(b. c. 1903 in Paris, France; d. 22 August 1989 in New York City), legendary fashion editor, author, and arbiter of taste.
The date of Vreeland's birth is somewhat obscure; various sources record it as taking place in 1901, 1903, and 1906. What is more certain is that Vreeland was the first child born to an American mother, Emily Key Hoffman, and a Scottish father, Frederick Y. Dalziel, who was a stockbroker. Vreeland first became aware of the fashion and art world during a childhood spent in Paris, where her parents entertained such notables as Vaslav Nijinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, Ida Rubenstein, and Vernon and Irene Castle.
With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the family moved to New York City. Here Vreeland and her younger sister, Alexandra, attended private school, practiced ballet, and took horseback riding lessons. In 1922 Vreeland made her social debut. Like many young women of her socialcircle, she never attended college. Two years later, while vacationing in Saratoga, New York, she met banker T. Reed Vreeland. The two married later that year and had two sons. Vreeland lived in Albany, New York, for four years (she became a naturalized citizen in 1925) and then moved to London, where she managed a lingerie shop. By 1936 she was back in New York and writing for Harper's Bazaar. Her column, "Why Don't You … ?," offered readers beauty and fashion advice. Vreeland's success as a writer lay in her ability to combine whimsy and fantasy with an almost unerring eye for fashion. Within a year she was promoted to fashion editor, shaping the magazine into an influential arbiter of high fashion and good taste.
Vreeland's full ascent into the vanguard of style did not begin until she left Harper's Bazaar in 1962 to become associate editor of Vogue. Her time in that position was short-lived; a year later she became editor in chief, a position she held until her departure in 1971. During this period Vreeland proved to be far more than a fashion editor. "Far surpassing a fashion editor's role of reporting fashion," observed another fashion writer, "Vreeland predicted it, set it, personified it.… She was 'seen' wherever she went, listened to whenever she spoke, and quoted endlessly."
Vreeland's keen eye was more than a match for the riotous changes that took place in fashion during the 1960s. Her style dictates were obeyed by all who wished to appear hip. Under her direction Vogue moved from being a showcase of haute couture to promoting Vreeland's emphasis on the offbeat and the youthful. She coined the phrase "beautiful people" and "pizzazz," both of which became catch-words used to describe individuals who were trendsetters. Her comments on the state of fashion and world affairs were hot copy for newspapers and magazines around the world. She became famous for such statements as "pink is the navy blue of India" and "the bikini's only the most important invention since the atom bomb."
Vreeland also used Vogue to push her own cultural agenda. An early advocate of physical fitness, she devoted ample space in the magazine to exercise regimens as well as to skin and hair care and other aspects of personal grooming. Her conversation was filled with unrivaled hyperbole. Even her handwritten memos were the stuff of conversation and were routinely circulated, copied, and cherished.
Vreeland's foresight created some of the trademark styles of the 1960s. Vreeland popularized boots, costume jewelry, and pants for women, as well as see-through tops and the "peasant look," which consisted of loose, patterned blouses and full skirts. When Vreeland believed in a "look," she not only reported on it but also promoted it endlessly until it took hold in the popular imagination.
As part of her unconventional approach to make Vogue the fashion magazine of the 1960s, Vreeland also experimentedwith fashion photography, employing such innovative photographers as Richard Avedon. She also moved away from the sophisticated and feminine fashion models, instead championing models who exemplified an unconventional look. She helped launch the careers of model Lauren Hutton and designer Roy Halston. She helped to make pop artist Andy Warhol a cult figure and graced the pages of Vogue with images of the English model Twiggy and the rock star Mick Jagger. One reporter concluded that Vreeland "not only chronicled fashion, she influenced it, transforming what she saw through the use of daring photography and originating the deft, inimitable descriptions that became her signature."
Vreeland practiced what she preached, cultivating her own distinctive style. Instantly recognizable with her jet-black hair, bright red nail polish and lipstick, rouged cheeks, forehead, and earlobes, Vreeland wore simple yet dramatic all-black ensembles. Both her Manhattan apartment and her office at Vogue were painted red.
Critics suggest that Vreeland's energy might better have been applied to subjects other than that of fashion trends. She disagrees. "People always say there are more interesting things than fashion. But show me a fashionably dressed woman and I'll show you someone who accomplishes something."
By 1971 the kaleidoscopic whirl that marked the fashions of the 1960s had ended. Vreeland was "released" from her position as editor in chief, though she remained with Vogue as a consulting editor. Never one to wax sentimental, Vreeland that same year began a new job as a consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). Multicultural fashions, so much a part of her legacy during the 1960s, were showcased at the Met, with exhibits featuring Chinese mandarin robes, Russian peasant outfits, and gypsy caftans. During the 1970s Vreeland wrote five books on fashion and style and was repeatedly honored for her contributions to the fashion world. Among her numerous awards were an honorary doctorate in 1977 from the Parsons School of Design as well as recognition from the Italian fashion industry and the Rhode Island School of Design. Vreeland died of a heart attack at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan, in 1989.
Five years before she died Vreeland summed up her views on fashion, stating that "fashion … is a social contract.… Designers keep proposing something new, but whether their ideas come to fruition depends ultimately on whether the society that counts accepts them or rejects them." For many, Vreeland helped bridge the gap between a designer's vision and the public taste, without sacrificing a sense of fantasy and daring that has seldom been rivaled.
There is no biography of Vreeland, but she wrote an autobiography, D. V.: Give 'Em What They Never Knew They Wanted (1984), which was edited by George Plimpton and Christopher Hemphill. Biographical information on Vreeland can be found in Anne Stegemeyer, ed., Who's Who in Fashion, 3d ed. (1996). See also Hilton Als, "D. V. on Display," The New Yorker (22 Sept. 1997). Obituaries of Vreeland are in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Times (London) (all 23 Aug. 1989).
Meg Greene
