As one of her friends said in the film Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, Diana Vreeland is fashion.
And when the late Miss Vreeland, as the fashion world endearingly called her, threw a party that high society scuttled in with their heels on, no questions were asked. They supported her, they adored her, and wherever she went, they followed.
Their worship included supporting her first costume exhibition she curated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after being fired from Vogue in 1971.
Under Vreeland’s direction the magazine had flourished, but after nine years of extravagant photo shoots and jet setting, Vogue could no longer afford her rich tastes, no matter how revolutionary. But Vreeland wasn’t done.
“I was only 70. What was I supposed to do, retire?” she famously said.
It wasn’t long before she got a call from the Met, offering her a position at The Costume Institute.
Given her reputation, the Met really shouldn’t have been surprised that when Vreeland began to take charge, an unapologetic ruckus would follow.
But they were. In the film, former Met curators remember her opening night, when the blasting bass at The Costume Institute rattled the precious porcelain platters and dainty decorative dishes. Surely, the Met couldn’t expect her to conform to their historical and academic perspective of fashion.
“My education was the world,” Vreeland said.
She had no formal education, opting for ballet school when her family moved from Paris to New York City before World War I.
It was detailed observation of her surroundings that informed her strong fashion sense. Her style also launched her career.
While dancing one night at the St. Regis in New York, she was offered a job at Harper’s Bazaar by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief. Snow loved the Chanel dress Vreeland was wearing.
Thus began her illustrious career in fashion. She quickly became Bazaar’s editor-in-chief, serving 26 years before switching to Vogue.
It was her innovative and bold outlook on fashion (“the bikini is the biggest thing since the atom bomb”, “nothing is more beautiful than the blue jean”) that made her so successful.
Yet, the undulating praise from those who are interviewed in the film — photographers, muses, and her own two sons — can be repetitive at times.
Just when you’re about to utter, “Enough already, I get that she changed how we think about fashion,” Vreeland herself will pop up on screen, thanks to archival footage of television interviews.
Instantly all doubts of her greatness and influence are quashed.
Rouge-cheeked, jet black hair slicked back in a tight bob that tightly swirls around her ears, wearing a million and one bracelets, Vreeland talks about fashion with so much passion and vibrance that even if you don’t care about Yves Saint Laurent, guess what?
Now you do.
Even the then-20-something, hard-hitting journalist that is Diane Sawyer wants to give up her promising future in news to work for Vreeland. You can see it in her eyes.
Although, let’s not ignore that Miss Vreeland was also extremely tough. She made young interns cry long before Anna Wintour, Vogue’s current editor-in-chief.
Her two sons recall how demanding Vreeland was on her children. They admit that while growing up, all they wanted was a mom like their friends had.
Her sons wanted no part of their mother’s insistence on “being individuals.” Vreeland would rather her children succeed and stand our, or fail miserably, lest they be “average.” Because being normal was the worst thing you could be.
But interns and children alike would always come crawling back to her, loving her all the more.
