haute couture symbolized “European elitist sociocultural economic power and values”

Vogue, March 1951

If haute couture symbolized “European elitist sociocultural economic

power and values” to North American women (Palmer 2001: 292),

these were increasingly difficult to reconcile with the “American” ideals

of democracy, freedom, and equality at the beginning of the 1950s.

The February “Americana” issue, established in 1938, was the forum in

which this conflict unfolded and in which the efforts to define a unique,

original American aesthetic identity found a solid, continual, and prominent

place in Vogue.^^ The 1951 February “Americana” issue, which

immediately precedes the March issue in which Beaton’s photographs

were published, thematizes, among other things, the Korean war and

women’s voluntary work in various fields in times of war and peace.

The tone is patriotic, its thematic scope inclusive, covering a range of

topics ranging from fashion design for women and, as an exception,

for men, to detailed information on American-made fashion products

(such as nylons, corsets, fur coats, and costume jewelry) through to the

“first painting of America,” a painting from 1564 by jaques Le Moyne

de Morgues entitled “Florida.” All of the articles in this issue present

the United States as historically important, independent, advanced, and

trend-setting in every aesthetic domain. Directly adjacent to the article

“Schooling for Ancestors in 2051 A.D.” by Gerald W. Johnson, the

reprint of Le Moyne de Morgues’ painting brings to mind the history of

the early European settlers and underscores their right to the colonize

America. This example, in particular, leaves little doubt that for Vogue

art is employed in the service of constructing a historically rooted and,

at the same time, future-oriented “American identity.”

The March issues immediately following the “Americana” numbers

were generally devoted to new Parisian fashion. Though attention was

paid here, as well, to developments in American fashion, they were

Pollock in Vogue 30

clearly subordinated to the Parisian coverage—in this sense, the March

1951 issue featuring Beaton’s photographs is no different. The focus of

this issue is “American Fashions: New Soft Look” followed by “First

Paris News” with additional focus on the latest footwear fashions. The

structure of the editorial section again makes clear the dominance of

French fashion design. Only after the reader has gotten a glance of the

new fashions from Parisian designers in the “Paris Reports” does the

issue turn its attention to the American interpretation of these trends.

“The New Soft Look” is introduced by an anonymous lead article

illustrated with a photograph by Irvin Penn, whose extraordinary posing

of the models, focus on textures and materials, and accentuation

of graphic effects offer by far the most innovative photography of the

issue. Beaton’s images pale in comparison to Penn’s which literally take

pride of place within the layout. The photos with Jackson Pollock’s

paintings in the background immediately follow several pages of blackand-

white sketches of the season’s fashions and two double pages featuring

a selection of day and evening wear. In contrast to Penn’s photos,

which immediately follow Beaton’s in the layout, the female bodies in

Beaton’s images seem rather small in the “frame” of Pollock’s paintings

and static as a result of their extremely rigid poses. The women in

Penn’s work seem to leap out of, or in some cases into, the frame, creating

a dynamic image in contrast to Beaton’s productions which, put

negatively, seem stiff, artificial, and cold. On the other hand, this effect

served Beaton well for his portraits of high-society ladies, from which

in this number of Vogue several, including one of the future Jacqueline

Kennedy and the Duchess of Windsor, can be seen within the magazine’s

society pages.’** While Beaton’s fashion photography constituted

a new “grandios elegance of the haute-couture of Dior, Balmain, Fath

and Balenciaga,” he could not keep up with the likes of Penn in Vogue:

“Beaton’s formulae, however elegant, were starting to look somewhat

predictable and in 1955 his contractual links with Vogue were terminated”

(Garner 1986: 76-7).

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