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Unseen Vogue At The Design Museum
Christine Barlow
28/11/2002
Image: Kate Moss, photographed by Nick Knight. Commissioned for British Vogue, February 1996 issue
Left: Kate Moss, photographed by Nick Knight. Commissioned for British Vogue, February 1996 issue
If you love fashion get yourself along to the Design Museum in London for Unseen Vogue, the Secret History of Fashion Photography showing until 23 February 2003.
This showcases images from the Vogue archives that have been 'killed' - in press speak - or commissioned, but never published.
Right: Vivien Leigh, photographed by Cecil Beaton. Commissioned for British Vogue, 28 October 1936 issue
The exhibition focuses on British Vogue which, since its launch in 1916, has worked with many big-name photographers including Cecil Beaton, Lee Miller, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Bruce Webber, Nick Knight and Mario Testino - all of them featured.
Giving us a glimpse of images yet unseen, the display of photographs originally intended for the printed page and now made large and wall hung, makes for some arresting images - including a stylised shaven eyebrowed Marie Helvin early in her career and the more recent fashion and beauty shots.
Image: Ursula Andress, photographed by Brian Duffy, date unknown.
Left: Ursula Andress, photographed by Brian Duffy, date unknown.
As well as changing fashion, the exhibition gives a slant on shifts in social history through the 20th century and the development of photography. It also allows a glimpse into the relationship between Vogue and some of its star photographers.
One of the reasons photographs were rejected was because the magazine and the photographer fell out. And the end of a 30 year relationship between Vogue and Cecil Beaton is documented in forthright letters between the photographer and editor Audrey Withers in 1955. Norman Eales letter complaining about his fee of $49 (or £28 then) for "coping with a neurotic starlet for four hours" is also on display.
Image: Clifford Coffin, 'Jewel' Evening Dresses, 1954
Right: Clifford Coffin, 'Jewel' Evening Dresses, 1954
Most of the exhibition dates from after the Second World War, as Vogue patriotically pulped most of its images prior to this in 1942 to help the war effort. Some negatives survived and these are displayed over light, in a collage of images.
Examples of photographs and frontline reportage by Lee Miller, when she was US War Correspondent in Europe during the 1940s, provide historical documentation - including a newly liberated Paris. These, together with Cecil Beaton's portraits of landgirls and nurses, demonstrate that 1940s Vogue was interested in portraying more than just fashion.
Design Museum
Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, London, SE1 2YD, England
T: 0870 909 9009
Open: Daily 10.00-17.45.
Last admission 17.15.
Closed: Christmas Day
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