"Allure is something that exists," Diana Vreeland said, "It's something around you...like a perfume or a scent...It's like memory...it pervades." Diana Vreeland was not only Editor-in-Chief of "Vogue" for almost a decade, she was also the curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Her legacy continues to influence the fashion and photography worlds today, with issues of magazines such as "Vanity Fair" and "Vogue" dotted with mentions of her name. "Allure" is Vreeland's personal selection of images by some of the century's greatest photographers - among them Horst, De Meyer, Avedon, Beaton, Penn, and Steichen - featuring some of the celebrated personalities of the era including Garbo, Nureyev, Callas, Queen Mary, the Duchess of Windsor and Josephine Baker. By turns witty, sharp, and effusive, Vreeland's text opens up the images and take the reader far beyond them into the imaginative, gossipy world she knew so well.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book isn't about the past. I'm looking for something else"
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
About the Author
As fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar, editor in chief of Vogue and creator of dozens of famous exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, Diana Vreeland energized and inspired the world of fashion for 50 years. She died in 1989.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Beverly S.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was desperately waiting for this book to become available. I owned the original and it was amazing. This book is small and some of the most memorable photographs are missing. The $23.10 that I paid for this book could have gone toward the cost of a used copy of the original. Calling it "Allure by Diana Vreeland" is a disgrace.
27 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Diana Vreeland was one of those RARE individuals who ENTIRELY created themselves....... A RARE GEM of a GLOSSY, LACQUERED, somewhat aristocratic woman who, through SHEER WILL (and intellect and breeding, certainly) became THE paragon of style in a world that continues to coarsen and disappear,,,,,,,Interestingly, as the years went by she became more ALIVE, more liberated, hopefully more happy......A woman of EXCEPTIONAL TASTE, she was able to maneuver the Park Avenue crowd where she purpurtedly grew up, but as she grew older she KNEW that new blood was needed and she headed DOWNTOWN to mix with the "demimonde" and started to leave behind all that stuffy old money that was growing more and more irrelevant.....
I have been GREATLY inspired by Mrs. Vreeland, even though I never had the honor to meet her......
Her joy of life, of BEAUTY, of humanity was alwyays PALPABLE, and I believe she had a great heart......
BRANDED forever an UGLY GIRL by her unstable,rather monstrous mother, perhaps that came to define her life, as she says in her"Bio" DV---which I highly recommend.....
This particular book is filled with large black-and-white cutouts from newspapers and magazines that she kept for inspiration, and the subjects are varied, but always come back to her obsessions with royalty and the most SOIGNEE women of the 20th century..... Half or more of what she says is pure FLUFF, but frothy and delightful (and sometimes downright CRUEL). I have derived much pleasure from this book, but may I suggest that you ONLY buy this book IF you have a fascination with the upper classes, STYLE, and the sayings of a very STYLISH woman who sometimes verges on madness and parody-------tongue-in-cheek parody, as she was too intelligent to take herself too seriously.
In a world that COARSENS more and more, Mrs. Vreeland is the perfect antidote-------a "figure of fantasy" that can offer us a moment of respite in a CRASS, VULGAR, let-it-all-out society.....
She was very SPECIAL, and she is missed.......
UPDATE!!!!
I had based my review on the ORIGINAL TOME which was perhaps 18" by 12"---an oversized, ultra-glamorous object (SIZE CAN make a difference sometimes-----SHUT UP!), and then saw the new print a few days ago (March 2011) and my heart SANK------it has suffered from, well, erectile disfunction..Ha! That is not a problem for those who cannot envision the old, of course, but for me it was a deep disappointment...... The "Grandiosity" of the old one MATCHED the creator of it-----why they decided to do this, must clearly have been the fear of poor sales, but the "larger-than-life" clips were, to me, a necessity. Still, I will buy the SHRUNKEN one (why did I give that book away???)....So let me not SOUR it for you.......The paper is now glossy, which is lovely, while the old thing was a thick, rough kind.......
Oh well, go get it.... Mrs. Vreeland deserves your purchase!
I have been GREATLY inspired by Mrs. Vreeland, even though I never had the honor to meet her......
Her joy of life, of BEAUTY, of humanity was alwyays PALPABLE, and I believe she had a great heart......
BRANDED forever an UGLY GIRL by her unstable,rather monstrous mother, perhaps that came to define her life, as she says in her"Bio" DV---which I highly recommend.....
This particular book is filled with large black-and-white cutouts from newspapers and magazines that she kept for inspiration, and the subjects are varied, but always come back to her obsessions with royalty and the most SOIGNEE women of the 20th century..... Half or more of what she says is pure FLUFF, but frothy and delightful (and sometimes downright CRUEL). I have derived much pleasure from this book, but may I suggest that you ONLY buy this book IF you have a fascination with the upper classes, STYLE, and the sayings of a very STYLISH woman who sometimes verges on madness and parody-------tongue-in-cheek parody, as she was too intelligent to take herself too seriously.
In a world that COARSENS more and more, Mrs. Vreeland is the perfect antidote-------a "figure of fantasy" that can offer us a moment of respite in a CRASS, VULGAR, let-it-all-out society.....
She was very SPECIAL, and she is missed.......
UPDATE!!!!
I had based my review on the ORIGINAL TOME which was perhaps 18" by 12"---an oversized, ultra-glamorous object (SIZE CAN make a difference sometimes-----SHUT UP!), and then saw the new print a few days ago (March 2011) and my heart SANK------it has suffered from, well, erectile disfunction..Ha! That is not a problem for those who cannot envision the old, of course, but for me it was a deep disappointment...... The "Grandiosity" of the old one MATCHED the creator of it-----why they decided to do this, must clearly have been the fear of poor sales, but the "larger-than-life" clips were, to me, a necessity. Still, I will buy the SHRUNKEN one (why did I give that book away???)....So let me not SOUR it for you.......The paper is now glossy, which is lovely, while the old thing was a thick, rough kind.......
Oh well, go get it.... Mrs. Vreeland deserves your purchase!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Maja
Format:Hardcover
This book is really informative and interesting, but I hoped for some more text and less pictures. Photos in the book date from the old times when Vreeland was a magazine editor and they don't really inspire my aesthetic senses. What I wanted was some more insight from Vreeland about style and beauty so I'll purchase her biography D.V. This book is a nice thing to check out but if you're looking for inspiration, seek elsewhere.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Red Read
This is a beautifully produced book but unfortunately it's practically unreadable. Why would a woman of a certain age put out a book that is extremely hard to read by anyone... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Suzinne Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ms. Vreeland's scrapbook of weapons-grade imagery
The late Diana Vreeland , who has seen every garment you could imagine, and met everyone you could imagine has bequeathed her perspective on what possesses the power of "Allure". Read more
Published on February 10, 2011 by Hugh D. Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars
An essential.
This is an essential of style by one of the seminal figures of fashion, Diana Vreeland.
Granted, some of the print qualities aren't exceptional; however, the visuals... Read more
Granted, some of the print qualities aren't exceptional; however, the visuals... Read more
Published on May 28, 2006 by J. Ying
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fashion Must
I am very pleased that those of us can't afford the first edition can now own this classic!
Published on July 1, 2002 by AP
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