By Condé Nast Archive
By Ivan Shaw
Andrea Johnson in Adele Simpson Dress, Vogue (1945-01-01) by Cecil BeatonCondé Nast Archive
A man of his times
As the Roaring Twenties swept London off its feet and opened the door to a new generation of Bright Young Things (as these bohemian aristocrats were called), Beaton was there to record its most important figures, some of whom were his closest friends.
A dandy himself, Beaton had an eye for fashion and recorded many of the roaringest looks from the flapper era. Why did he record these colorful times in black and white? Color photography was still a nascent technology then and not at all practical for magazine reproduction.
For Beaton, the setting of the photograph was as important as what the model was wearing; often he used color to tie the two together.
Worldly Color by Charles James, Vogue (1948-06-01) by Cecil BeatonCondé Nast Archive
In a story titled “Painters’ Prints” for the January 1, 1947, issue, Beaton showed his experimental flair by masterfully cutting openings in rolls of colored paper to create a series of clam-like portals.
This cut-paper technique, which became a Beaton signature, not only gives the feeling that the models are at the entrance to another world, but the contrast of the colored paper and the intricate colorful patterns on the dresses also creates the perfect effect of relief.
The dresses seem to pop out of the background and off the page. In other stories from the same period, Beaton explored color in various ways.
Carmen Dell'Orefice in Ceil Chapman Ensemble, Vogue (1948-02-15) by Cecil BeatonCondé Nast Archive
He posed model Carmen Dell’Orefice in a flowing Ceil Chapman dark orange skirt against a light orange curtain for the February 15, 1948, issue, and the contrast of the two tonalities became the story of the picture.
Three months later, Beaton turned an entire set blue with touches of white (as a sky with clouds drifting by), for a beauty feature focused on achieving “porcelain” skin and finding just the right powder and foundation to look your best while protecting your face from the sun.
Wild Flower Field at Reddish House, Vogue (1968-09-15) by Cecil BeatonCondé Nast Archive
Beaton took his love of color home. Both Reddish, his English manor house, and his New York apartment were filled with it.
Vogue, appraising the latter, credited Beaton with inventing “action decorating” and described how he “spatter-painted white linen for slipcovers, curtains, bedspread” in tones of purple, white, blue, gray, black and mauve.
Both in front of and away from the camera, Beaton clearly saw his life as a limitless rainbow.
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