Diana Vreeland defrocked fashion, stripping magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar of their haughty stiffness and making way for a more loose limbed era of elegance.

Now in its final days, Diana Vreeland After Diana Vreeland, traces the legendarily aphoristic editor’s obsession with two seemingly disparate loves, the colour green and Venice.

Housed in the city’s Palazzo Fortuny, the exhibition is a snapshot of a life dedicate to taste and style. Pieces by Yves Saint Laurent, Missoni, Emilio Pucci, Chanel, Irene Galitzine, Valentino, and Paco Rabanne,  culled from both Vreeland’s own closet and private collections, display her love of emerald. Meanwhile books and magazines from the editor’s library remind us of her ability to embrace youth and new ideas.

With its grand setting, Diana Vreeland After Diana Vreeland seeks to infuse the viewer with the spirit of a lost fashion jewel, so much so that the perfumer Frédéric Malle has even created a sandalwood fragrance to be sprayed at the Fortuny museum — a reference to the editor’s passion for scents.

If you aren’t in Venice this weekend, then no fear – Vreeland mania is set to hit in September when the fantastically amusing documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel goes on general release. Twenty-three years after her death, Vreeland remains an incomparable wit and eye.

Diana Vreeland After Diana Vreeland is at the Palazzo Fortuny until 26 June.

dianavreeland.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Diana Vreeland, Diana Vreeland After Vreeland, Federic Malle, Palazzo Fortuny, Venise