EDITOR’S LETTER
Welcome to our latest issue, which has been inspired by the most beautiful of the newseason collections, as well as the glories of Bazaar’s extraordinary heritage. A sense of the beguiling magic of bygone eras, in this, our 150th anniversary year, is integral to our vision of what the future might hold; for in fashion, as in life, understanding where we have come from can be as good a guide as any in considering where we might be going to.
Indeed, an intuitive feel for the alchemy of the past, present and future is at the heart of most great fashion houses. Certainly, when I interviewed Maria Grazia Chiuri for this issue (page 294) on her appointment as the first female creative director of Dior, she described her role as being partly akin to that of a curator at a museum, while also finding ways to create her own fresh, feminist vision for this revered brand.
Like Chiuri and her team at Dior, we have been immersed in our endlessly inspiring archives, and as a consequence, have discovered how modern certain images and stories still look. Take, for example, Bazaar’s distinctive illustrations from the 1930s, which are part of our jewellery story this month, and the continuing appeal of their chic, sleek silhouettes (page 187). Meanwhile, when Juliet Nicolson explored the Bloomsbury Group’s relationship with Bazaar (page 320), the creative contributions of her grandmother Vita Sackville-West, and Vita’s friend and lover Virginia Woolf, emerged from the archives, their voices as compelling now as ever before. We’re proud to be able to publish ‘In the Looking Glass’, one of Woolf’s brilliant short stories for Bazaar (page 326); and also delighted to have a piece by Virginia Nicholson, celebrating the artistic legacy of her grandmother, and Woolf’s sister, Vanessa Bell (page 210).
Elsewhere in the issue, we trace the line of beauty that threads the iconography of Bazaar’s past issues with the newest looks from the S/S 17 collections (page 329); and reveal the story behind
Funny Face, the Audrey Hepburn film that immortalised our magazine 60 years ago, inspired by Richard Avedon and Bazaar’s team of remarkable women (page 312).
If Hepburn and Avedon epitomised Bazaar in the 1950s, then Princess Diana and Patrick Demarchelier represent the quintessence of the magazine in the 1990s (when it was edited by the Princess’ friend, Liz Tilberis). This year is the 20th anniversary of Diana’s tragic death, and as a new exhibition of her memorable wardrobe opens at Kensington Palace, we look at the enduring legacy of a timeless royal icon (page 302).
Finally, and as always, we continue Bazaar ’s bold tradition of taking fashion out of the studio, and into wild landscapes and spectacular locations. Agata Pospieszynska and Charlie Harrington braved the elements to shoot Sam Rollinson on a Scottish clifftop at Dunnottar Castle (page 240), and Erik Madigan Heck, Leith Clark and Madison Stubbington faced the wind and waves of Botany Bay on the south coast of England, capturing the spirit of the place (page 274). There’s much more, besides – the secret life of Anne Brontë; the pleasures of wearing pink; and Carine Roitfeld’s artful new-season story featuring several of our favourite models.
As always, I hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we did creating it, for Bazaar is about sharing ideas, passions, inspirations, conversations; and together, the future looks bright…