German Vogue Collection

German Vogue Collection

The early luck of legendary fashion magazine Vogue in Germany was short lived. From April 1928 to October 1929, up to three issues were published monthly. As fashion and aesthetic role models, the themes and dress codes perfectly fit to life on the boulevards of Berlin. The original title illustrations, from the likes of Pierre Mourgue, Georges Lepape, and Pierre Brissaud, celebrated a new self-aware type of woman in all her fashionable varieties and in the best graphical manner. The New York flapper with a bob cut, top hat, pearl necklace, boa, and extra-long cigarette holder was omnipresent. The cover sprayed elegance with a whiff of art deco. The use of reduced forms and the graphic image-style of Modernism were also highlighted. The individual game of combining typography and scenic presentation made each issue a unique piece of design. The issues became outstanding witnesses to their time. With the beginning of the world economic crisis, the era of the roaring twenties ended and German Vogue was shut down after only one and a half years, not to reappear on the market until many years later, in 1979. These outstanding early issues are all the more precious for it.

Stephan Reisner