Robin Derrick

The archives of British Vogue define modern portraiture. Its collection remains a stylish barometer of the social and cultural changes that shaped the 20th century. From princesses to rock stars, models to actors, society beauties to world leaders, these are portraits of figures who have made an enduring mark on their age. And just as the pictures are a who’s who of the brilliant and beautiful, the selection of photographers is equally stellar. Daring, discerning, iconoclastic—here are the people who defined their art, including Horst, Beaton, Steichen, Penn, Snowdon, Parkinson, Bailey, and Testino.

Inventive, glamorous, gorgeous - since the beginning VOGUE has set the platinum standard for fashion magazines the world over and has become an icon in its own right. VOGUE's covers sum up the superlative visual ideals of the whole magazine. For the first time, this book brings together in one volume nearly a century of covers both illustrated and photographic. Over two hundred stunning images have been selected from an archive of more than fifteen hundred. What sets VOGUE's covers apart is that each is so bold, so beautiful and so emphatically different. They mark the course of history, chart changing fashions and ideas of beauty and hold up a mirror to the cultural and social revolutions of the twentieth century. Since 1916 VOGUE's covers have celebrated the most striking women of our age, captured by the century's leading photographers, the greatest artists and the most inventive fashion. Brilliant, captivating and full of life, this is the face of the world's most influential magazine and the original style bible.

Throughout history, fashion models have occupied a curious position: while their faces were instantly familiar, virtually nothing else was known about them. But their impression upon Vogue's readership has always been considerable -- they reflect and represent the ever-changing ideal of beauty. It was models such as Barbara Goalen and Fiona-Campbell Walter in Britain and Lisa Fonssagrives and Dorien Leigh in the US, in the 1950s, who were the first to become household names and to achieve the glamour and prestige that came with world fame. The supermodels of the 1990s turned the profession into a billion-dollar industry, and today models like Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer and Gisele Bundchen are brand names. Our fascination with these sublime creatures never seems to wane. Shining a light on these women's lives, Vogue Model uses photographs and illustrations from more than ninety years of Vogue's history to tell the fascinating story of the real faces of fashion.