Harper’s Bazaar: First in Fashion

As America’s longest-running fashion magazine, Harper’s Bazaar has long been revered for its contributions to fashion, photography, and graphic design and has remained a prominent cultural icon since 1867 showcasing the visions of legendary editors, photographers, and stylists – as well as works by notable literary writers and serious journalists.

Timed to coincide with an exhibition at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, this volume traces the story of this celebrated publication from visionary founding editor, Mary Louise Booth, to Glenda Bailey, who has helmed the magazine for the last two decades and is known for commissioning dazzling visual features that frame fashion in the context of contemporary pop culture and aesthetics.

Featuring groundbreaking work by all of the greats of fashion photography and designs by fashion luminaries from Madeleine Vionnet and Cristobal Balenciaga to Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior and up to the present with Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen, and Marc Jacobs just to name a few, this book is a must have for anyone interested in fashion.

The book goes on to profile a roster of eminent contributors who were instrumental in maintaining Bazaar’s ongoing relevance and influence over the decades including Erte, Edward Steichen, Leon Bakst, Diana Vreeland, Jean Cocteau, Dali, Man Ray, Avedon, e.e. cumming, Marianne Moore, Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, and many other photographers, artists, and writers.

Organized chronologically, the selections showcase the breadth of creativity and artistry that has been published in the pages of the magazine for more than a century and prove that Harper’s Bazaar is more than just a fashion magazine.