I started blogging it because the Internet has made such pointless research possible. As issues slipped through my hands, sometimes for a lot of money, I had noticed photographers, trends, writers that I wanted to know more about. I also had a vague desire to really understand Dacron and Nylon and why some materials are stretchy and others are not. The vocabulary fascinated me: what is brocade, really? And why?
I still haven't figured out the science of fashion. I did go to New York City simply because of a photo of Abstract Expressionists in the October 15, 1959 issue and a concurrent AbEx retrospective at MOMA. (This still kind of freaks me out - as if trying to go on a date with a ghost. But I had a good time.)
I met, via email and telephone, people whose work appeared in a magazine more than 50 years ago. This probably freaked them out.
I called the blog "An Accidental Education" early on, when I came across a credit for a photographer in a very boring ad.
The photographer was Louise Dahl-Wolfe. I Googled her name, and discovered she was responsible for some of the most beautiful Harper's Bazaar covers and editorial photos.
The dullest pages sometimes yielded the best stories.
Note to Former Proofreader Pals: Sometimes it is Reading Vintage Vogue, sometimes Vogues. Vogue should be plural, like "deer," I suppose.
