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Home , Donyale Luna, Jean Shrimpton, Patrick Demarchelier, Tatjana Patitz

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FACEOF FASHION When it comes to beauty, Harper’s Bazaar has always held up a mirror to the moment. By Stephen Mooallem

IN 1967, TO CELEBRATE THE CENTENNIAL of Harper’s Bazaar, the magazine cast its gaze ahead to the year 2067 and offered an array of predictions and prognostications of what beauty might look like in the future. The feeling was that there would be pills—lots of them, to change the color of your eyes, hair, or complexion; or help things firm, tighten, loosen, morph, or grow. There would be at-home instant hormone analysis; light-sensitive makeup that adapted to your environment; push-button plastic “surgery”; “living” masks that would allow you to alter the shape of your features; and products formulated to withstand a range of weather and atmospheric conditions, including space travel. (How one might maintain their chic in intergalactic environs was a regular concern for Bazaar in the mid-1960s, the age of the space race and lunar landings.) Of course, this was decades before Goop and Instagram face. Today, the subject of beauty has come to encompass culture, image, identity, health, food, fitness, psychology, wellness, well-being, technology—a more multifaceted reflection, perhaps, of our multitudinous selves. But the essential question of beauty—what it is, how to achieve it, and our changing conceptions of it—has always been central to Bazaar. It’s also a recurring theme in the new exhibition “Harper’s Bazaar: First in Fashion,” at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in . Early on, Bazaar’s approach to beauty was largely instructional. In its inaugural year of 1867, the magazine ran elaborate features, with detailed diagrams and directions, on subjects like how to get the perfect chignon. But in the 20th century, as Bazaar became more visual, its perspective on beauty shifted. The first two decades saw the birth of the modern commercial beauty business, with 1935 brands like L’Oréal, , Maybelline, and Rimmel all getting their footing. In the 1920s and early ’30s, Erté, the illustrator and designer who created

most of Bazaar’s covers at the time, and Baron Adolph de Meyer, recruited from SEPTEMBER Vogue to be the magazine’s chief photographer, explored beauty within the contexts of art and classical portraiture. The illustrations and images they created BAZAAR, were often idealized and ethereal—evocative of beauty as a kind of platonic ideal. Carmel Snow, who was named editor in chief of Bazaar in 1934, took a more modern view. In some ways, Snow’s vision of beauty reflected her approach to fashion: as a component of self-invention that existed—and could be found—in real life. With her art director, , and fashion editor, , Snow conceived of beauty not as some mystical notion but as something that could

be achieved, and an expression of our tastes, ambitions, and desires. In the ➤ FOUNDATION. © THE

Jean Shrimpton, hair by Alexandre, Paris, August 1965, photographed by Richard Avedon 152 Eye of the beholder: the evolving treatment of beauty in the pages of Bazaar. Clockwise from top: , photographed by Phillip November 1937 issue, the artist in Bazaar, with a portfolio featuring Dixon, June 1992; an illustration by , photographed illustrated a story on makeup and anxiety that , , Cindy by James Moore, July 1962; an ran under the headline the red badge of Crawford, , and Alexey Brodovitch layout, courage, with a black-and-white image of a in the October 1990 issue. October 1938; Ben Hassett, May 2015; Herbert Matter, April 1941; woman applying bright crimson lipstick; beauty, Under the editorship of Liz Tilberis and the Zoë Kravitz unretouched, during the Snow years, was very much about the creative direction of Fabien Baron, Bazaar in photographed by Camilla face one put on to confront the world—part of the next decade offered a more naturalistic Akrans, October 2018; Man Ray, November 1937; Richard what the photographer Richard Avedon would take on beauty. ’s black-and- Burbridge, March 2012. later refer to as the “performance” of living. white stories unfurled like movies, starring The subjects Avedon favored at Bazaar in the models like and Shalom Har- 1940s and ’50s—models like Dorian Leigh, Suzy low. The magazine also welcomed a new wave Parker, and Dovima—were themselves expert of photographers, such as Craig McDean, performers, slipping into different roles and David Sims, and Mario Sorrenti, who cele­ revealing elements of their own personalities brated personality and eccentricity. Bazaar like a kind of theatrical troupe. was the first American fashion magazine to

