Modern eyes, having seen Cecil Beaton’s costumes for 1964’s My Fair Lady, might find a Hepburn–esque quality in his fabric painting for the cover of Vogue’s July 15, 1935, Summer Holidays issue. It’s not such a far-fetched comparison. The magazine caption reads: “With hair swept back and up to a high-perched mass of curls blooming with flowers and butterflies, this modern lady transforms herself into an Edwardian élégante”—much as Eliza did. New York City hairdresser Mary Bissell was responsible for the coiffure, which Vogue described as “a head-dress for festive nights when to be a different personality is the beginning of all adventure.”
Vogue Cover by Artist Cecil Beaton, originally published on July 1935.
