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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Fashion Nostalgia: The Beautiful Covers of British Vogue

As a graphic design geek, in addition to my fashionista creds, I could not help but gawk in awe over the amazingly beautiful covers from British Vogue. Under the editorial eyes of Dorothy Todd, Elspeth Champcommunal, Alison Settle, and Elizabeth Penrose, these gorgeous covers introduced British women to the must-haves during a fab time in fashion, the Roaring 20's and 30's. It was the time when flappers ruled which is the continual theme throughout these lovely covers.

The covers were illustrated by a number of artists/photographers including Helen Dryden (November 1920), Georges Lepape (November 1924, January 1925, February 1933), Eduardo Benito (July 1926), Pierre Mourgue (March 1932), Pierre Roy (April 1937, The Coronation Issue for King George VI), and René Bouché (May 1939).

The other appeal of these covers is the use of typography as a graphic element. Unlike today where it is important that your masthead look the same each month, these covers explored the whimsy and stylish effect of a great typeface. It was also unusual to see the infrequency of issues compared to today. Here were the best covers from 1920-1939. British Vogue's Covers are archived on their web site.


My Favorite, July 1928, Edited by Alison Settle




1920's


November 1920



November 1924



January 1925



July 1926



January 1927




The 1930's


January 1930



June 1930



May 1931



March 1932



August 1932



February 1933



December 1933



November 1934



May 1935



April 1937



May 1939

7 comments:

Unknown said...

wow, those vogue covers are so cool! :D i love them!!!! they should be like that still in America. :] Very unique & vintage.

Janice, Editor-in-Chief said...

i wholeheartedly agree. i miss the design element of these covers. it's all so cookie-cutter now because of competition.

Tatiana said...

The cover for May 1935 is great! I wish magazine covers would try to be minimalist these days. Such an over abundance of information on covers! This cover is so simple, chic and clean. Great post!

Janice, Editor-in-Chief said...

thanks, tatiana. i love these covers. this is what fashion magazine covers should look like!

Couture Carrie said...

Excellent post and blog! Love these illustrations... wouldn't it be fantastic if a modern Vogue cover had an illustration rather than a photo for once?

xoxox,
CC

Cafe Fashionista said...

Such an amazing post! Despite the fact that I am a Vogue-a-holic, I had never seen these before. So in love with all of them!

mobilya dekorasyon said...

vogue is amazing,I am grateful to you for sharing this