Named after the Roman goddess Junon, who is associated with the feminine life, marriage, and childbirth, this Christian Dior gown is downright divine. A garment that epitomizes the overt feminity championed by Monsieur Dior during the golden age of couture, this dress was part of his fall/winter 1949 haute couture
In the August 4, 1952 issue of Life, the magazine featured Eartha Kitt’s celebrated arrival on the scene. “She branched onto Broadway,” read the opening spread, which was illustrated with a Gordon Parks photo (one of several taken) of Kitt balletically swinging from a maple tree in Central Park. “The
Iconoclast designer Elsa Schiaparelli is most remembered for infusing a sense of wit and irony into her designs through surreal touches. Schiaparelli’s Fall 1939 music-themed collection celebrated music, quite literally, with drum-shaped button closures, embroidered musical notes and music boxes designed into belts and hats. This particular dress, owned by heiress
Before launching his own collection in 1981, Japanese-born Tokio Kumagaï attended the Bunka College of Fashion (where Kenzo and Issey Miyake would also matriculate) and soon after began designing footwear for Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre d’Alby. For his eponymous label, Kumagaï went beyond the expected, offering up designs that incorporated appliqués, patchwork details and
Peter Lindbergh’s 1988 November cover for Vogue Magazine (also Anna Wintour’s debut cover) featured a black jacket by Christian Lacroix, encrusted with a Byzantian-like bejeweled cross. The couture jacket, provocatively styled with a pair of the model’s own acid wash jeans–the model being Israeli model Michaela Bercu– typified the then-novel idea of high-low
Supper club to the stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Romanoff’s Restaurant was the setting of an unforgettable image featuring Italian bombshell Sophia Loren sizing up her American counterpart Jayne Mansfield and veering disapprovingly at her excessive décolletage on display for the world to see. Of all the 50s bombshells, Jayne
With a design philosophy that flouted trends in favor of his own whimsy, Geoffrey Beene marched to his own fashion drum. Lauded for his expert construction and skillful seams, his pieces were not without a touch of the unexpected. In the vein of Chanel and Patou, Beene would employ a
Jean Paul Gaultier’s 2009 SS campaign featured a denim-clad couple soaking in a bathtub. For Love Magazine’s SS 2013 issue, photographer duo Mert and Marcus also took to the tub when photographing Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss and Chloe Moretz. Jean Paul- Gaultier Jeans SS 2009 Ad Cara Delevingne for Love
German photographer Erwin Blumenfeld’s Dada background is evident in his collage-like images and photographic manipulations. In 1943, Blumenfeld would place model Lisette behind a full-length panel of fluted glass, photographing her rippled, fragmented silhouette. In 2012, photographer duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott would employ a similar tactic in photographing Madonna’s MDMA
A year before the designer’s final collection, Cristóbal Balenciaga introduced his single-seam wedding dress in 1967. Balenciaga would take cues from the period’s affinity for futuristic cuts and tech fabrics, and in this case, reappropriated them into the unlikeliest of places, the traditional white wedding dress. With just one seam,