Diana Vreeland (1903-1989) once quipped that because she was born in Paris, “naturally, I’ve always been mad about clothes.” She grew up in New York as a young socialite, married, and moved to London in 1929. Her time in Europe—where she mixed with the fashionable elite and befriended Coco Chanel and artists such as Christian Bérard and Cecil Beaton—amounted to a comprehensive fashion education.
In 1936, Snow hired Vreeland to write for Harper’s Bazaar. Following the success of her provocative “Why Don’t You?” column, Vreeland became the magazine’s fashion editor. Describing her job as giving the public “what they never knew they wanted,” she developed a style that was extreme and fantastical. After twenty-six years at Bazaar, Vreeland left for Vogue in 1962 and was its editor in chief for eight years. “Vreeland invented the Fashion Editor. . . No one has equaled her—not nearly,” said Richard Avedon.