This way of describing beauty—by paradigm— feature , and collaborated with a would become part of Bazaar’s vernacular. In the roster of beauty talent that included makeup 1960s, it was British , the artists like François Nars, , and face of ’s youthquake. In the early 1970s, Pat McGrath, who would all go on to create it was and Ali MacGraw, who beauty brands of their own. MARCH 2012 represented a kind of free-spirited American style. Bazaar’s editor in chief at the turn of the

By the middle of the decade it was Cheryl 21st century, Glenda Bailey, took a more BAZAAR, Tiegs and her golden glow. “Beauty was high-concept approach. Glossy images The business of beauty was changing about the face one put on by Richard Burbridge, Ben Hassett, as companies like and Estée and Sølve Sundsbø both reimagined Lauder grew into national—and, later, to confront the world— and radiated glamour, with more recent APRIL 1941 (LAYOUT PHOTO: KEVIN SWEENEY/STUDIO D); D); KEVIN SWEENEY/STUDIO PHOTO: (LAYOUT APRIL 1941 multinational—brands. (Snow was an part of what Richard Avedon projects like Camilla Akrans’s October

early champion of Lauder’s Youth-Dew 2018 shoot with actress Zoë Kravitz BAZAAR, cream.) Bazaar also ventured into the would later refer providing a stark counterpoint. science of beauty, running early pieces to as the ‘performance’ Today, digital media, social platforms, RICHARD BURBRIDGE, 1937); NOVEMBER on the burgeoning area of plastic surgery and mobile technology have changed the of living.” BAZAAR, and cosmetic procedures. way we think and talk about beauty. During this period, Bazaar’s view on beauty Photography is about the making of pictures as also began to expand. China Machado, of Asian much as the taking of them. We create and MATTER, HERBERT 2015; MAY and Portuguese descent, was the first major non- communicate more in images. Celebrities like BAZAAR, Caucasian model to appear in the magazine, shot Rihanna are creating their own brands, such as by Avedon for the February 1959 issue. Avedon’s Fenty Beauty, that reach new generations of fashion session with for the April consumers, with inclusivity core to their mission. 1965 issue would help launch her career, which There are pills—as well as vitamins, antioxidants, went into overdrive the following year after she serums, acids, creams, compounds, inhibitors,

became the first black model to appear on the injectables, and infrared lights. But beauty is now BEN HASSETT, 1938; OCTOBER cover of British Vogue. Iman and Beverly Johnson more about individualism, choice, and change—a

would achieve even wider success in the 1970s freedom from old standards and ideas about BAZAAR,

and ’80s, breaking down barriers for succeeding youth and perfection—than ever before. RIGHTS ARTISTS INC./LICENSED BY ARTS, THE VISUAL FOR FOUNDATION WARHOL THE ANDY © 2020 WARHOL ANDY MOORE, ARTWORK: JAMES JUNE 1992; generations of women of color. In a 2011 interview with Bazaar, actress (and

In the early 1980s, fresh-faced celebrity- then future climate-change activist) BAZAAR, models like and described her own relationship with beauty dominated Bazaar. The magazine’s editor in and age in philosophical terms. “Instead of

chief, Anthony T. Mazzola, developed age as a viewing an arch—you rise, you peak, you ALEXEY BRODOVITCH, 1962); JULY franchise, routinely featuring a multigenerational decline—view it as a staircase,” she said. “Your BAZAAR, BAZAAR, range of women, while Francesco Scavullo’s body may fall apart, but on every level that really ( 2020 PARIS NY/ADAGP, (ARS), SOCIETY RIGHTS TRUST/ARTISTS 2015 © MAN RAY MAN RAY 2018; OCTOBER portraits captured the essence of the more-is- matters, you can ascend toward enlightenment, more decade in all its maximalist glamour. wisdom, and authenticity. That’s what I’m going BAZAAR, Scavullo would also help ring in the era of the for.” And that’s beauty for Bazaar. n

Cover story. From top: Lauren Hutton, photographed by James Moore, January 1967; China Machado, photographed by Bill King, April 1971;

Naomi Campbell, photographed by , June 1994; Kate Moss, photographed by Peter Lindbergh, November 1996. PHILLIP DIXON, FROM TOP: CLOCKWISE PAGE, OPPOSITE ( NEW YORK (ARS), SOCIETY AKRANS, CAMILLA

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