Style Icons: Diana Vreeland
[ 30 January 2007 ]
“You gotta have style. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it you’re nobody. I’m not talking about a lot of clothes.”
— Diana Vreeland.
I have her picture pegged onto a string of fairy lights going across my sitting room.
Diana Vreeland was an incredible woman. Born in 1906 in Paris, she spent most of her life in New York & rose to acclaim for her work as fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar & later at Vogue. Her eccentricies are what make her so interesting to me. For example, she always had beautiful, perfectly manicured hands. She pronounced her name not as “Diana” but “Dee-Ann”. She invented the word “pizazz” (& many other words, including “faction” — a combination of fact & fiction). She was obsessed with the search for the perfect red & when having her apartment redecorated, told Billy Baldwin, “I want this room to be a garden — but a garden in hell.”
Bettina Ballard found Mrs. Vreeland’s red garden room “one of the most attractive atmospheres that I know,” comparing it to “an over-crowded Turkish seraglio on a rather elegant boat.” Books, bibelots, calculated clutter, personal pictures [among them, sketches by Augustus John, Bébé Bérard, & Cecil Beaton of herself], & “treasures, many Scotch snuffboxes in horn & silver, are massed on tables, walls, & shelves looking as if one could never get around to seeing them all. A long-stemmed anemone stands in a long-stemmed vase. There are oriental divans against the wall covered with inviting cushions, & she dines at a table pushed against a divan with bright cushions propped behind her back. She presides on a big Indian print-covered sofa like a sultan’s favourite, before & after dinner, with everyone gathered on small chairs at her feet. She lives in an atmosphere of informal luxury confined in crowded quarters, in an aura of intimacy & mystery.”
Diana wrote a column for Harper’s Bazaar called “Why Don’t You…?” which offered creative, but not necessarily practical ideas for its readers. Some of my favourite suggestions are:
Why Don’t You… wear violet velvet mittens with everything?
Why Don’t You… fit your clothes easily? Only English & Americans have this mania for snappy tightness.
Why Don’t You… have an elk-hide trunk for the back of your car? Hermès of Paris will make this.
Why Don’t You… have your cigarettes stamped with a personal insignia?
Why Don’t You… wear, like the Duchess of Kent, three enormous diamond stars arranged in your hair in front?
Why Don’t You… paint a map of the world on all four walls of your boys’ nursery so they won’t grow up with a provincial point of view?
“I’m terrible on facts. But I always have an idea. If you have an idea, you’re well ahead!”
— Diana Vreeland.
Diana wore her blue-black hair slicked back with lacquer, & believed that a good hairline & finely manicured hands were the hallmarks of elegance. She often wore a turban made from a scarf. She rarely made it to her office before noon, & was responsible for bringing animal prints into style (when a young Yves St Laurent showcased them in an early collection, Diana pushed them to the public). She paid incredible attention to detail & the fashion shoots she directed are evidence of this. She understood the concept of selling a fantasy to the public & was quoted as saying, “Give ‘em what they never knew they wanted!”
Part of the reason I find her so inspiring is that she was such an original. Her sense of personal style was strong & she did exactly as she pleased. I really admire anyone who just gets out there & isn’t afraid to show who they really are. She had many cruel things written about her — journalists mocked her starry-eyed “Why Don’t You…?” column & passed judgment on her appearance. Those things don’t matter anymore. Being a critic is easy, but Diana changed the course of fashion forever.
“Never worry about the facts. Just project an image to the public.”
— Diana Vreeland.
Extra For Experts:
Some quotes from Diana Vreeland: Bazaar Years by John Esten
Chapter excerpt from Allure, on Diana’s collaboration with Christopher Hemphill.
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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I love love love Diana Vreeland. Although I’ve got to admit, I don’t know much about her personal life story. Do you know if there are any good biographies of her?
“in europe, there is more of a snap in the air.”
that line made the whole video.
Mallory — “D.V.” is her autobiography. It’s mostly just vignettes from interesting times in her life. It’s a nice read. “Diana Vreeland – The Bazaar Years” has a short bio in the front & a lot of old “Why Don’t You?” columns. Those are the only two I’ve read, though. There is NOT enough information about her!
Mary — I saw another video of her dressing a model & she barks, “PLEASE don’t stand there”. It made me cackle. So awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG82NfFU6Sk&eurl=
Thanks for the info! I’m definitely going to have to check those out, I don’t know nearly enough about her.