Best of Flair [Box set] [Hardcover]

Fleur Cowles (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 13, 1999 | ISBN-10: 084782229X | ISBN-13: 978-0847822294 | Edition: 2

Literature, clothes, art, travel, decor, theatre, humor, comment, and entertainment...count on FLAIR to bring men and women of taste everywhere a new kind of magazine excitement.

Fifty years after it ceased publication, Flair is still one of the most talked-about and influential magazines ever created. It is remembered for its innovative design and production quality, its superb coverage of the arts, and its intuitive discovery of many artists and writers well before they achieved fame and fortune.

The Best of Flair is beautifully illustrated in full color and produced with all the innovative features of the magazine, including the best pieces from the original twelve issues and a selection of the famous die-cut covers, foldouts, and self-contained booklets. In print once again, The Best of Flair is a cultural event not to be missed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fleur Cowles's legendary magazine, Flair, was the Visionaire of its day. The short-lived glossy's 2 monthly issues were published from February 1950 to January 1951, and even then it was considered decades before its time. The magazine brought together such far-flung contributors as Jean Cocteau, Gypsy Rose Lee, Margaret Mead and Tallulah Bankhead as it covered art, fashion, interior design travel and literature. Today, collectors clamor for the originals which featured intricate foldouts and bound-in booklets.

In 1996 HarperCollins published a few thousand copies of "The Best of Flair." Even with a price tag of $250, its print run sold out in a few weeks, surprising the industry and disappointing those collectors who were slow to pick up a copy. For them-and for anyone else who wants to know what all the fuss was about-Rizzoli International Publications is republishing "The Best of Flair," with a new forward by the writer Dominick Dunne, in October. The price hasn't changed, so there's even less excuse to wait this time. -- The New York Times, August 29, 1999

About the Author

Fleur Cowles is a distinguished writer and painter whose work has been exhibited around the world. She has had a distinguished career as an author, editor, and diplomat, serving as Ambassador of the United States to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. She has been decorated by five countries for diplomatic activities. She is the author of many previous books, including the authorized biography of Salvador Dali. Her paintings from the books Tiger Flower and Lion in Blue will be made into three-dimensional computer-animated films. She has been honored as the most influential woman in publishing in her time by the Harry Ransom Center for Humanities at the University of Texas in Austin, where fellowships have been named for her. She and her husband, Tom Montague Meyer, live in London, Sussex, and Spain.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli; 2 edition (November 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084782229X
• ISBN-13: 978-0847822294
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 2 x 14.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,767,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars dazzling! October 21, 1999

By max kazlow

This is the most extraordinary book I've ever owned! I missed out when it was first published as a limited edition and I vowed that if it ever came back,I would grab one. Bravo to Rizzoli Publishers for re-issuing this hard-to-find classic!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fleur's flight of fancy. July 14, 2002

By Robin Benson

These facsimile pages from the twelve issues of Flair are a celebration of Fleur Cowles zest for creativity in the arts. The 338 pages must have been a challenge for the Hong Kong printers, they had to cope with various foldout pages, die-cut holes, different paper stock and bind in several short pages, two concertina foldouts and five sixteen page booklets.

Sumptuous though the book is I feel that Flair is resting in its reputation. To my mind, having worked as a publication art director, the photos, typography and layouts are very conservative and do not show any particular innovative design. Other magazines and designers were much more creative in the fifties, 'Fortune' with Will Burtin, 'Glamour' with Cipe Pineless, 'Harper's Bazaar' with Alexey Brodovitch and 'Vogue' with Alexander Liberman. Certainly the covers with their die-cut holes (sadly only six of the twelve are included) and the bound in booklets were unique to consumer magazines at the time but I think that Flair should be remembered as a magazine concept rather than a magazine full of creativity.

Fleur Cowles writes a short piece about the origins of Flair (handwritten in gold on dark blue paper) but does not give enough detail (I believe each issue involved several printers and binders) and as there were only twelve issues a list of all the articles should have been included. Another reviewer has commented that the high price (reassuringly expensive?) and the cloth covered box the book comes in reflects snob appeal, I agree but I'm still pleased to have a copy.

***SEE SOME OF THE BOUND IN INSERTS AND OTHER GOODIES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The return of Flair September 10, 2001

By Ralph De Morgan

I first became acquainted with Fleur Cowles' revolutionary 'Flair' magazine during my childhood in the fifties. At that time the publication impressed me with its cultured blend of cosmopolitan sophistication and innovative design, although it didn't escape me that its pages also included a great deal of elitism, snobbery and self-congratulatory arrogance. Although I wasn't fortunate to keep any of the original issues, the magazine became a significant influence in the development of my literary and artistic tastes and in my life-long quest for beauty and elegance. For that I was grateful. So it was a joy to learn that a best-of compilation put together by Fleur Cowles herself had finally appeared. The original 1996 printing sold out before I could manage to acquire a copy and when Rizzoli recently published a second run I quickly got one. This edition has a foreword by writer-socialite Dominick Dunne. Now, is it really worth the rather steep price of [price]? Well... I think that for that kind of money the publishers could have managed to provide us with something much more substantial, for example: a slipcased set containing facsimile editions of all twelve original issues, rather than this comprehensive but ultimately limited look. A complete reprint would have given us the full impression of the range and period feel of a unique magazine, and at this price I think that they could have well afforded to do it. I understand that part of the reason for this expensive price tag is the snob appeal that has always been a part of the Flair mystique and that perhaps this offering is to be regarded as literary caviar for the more discerning (and well-off) among us.... On the plus side I must say that the large-format book is lavishly printed, that the articles are indeed very well selected - containing not quite all but much of the best of the short-lived magazine - and that the presentation is very handsome indeed. Several of the covers are reproduced with their distinctive die-cuts and embossing and the book is housed in an elegant cloth-covered box. I still think it could have been more reasonably priced but there it is. Caviar lovers, enjoy it before it disappears again! Read more ›

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Grab it! April 5, 2000

By digger.com

Get this book. Do anything you have to in order to own it. I paid $250 at the Art Institute of Chicago because I was afraid I would miss out...again. This is a collector's piece if you got the first edition. If not, don't hesitate. It is interesting, intriging, thought provoking, ahead of it's time....and not just for 'creative' types. Something good for everyone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning! September 13, 2008

By Floradora

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is absolutely brilliant - it gathers together the best of the short lived Flair magazine produced by Fleur Cowles in 1950-51. The magazine was unable to continue because of the expense of production and you can see why as many of the paper engineering and inserts that the original magazine had are reproduced in this book.

The calibre of the contributors too is quite extraordinary.

Apparently there were not many copies of this book published either and I am soooo thrilled to have been able to get my own copy before they too, like the magazine, become almost unavailable.