Photography & illustration

The role of an editor, said Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of American Harper's Bazaar, was to 'recognise fashions while they are still a thing of the future. The dressmakers create them, but without these magazines, the fashions would never be established or accepted'.

Photography and illustration played a key role in how fashion was perceived and portrayed. In this post-war period, however, photography began to dominate. Using natural lighting, unexpected locations and dramatic poses, it introduced an air of modernity that fashion editors liked. It also made photographic models such as Suzy Parker and Barbara Goalen household names.