When I found out that the Vogue 100 exhibition, originally shown in London's National Portrait Gallery, would be making its debut in Manchester, I was very excited to pay a visit! The exhibit ultimately encompasses the last century of fashion and style through the eye of Vogue's influence and input. I was lucky that I visited on a quiet day as that meant I was able to gather some primary research and evidence of my visit despite photography being prohibited. The layout of the exhibition itself is sleek and simple with magazines and blown-up mounted images lining the walls and rows of glass cabinets. It also has an interactive element in the form of a video display showcasing the last four years of Vogue's achievements, which I liked but feel could have been pursued a bit further throughout the rest of the exhibition. I think that the chronological nature of the exhibit through the decades reflected the overall message of Vogue's standing point in history really well, however I don't feel that it was conveyed to its best ability in the space available to work with at the Manchester Art Gallery. Perhaps because the exhibition was initially curated with the layout of the National Portrait Gallery in mind, the timeline isn't quite as coherent or cohesive elsewhere. Nevertheless, I gained a real insight into Vogue beyond what I had learned last year and the exhibition overall feels very special and significant.
The Vogue timeline begins with the exploration of the twenties and the era of Art Deco. The prevalence of illustrations is clear and there is an abundance of glamour and provocative 'vintage' style. The influence of two fashion artists in particular, Eduardo Benito and Helen Dryden, stands out to me the most. Benito's work uses a combination of primary and pastel colours often muted and washed-out. His use of shapes and geometry conveys the popular style of the time - a cubism approach not dissimilar to Picasso's work. Dryden's work, to me, adopts much more of a fantastical, fanciful style, perhaps more inspired by social/lifestyle movements of the time, rather than art movements like Benito.
The most notable difference in the thirties is the steady integration of photography into fashion as art and illustrations became less significant. Last year, I visited an archive of the work by Elsa Schiaparelli at the Manchester Costume Museum, where I learnt more about her life, work and style in accordance with the social period. It was an interesting development to see that work then showcased in the pages of Vogue. Vogue's constant ability to react to social change was broadcasted in the early decades by its response to the 1929 Wall Street crash, in which it advised "if you have not lost money, then pretend you have", thereby altering its readers attitudes. In the thirties, Hollywood glamour is clearly of huge importance to Vogue, as film stars become hugely popular given their many appearances in the pages of the magazine. Perhaps this symbolises the first stirrings of the obsession of celebrity, as the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford are idolised for their beauty and lifestyle. Connections to the royal family are also made apparent, arguably in response to the financial uncertainty of the masses.
Vogue in the forties largely centres around war and naturally so, as Vogue at this point seems to have become something of an epicentre of societal change. I was interested to see how focused photography in Vogue had become on war scenes, patriotism and profiles of soldiers. Photography by Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller emerge as the most significant in this decade. They both convey a glamorous, editorial style which I feel has contributed to Vogue's long-time reputation for delivering stunning images and showcasing photographers' talent. In accordance with the use of glamour icons from film and fashion, they use figures like Marlene Dietrich and Audrey Hepburn.
The exhibition highlights that in the fifties, equality became a rising theme both socially and in the pages of Vogue magazine. Erving Penn shot portraits of ordinary, working class lives like dustmen, chimney sweeps and rag-and-bone men which I feel was almost certainly in response to the changing social attitude of the public post-war. The fifties were also clearly a very exciting time for style and trend changes as husband and wife, Alexander Plunket Greene and Mary Quant, 'untapped a demographic in the young' with the opening of the first Bazaar boutiques with the mini-skirt then going on to make its debut. Another small element of the fifties which I also admired at the exhibition was a 1957 headline which stated of designer Yves Saint Laurent, 'Saint Laurent has saved France'. I thought that this statement was powerful in hindsight, as Vogue are clearly in-touch, aware and even to be held responsible for the success of many designers which are now household names in the present day.
In the sixties, Vogue's dedication to investing in up-and-coming talent was apparent in the discovery of Helmut Newton and the development of his images like 'Flying in Formation' which Vogue clearly heralds as an iconic piece of work given its inclusion in the exhibition, among many of his other pieces. I really appreciated 'Clothes for Country Living' by Frank Horvat which told a story of the wool trade in the setting of a working-class street in Bradford - worlds apart from the stories of royalty and designer flair. Although the grainy image of a smoky environment and apparently 'everyday' people definitely denotes a lower class, Vogue itself reflects that the magazine 'embraced the exhilaration of the classless, meritocratic decade'. I would argue that, in the work of Frank Horvat at least, the class system is simply celebrated rather than disregarded. I was aware of Grace Coddington's influence in the magazine vaguely before my visit but her legendary input became a lot clearer to me at this point in the timeline, even to the extent that she modelled for David Bailey as well as devotedly working behind the scenes.
Sociological and economical change came to the forefront of fashion movements in the seventies as the economy faltered and there was unease in industrial fields like mining. I was never previously aware of the panicked reaction that the introduction of the new decimal currency had on the rate of buying in the UK or that a 'three-day-week' was introduced as a method to cope with sparse electricity resources in commercial places, i.e. clothing stores. In addition to the widespread unrest, television fundamentally changed societal norms. These times were described as 'disjointed times of sanitised entertainment and dystopia' and to me, this acts as a reinforcement of fashion's significance in societal history.
The eighties continued as a decade of huge disparity as the lower-class were displaced and disenfranchised while the number of millionaires doubled. Despite the inequality, the Vogue consumer's need for fashion didn't despair as this particular decade became 'synonymous with image consciousness'. Fashion photographer, Norman Parkinson, said "people want style, they need romance, they need beautiful women in beautiful and provocative surroundings". Vogue icon, Kate Moss, made her debut in 1993. Her rise as a supermodel really epitomises the magazine's influence on the decade to me as the increased interest in celebrity icons coincided with the feature of David and Victoria Beckham, Winona Ryder and Naomi Campbell. Mario Testino was also established as a significant figure during this decade, as his work lines the walls of the exhibition.
Having had access to an extensive collective archive of Vogue magazines all year, I absolutely took for granted their significance in the fashion industry, as well as my own education and future career. The exhibition overall was a very insightful celebration of a figurehead of the industry and it felt appropriate to see so many magazine copies, photographs and pages integrated into the layout. I visited VOGUE 100 at the Manchester Art Gallery on 26th September 2016. Having done further research of the exhibition online, I found that a floor plan for its original home at the National Portrait Gallery has been released and I was surprised to find that the exhibition is actually intended to be structured in reverse chronology. This reiterates my earlier suggestion that the transferred layout from London to Manchester isn't very successful as each decade which once had its own dedicated room, now slightly dysfunctionally shares the walls of two large rooms.
- Muir, R. (2016). Vogue 100: A Century of Style. Exhibited at the Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK, 24 June - 30 October.
