Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) was a man of dazzling charm and style, and his talents were many. In his twenties he recorded London and New York society in needle-sharp words and drawings, and then, at Condé Nast's insistence, in photographs. The resulting work earned him a place among the great chroniclers of fashion. In this classic book, now in a sumptuous paperback edition after many years out of print, Josephine Ross selects and introduces articles, drawings and photographs by Beaton dating from the 1920s to the 1970s. It includes Beaton's essays and vignettes on high society and its denizens, as well as such stars of the arts as Greta Garbo, Ralph Richardson, Pablo Picasso and David Hockney. It also reproduces Beaton's war photographs, drawings and writings, from bombed London to China and the North Africa Desert. Beaton loved Vogue, and his contributions testify to the wit, imagination and professionalism that the man and the magazine always had in common.
• 1. How One Lives: The London Season (1928); After London, New York (1931); Palm Beachistory (1931); Debutantes - English and American (1932); Remembrance of Things Proust (1972) • 2. Beaton at War: The Scars of London (1941); Modern Times (1944); RAF Impressions (1941); American Eagles (1942); Raids to End War (1943); Official Photographer (1942); Journey to the Orient (1944); At Viceroy's House (1944); Jungle Front (1944); Prevailing China (1944) • 3. People: Paris Sketches (1945); Beaton on Bérard (1960); Golden Picasso (1965); Eye to Eye: David Hockney (1969); A Woman of Quality: Lady Diana Cooper (1969) • 4. A Windsor Album: Mrs Simpson (1937); Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (1937); Royal Albums (1953); Notes in the Abbey (1953) • 5. Fashion: Modern Chic (1928); London Tea Gowns (1931); Putting on Local Colour (1932); Is It the Clothes or the Woman? (1946); The Art of Artifice (1959); The Changing Face of the Fashion Model (1967) • 6. Stage and Screen: The New Screen Stars (1930); Ballets Russes (1936); The Lily Elsie Legend (1943); Décor Difficulties (1946); Audrey Hepburn (1954); Unconquerable Mae West (1970) • 7. The Joys of Travel: Goodbye, New York (1929); A Food Dilettante on Holiday (1932); North Africa (1934); Haiti (1935); Jaipur (1944); Sicily (1954); In Turkey (1965)
