The Divine Mrs. V

MANILA, Philippines - These days, “icons” are a dime a dozen. Many are dubbed as such, but very few truly deserve it. The word has practically lost its meaning, thanks in part to its frequency of use. 

Back in the day, “icons” were groundbreaking visionaries — not the flash-in-the-pan, one-off types you see a lot of today. Their influence was like no other, and their legacies endured beyond their years. Le Corbusier was one for design. As were Charles and Ray Eames. What Andy Warhol was to pop art, Henri Cartier-Bresson was to photography. In the field of fashion, there was Diana Vreeland.

With a three-part career that spanned 50 years in the industry, Vreeland isn’t your garden-variety icon. To begin with, her own mother said she was ugly (she was). She was small in stature, but larger than life. She never toed the line of convention, but instead drew her own, far off to the left, and turned it into a standard. She was also best known for making you want something you never knew you wanted — or at least, didn’t know just yet.

Vreeland was, by all accounts, a phenom. Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld and Franca Sozzani have absolutely nothing on her. Famed photographer and close collaborator Richard Avedon put it best when he said that Diana Vreeland invented the fashion editor. She most definitely laid the groundwork for everyone else who followed. 

The Eye Has To Travel

How does one end up becoming the High Priestess of Fashion anyway? In the documentary, The Eye Has To Travel, Vreeland — by way of recorded conversations with writer George Plimpton and a collection of archival images and footage — tells us how, in her distinct raspy timbre and Mid-Atlantic accent.

“I wanted this apartment to be a garden — but it had to be a garden in hell.” Mrs Vreeland’s famous red living room became the headquarters for New York arts and society. Portrait by HORST P. HORST, 1979

“The first thing to do, my love, is arrange to be born in Paris. After that, everything flows quite naturally.” 

Born in The City of Light, during the height of La Belle Époque, Diana Dalziel Vreeland’s life had a very auspicious start. Exposed to and fascinated by Modernism, Art Nouveau, the Ballets Russes and haute couture, Diana grew up in glamour, among eccentric characters of the era who frequented her parents’ living room in Paris.

Author of the book that shares the same title as the film, director and granddaughter-in-law Lisa Immordino-Vreeland says that Diana “cultivated a striking sense of personal style in response to the damning verdict of her beautiful and reckless socialite mother, Emily Hoffman Dalziel. ‘I was always her ugly little monster,’ said Diana. And so, at a very young age, she realized that only her taste and vision could set her apart.”

When World War I broke out, the Dalziels moved to New York where Diana was forced to speak English. She developed a stutter and failed in school (she eventually dropped out). Diana then immersed herself and found solace in her true passion, dance.

To overcome her insecurities, Diana “created her own world in which style, originality and allure were supreme.” She then developed a flair for the dramatic and had an uncanny knack for turning adventure stories into fantasy.

At 19, she fell in love with one of the most handsome and eligible bachelors of New York, Reed Vreeland. “It was love at first sight,” she said. “Nothing could spoil my happiness. Reed made me feel beautiful.”

They moved to London and went on road trips around Europe in their Bugatti coupé. They went everywhere — Paris, Budapest, Vienna, Rome. It was on these trips that she forged friendships and basically fell in love with the whole couture set in Paris. 

It was during this time that she most famously quipped: “The best thing about London is Paris.”

Never Fear Being Vulgar, Only Boring

“I was going through money like someone goes through whiskey if you’re an alcoholic,” she said. “We never had that much money. I’m basically quite lazy.”

That all changed when the Vreelands returned to New York City in 1937. While dancing at a party at the St Regis, Harper’s Bazaar editor in chief Carmel Snow spotted her, complimented her on her unique style and offered her a job. 

“I’ve never worked before, and never dressed before lunch,” she said. With that, she kicked off her illustrious fashion career as a columnist. “Why Don’t You?” was the sort of advice column only Vreeland could write. “Why don’t you rinse your blond child’s hair in dead Champagne to keep its gold?” or “Why don’t you have a white monkey-fur bedcover mounted on yellow velvet?” are but two samples of Mrs. Vreeland’s signature use of thought-provoking hyperbole.

It was with her razor-sharp wit, sense of fantasy and moxie that she breathed new life into the magazine that, prior to her arrival, was as stuffy as the bunch of stodgy socialites that ran it. 

Soon after, she became the magazine’s fashion editor. Twenty-five years later — and reportedly, after being passed over for promotion — she resigned and became editor in chief at Vogue.

Diana Vreeland, photographed in her infamous office at Vogue, where her bulletin board was full of inspirational images. “I don’t think anyone has ever been in a better place at a better time than I was when I was the editor of Vogue.” Photo by JAMES KARALES

A Little Bad Taste Is Like A Nice Splash Of Paprika

By her own admission, Vreeland’s years at Vogue were both her and the magazine’s “golden years.” It was the Swinging Sixties, and it was the beginning of a major cultural revolution. Right smack dab in the middle of it all was Vreeland, at the helm of a fresh new glossy. Interest in fashion, art, literature, music and film was at its peak and Vogue was there to herald it. 

Lavish, elaborate and flamboyant photo spreads became the norm. Unconventional models like Twiggy, Veruschka and Penelope Tree were employed. Imperfections (like Barbra Streisand’s nose and Lauren Hutton’s gap teeth) were celebrated. Ugly became the new pretty. Central to this era was everything unique and unorthodox. Proclaiming it all was Empress Vreeland.

After nine years of revolutionary work, Vreeland was unceremoniously fired in 1971 (because the top dogs at Vogue wanted “a different sort of magazine”).

Give ‘Em What They Never Knew They Wanted

“I was only 70. What was I supposed to do, retire?” 

After her stint at Vogue, Mrs. Vreeland ended up working as creative consultant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.  

Much to the chagrin of The Met’s director (and a couple of historians), she indulged her flights of fancy, paying little or no mind to historical fact. What mattered to her was the whole experience. She created and unwittingly set the standard for multi-sensorial exhibits by incorporating lighting design, piping in music and — for maximum effect — even went as far as pumping fragrances into the galleries.  

History will show that the director’s fears were completely unfounded. Vreeland’s cutting-edge collections indubitably set a precedent for all future exhibits and galas. She singlehandedly put the Costume Institute on the fashion world’s map.

She remained at The Met until her death in 1989. Vreeland was 86.

It’s Not About The Dress You Wear, It’s About The Life You Lead In The Dress.

As her good friend, Jackie Onassis once put it, “To say Diana Vreeland has dealt only with fashion trivializes what she has done. She has commented on the times in a wise and witty manner. She has lived a life.” And what a life it was.

Diana Vreeland was many things — a trailblazer, a tastemaker, an oracle and a visionaire. 

Above all else, she was an original.

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See more of her extraordinary life in detail. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (the documentary) is in limited release in the US on Sept. 21, in France on Oct. 3 and in the Netherlands on Oct. 4. The book (of the same title) is now available for purchase online and in stores.

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/dianavreelandbookandfilm or visit dianavreeland.com.