Diana Vreeland

In 1924, Vreeland married a handsome Yale graduate banker, Thomas Reed Vreeland, who took her to Europe, which changed the way she used to feel and perceive things. They had two children: Tim and Frecky.

She died of a heart attack at age 85 at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York in 1989. The Diana Vreeland Estate was constructed to continue Vreeland’s legacy; it is maintained by her grandson and Frecky’s son.

Diana Vreeland was born in Paris, France, to Frederick Young Dalziel and Emily Key Hoffman. Her mother was an American socialite. The family moved to America when the World War I broke out and settled in New York City.

Vreeland joined a dancing school and became a student of Michel Fokine. She performed in Anna Pavlova's Gavotte at Carnegie Hall. Her family was so famous in the American social circle that she once featured on Vogue as a socialite.

After getting married in 1924, she moved to London and danced with the ‘Tiller Girls’ there. She became an active part of the topnotch social circuit in London and opened her own lingerie boutique near Berkeley Square.

After moving back to New York with her family, Vreeland’s publishing career started with ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ as a columnist in 1936. She was offered the job by Carmel Snow, the then editor, who liked the way Vreeland dressed.

She started her column in the magazine titled ‘Why Don’t You?’ in which she gave out quirky and sometimes really valuable fashion advices. She was famous for taking fashion seriously and openly disagreed with the American approach to fashion.

Throughout her time in the ‘Harper’s Bazaar’, Vreeland closely worked with fashion photographers like Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Richard Avedon and Alexey Brodovitch. For her brilliance in the matters of fashion and writing, she was soon made the editor of the magazine.

By 1960s, Vreeland’s position as an expert in fashion was well established in the American fashion circuit and she became the official fashion advisor of the first lady of that time - Jacqueline Kennedy. She advised her all through the campaign.

Owing to the fact that she was not paid enough at the ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ and was also not considered for an impending promotion, Vreeland joined Vogue magazine in 1962 and was soon made the editor-in-chief.

Vreeland’s role as the columnist in ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ is amongst one of her greatest works. ‘Why Don’t You?’ was a column that outlandishly changed the way American housewives used to dress and think. It ran for almost 26 years.