

  The Glory of Russian Costume. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976.

  Dance. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.

  SELECTED BOOKS

  Adler, Kathleen, Erica Hirshler, and Barbara H. Weinberg. Americans in Paris, 1860–1900. London: National Gallery Company, 2006.

  Albrecht, Donald. Cecil Beaton: The New York Years. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2011.

  Angeletti, Norberto, and Alberto Oliva. In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World’s Most Famous Fashion Magazine. New York: Rizzoli, 2006.

  Arnold, Rebecca. Fashion, Desire and Anxiety: Image and Morality in the 20th Century. London: I. B. Tauris, 2001.

  ———. The American Look: Fashion, Sportswear and the Image of Women in 1930s and 1940s New York. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009.

  Bacall, Lauren. By Myself and Then Some. New York: HarperEntertainment, 2005.

  Bailey, David, with notes by Francis Wyndham. David Bailey’s Box of Pin-Ups. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1965.

  ———, with text by Martin Harrison. Black and White Memories: Photographs 1948–1969. London: Dent, 1983.

  Bailey, David, and Peter Evans Goodbye Baby & Amen: A Saraband for the Sixties. London: Condé Nast; Coward-McCann, 1969.

  Baldwin, Billy. Billy Baldwin Remembers. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974.

  ———, with Michael Gardine. Billy Baldwin: An Autobiography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1985.

  Ballard, Bettina. In My Fashion. London: Secker & Warburg, 1960.

  Bassman, Lillian. Lillian Bassman. Boston: Bulfinch, 1997.

  Beaton, Cecil. Cecil Beaton’s Scrapbook. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1937.

  ———. Cecil Beaton’s New York. London: B. T. Batsford, 1938.

  ———. The Glass of Fashion. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1954.

  Beaton, Cecil, introduction by Hugo Vickers. The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as They Were Written. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002.

  ———. Beaton in the Sixties: More Unexpurgated Diaries. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. Hugo Vickers, ed.

  Bender, Marilyn. The Beautiful People: A Candid Examination of a Cultural Phenomenon—the Marriage of Fashion and Society in the 60’s. New York: Coward-McCann, 1967.

  Berenson, Marisa, with a foreword by Diana Vreeland. Dressing Up: How to Look and Feel Absolutely Perfect for Any Social Occasion. New York: Putnam, 1984.

  Birchfield, James D. Kentucky Countess: Mona Bismarck in Art & Fashion. Lexington: University of Kentucky Art Museum, 1997.

  Blanch, Lesley. The Wilder Shores of Love. London: John Murray, 1954, Reprint, London: Orion, 1993, reissued in 2010.

  Blass, Bill. Ed. Cathy Horyn. Bare Blass. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

  Bloom, Alexander, ed. Long Time Gone: Sixties America Then and Now (Viewpoints on American Culture). New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

  Bockris, Victor. Warhol. London: Penguin, 1990.

  Boston, Anne. Lesley Blanch: Inner Landscapes, Wilder Shores. London: John Murray, 2010.

  Bowles, Hamish. Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. Boston: Bulfinch, 2001.

  ———. Balenciaga and Spain. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2011.

  ———, ed. Alexandra Kotur. The World in Vogue: People Parties Places. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

  Breward, Christopher. Fashion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

  ———, and Caroline Evans, eds., Fashion and Modernity. London: Berg, 2005.

  Bronstein, Carolyn. Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976–1986. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

  Campbell, Nina, and Caroline Seebohm. Elsie de Wolfe: A Decorative Life. London: Aurum, 1993.

  Capstick, Fiona Claire. The Diana Files: The Huntress-Traveller Through History. Johannesburg: Rowland Ward, 2004.

  Carter, Ernestine, introduction by Diana Vreeland. The Changing World of Fashion. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977.

  Carter, Robert A. Buffalo Bill Cody: The Man Behind the Legend. New York: John Wiley, 2000.

  Cassini, Oleg. A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House. New York: Rizzoli, 1995.

  ———. In My Own Fashion: An Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.

  Chase, Edna Woolman, and Ilka Chase. Always in Vogue. London: Victor Gollancz, 1954.

  Chatwin, Bruce. What Am I Doing Here? London: Jonathan Cape, 1989.

  Chaney, Lisa. Chanel: An Intimate Life. London: Fig Tree, 2011.

  Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.

  Colacello, Bob. Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

  Collins, Gail. When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. Boston: Back Bay, 2009.

  Coontz, Stephanie. A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. New York: Basic, 2011.

  Coudert,
Thierry. Café Society: Socialites, Patrons and Artists, 1920–1960. Paris: Flammarion, 2010.

  Courcy, Anne de. 1939: The Last Season. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989.

  Craik, Jennifer. The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion. London: Routledge, 1994.

  Cyrulnik, Boris. Trans. David Macey. Resilience: How Your Inner Strength Can Set You Free From the Past. London: Penguin, 2009.

  Dahl-Wolfe, Louise. A Photographer’s Scrapbook. London: Quartet, 1984.

  Daves, Jessica. Ready-Made Miracle: The Story of American Fashion for the Millions. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967.

  Devlin, Polly. Vogue Book of Fashion Photography. London: Thames & Hudson, 1979.

  Douglas, Ann. Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s. London: Picador, 1996.

  Drehle, David Von. Triangle: The Fire That Changed New York. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.

  DuBois, Diana. In Her Sister’s Shadow: An Intimate Biography of Lee Radziwill. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995.

  Dwight, Eleanor. Diana Vreeland. New York: William Morrow, 2002.

  Esten, John. Diana Vreeland: Bazaar Years. New York: Universe, 2001.

  Ewing, William A. The Photographic Art of Hoyningen-Huene. London: Thames & Hudson, 1986.

  Faucigny-Lucinge, Jean-Louis de. Legendary Parties. New York: Vendome, 1987.

  Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique, with an introduction by Lionel Shriver. London: Penguin Classics, 2010.

  Golbin, Pamela, ed. Madeleine Vionnet. New York: Rizzoli, 2009, to accompany Madeleine Vionnet, Puriste de la Mode, exhibition at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile (Les Arts Décoratifs), Paris, from June 24, 2009 to January 31, 2010.

  Goldberg, Vicki, and Nan Richardson. Louise Dahl-Wolfe, with a foreword by Dorothy Twining Globus. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2000.

  Gottlieb, Robert. Lives and Letters. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011.

  Grant, Linda. The Thoughtful Dresser. London: Virago, 2009.

  Gray, Francine du Plessix. Them: A Memoir of Parents. New York: Penguin, 2005.

  Gross, Michael. Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum. New York: Broadway, 2009.

  Gundlach, F .C. Martin Munkácsi. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006.