'Harper's Bazaar's' 10 most noteworthy editorials

Harper’s Bazaar Greatest Hits: A Decade Of Style

By Glenda Bailey

Abrams, New York, 320 pages

Available at National Book Store

How to sum up a decade? 

For Harper’s Bazaar editor in chief Glenda Bailey, who celebrates her 10th year at the helm this year, it’s distilling the essence of a publication devoted to passing trends into a singular timeless tome that defines the magazine’s growth throughout the years.

Bailey, the England-born editor who previously presided over Marie Claire before jumping to Bazaar, famously took on V magazine editor Stephen Gan after meeting him at a party at the abode of Iman and David Bowie.

“The press described it as ‘the unexpected Bailey-Gan cocktail,’” Stephan Gan recalls in the book’s foreword, “and I remember thinking how appropriate that we met at a party, and whether delicious or lethal, who doesn’t love a cocktail?”

“Since joining forces,” Bailey writes in the book, “we’ve put on great parties together.”

And what a party it’s been. The magazine might not inhabit the same rarefied stratosphere as Vogue, but it’s spent much of its existence inviting readers to be part of fashion’s party. If Vogue is the exclusive soiree with a velvet rope and tightly edited guest list, Harper’s Bazaar is the rooftop fete with costumes and free-flowing booze.

Much of the editorial images feature notoriously uptight designers letting their hair loose. “When Stephen Gan and I started at Bazaar a decade ago, we wanted to create a joyful tribute to the world’s best fashion, talent and artistry each month,” Bailey says to Rachel Zoe. “I like to say that Bazaar is a party where everyone’s invited — all the fun, without the hangover.”

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. Bailey has been the subject of resignation rumors for the past three years, due in part to dwindling newsstand sales. The team’s habit of putting celebs in stiff, unwieldy gowns didn’t help either — a large departure from the magazine’s earlier covers. But the editor has held fast to her reign at Bazaar, growing more adventurous over the years. Concepts grew bolder, more playful. Proof that Bailey knows her way around a photo shoot.

It was narrowing down the editorials that stayed true to the magazine’s narrative that turned out to be the hard part. “While I was pulling together the book last summer, I was struck by how many remarkable images I had to choose from,” Bailey asserts. “I have so many favorites, but in particular: Jean-Paul Goude’s fantastical portraits of Naomi Campbell, William Klein’s portfolio of designers and their team (Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz brought a bus-full of people), Peter Lindbergh’s cover of Kate Winslet hovering over the Manhattan skyline, Terry Richardson’s homage to Michael Jackson starring Agyness Deyn, Marc Jacobs and Winona Ryder recreating Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and sending the Simpsons to Paris (Marc Jacobs even got a tattoo of his Simpsonized self on his arm).”

The editorials are parts of a whole that make up a lion’s share of pop culture. Bazaar’s collaborations with Tim Burton, Pedro Almodovar and many other notable figures exhibited the team’s ability to play nice with people outside the industry’s comfort zones.

Gan has a particularly compelling take on the significant transformation that has swept the industry. “This book starts with Giselle and ends with Lady Gaga,” he says, “and to me, that sums up the decade.”

Here, a selection of their 10 editorials, numbered chronologically.