In 1867, the debut issue of Bazar (then spelled without the double "a") appeared on November 2. It was newspaper-sized, and had black-and-white fashion cover woodcuts on its front cover, like La Mode Illustrée. Its first edition explained the mission “a vast repository for all the rare and costly things of earth—silks, velvets, cashmeres, spices, perfumes, and glittering gems; in a word, whatever can comfort the heart and delight the eye.”
Titled “Harper's BAZAAR: First In Fashion”—BAZAAR kicked off an exhibition at Paris Fashion Week with the support of Dior, Louboutin, and many other collaborators who have made BAZAAR the first of its kind. With a nod to BAZAAR's place as the first publication formed to cover the lives of women through the lens of fashion, one of the first to feature a bikini in 1947, and more—the show chronicled the visual splendour and editorial excellence that have filled the pages of BAZAAR over the course of its 152-year history.
The event also saw the likes of Dita Von Teese who decked out in all black in a plunging gown by Herve Leger, enhancing a touch of Gothic chic with snake opera gloves, to Alexa Chung looking regal as she dressed in a pink satin gown with bow detail.
Swipe to get a glimpse of what went through the revolutionary process of BAZAAR, featuring artworks dedicated to the past issues throughout the decades such as an illustration from Salvador Dalí in 1935, and “Black Evening Dress in Flight” by Yasuhiro Wakabayashi in 1962, a photograph that combined elegance with surrealism in Ferdinando Sarmi's spectacular black dress, which was also showcased in “Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography”.
Pictures via Mad Paris, Getty Images
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