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In Vogue 50 Years of Australian Style

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Any Australian fashionista worth their salt should have one of these monolithic books aspread on their coffee table at the moment.

Spring 1959 was an iconic date in fashion history because it saw the birth of Vogue Australia. This western country the other side of the fashion world joined ranks with French, British and American Vogue to be the forth in the fashion bible’s Conde Nast titles. It was quite a risk for the group because at the time Australia wasn’t exactly the forerunner in the fashion capitals of the world. It was an outpost of the British Empire and Australian women looked to Europe for the latest in fashion trends.

Into the Interior by Patrick Russell

Into the Interior by Patrick Russell

This year sees the magazine’s 50th birthday and to celebrate its milestone they have brought out a book that takes a look back over the five, fabulously, fashionable decades of Australian people, fashions, the style-setters, the names and the places that were in vogue. Edited by Kirstie Clements and Lee Tulloch, who had the daunting task of sifting through 600 issues of the magazine, they say that they wanted “to show the evolution of Vogue Australia over fifty years in a cultural as much as a fashion sense.” 

 

The book is basically a showcase of the most talented people in the fashion world, from Helmut Newton, Richard Bailey to Maggie Tabberer, Elle Macpherson and Isabel Cowan. The list is a long one and the celebs that also graced the covers include such luminaries such as Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush.

Cover, HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by Regan Cameron

Cover, HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by Regan Cameron

 It’s a visual journey through the decades of fashion but it’s also an interesting read about the stories behind the photographs. Like the magazine there is a good mix between words and images. And through the images you can literally see the magazine come of age to the sophisticated, stylish, sleek and glossy magazine that it is today.

Extract and images taken from In Vogue: 50 Years of Australian Style by Kirstie Clements and Lee Tulloch, published September 2009 by HarperCollinsPublishers, rrp $59.99. To order the book visit www.magsonline.com.au/9216.

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