20 FAVORITE ILLUSTRATED VANITY FAIR COVERS: Vanity Fair 100 Classic covers (postcards box) Conde Nast 2011

VANITY FAIR Aug '23 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  This well to do 'stage door Johnnie' certainly had his eye on this young awestruck theatre dancer. It makes you realize how flowers and a few kind words could turn a young girls heart for an older man. This artist is one of my favorite Vanity Fair cover artists of  the period.  

VANITY FAIR March '27 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  The stunning stylized artwork here shows the courtship of the glamorous smart set, he offering her a proposal, she showing her true feelings by letting down her mask. This bold cut-out Art Deco style was very attention seeking, and suited Vanity Fair at the time. It managed to stand out on magazine stands, as a magazine of glamour and excitement. It stood for a new exciting era that escaped the shackles of the past. 

VANITY FAIR Oct '27 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  Going to the theatre in the 20's was a way to meet eligible  men, and also to show off your finery. Broadway was booming, and so was elegant nightlife like never before. These illustrated modernist covers gave hope to a new life of nightlife and leisure, acceptance and freedom. 

VANITY FAIR March '28 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  In the 20's women found a new sense of equality and freedom, New York was the center for creativity and a new found excitement. Glamour and sophistication truly came into its own. Also it was a period of relaxed morals and forward thinking. This Art Deco modernist illustration applauds luxury and sophistication, in a futuristic world that never sleeps,  a metropolitan city of skyscrapers and success. 

VANITY FAIR Aug '29 Eduardo Garcia Benito 

VANITY FAIR Dec '30 Eduardo Garcia Benito:  The stock market crash of '29 heralded in the great depression. The once innocent girl is now wide eyed and  doesn't know where her next husband is coming from. In order to survive she is prepared to be supported by less desirable men with shady connections. 

VANITY FAIR July '20 William Bolin:  The new excesses and loose morals of the 1920's also broke a few hearts. Some people looked down upon the degenerate decadence that accompanied the new found courage and youthful expression. With the excess of alcohol and drugs many people started on a downward spiral, not often addressed at the time. Unwanted pregnancies and drug addiction were the downsides all too evident to me in the Pierrot Clown's face. 

VANITY FAIR October '20 William Bolin:  In the 20's the Arts flourished, sexuality's were explored, and 'the bright young things' lived life to the fullest. 

VANITY FAIR Jan '26 William Bolin:  It was the cocktail age, as well as mixing drinks, the mixing of classes races and sexes was revolutionary. 

VANITY FAIR Feb '32 Miquel Covarrubias:  By the early 30's the untouchable 'Love Goddesses' of the silver screen had arrived. Aloof exotic European stars like Garbo and Dietrich were worshipped by millions, and Hollywood films influenced fashions and lifestyles. During the depression people wanted to see their unattainable dreams on the screen, and Hollywood delivered. 

VANITY FAIR March '21 A.H. Fish:  After the 1st World War  the world could never go back to how it had once been. Women had attended the wounded and lost loved ones, men had seen and lived unforgettable horrors. Now old disciplines were discarded, with this new found freedom,  women emulated a more boyish look by throwing away their girdles, and bobbing their hair. 

VANITY FAIR May '25 A.H. Fish

VANITY FAIR Feb '27 A.H. Fish

VANITY FAIR Jan '27 A.H. Fish:  With shorter skirts came looser morals and a much more open minded age was born. Flappers wore strings of pearls around their necks,  smoked and drank and danced the night away. It was the jazz age, and everyone emulated energetic youthfulness, because who knew how long this new found hope would last?

VANITY FAIR Feb 1914 Frank X Leyendecker

VANITY FAIR Jan 1915 Ethel M Plummer 

VANITY FAIR Oct '23 Joseph B. Platt

VANITY FAIR Nov '26 Victor Bobritsky:  I love this cover because it shows the 'smart set' coming out of a glamorous nightclub in the early hours of the morning. For the first time, the wealthy upper class could stay out all night, and sleep all day, which in past generations would've been scandalous. Women still needed to be escorted, but they often went shopping with their drivers or other women, and lower class females even worked in shops and factories. The classes were mixing, and the big cities were a way of escaping the past. 

VANITY FAIR June '29 Marion Wildman:  With the new found austerity, people found they had more time for relaxation and sports. Tourist resorts became popular, and the really affluent usually escaped to Europe for the holidays.  

VANITY FAIR Sept '30 Jean Carlu: After the frivolties of the bright young  of the 20's, 1930's graphics became more stark and sleek with new age modernism's aggressive grip on design. 

All comments here are written by me, and are my own personal opinions about the art and style of the  great classic covers from Vanity Fair magazine.