Periodical Ramblings (6)

Flair

It was not my intention in this series about serials to include within it, Flair, a magazine that only existed for 12 issues during 1950/51. I learned about it when I learned about Fleur Cowles, about whom I posted some information a while back. She produced the magazine for those we now refer to as ‘One Percenters’, and she was one herself. It was a costly production and after losing around $200,000 per issue, the publication ceased. A very short-lived fashion magazine seems hardly worth considering, but I will make a short case for doing so here.

   If you picture a very good book for children - the kind which has holes in the pages for peek-a-boo, and things which you pull and tug - and then populate it with people like the Duke and Duchess of York, Julien Freud and Hemingway rather than Piggly-Wiggly, you can begin to imagine what a copy of Flair looked like. Apart from the special paper, inserts and beautiful illustrations, there were often postcards and self-contained booklets. One issue even had scented pages.

   Flair was such an unusual and sumptuous periodical, you can even purchase it today - as a massive coffee-table book. When I was looking for information about the magazine, I discovered that the university nearby had a copy, although they would not have had a subscription to such a magazine back in 1950. The Best of Flair that I examined was published by Rizzoli in 2014 and an earlier edition was produced by HarperCollins in 1996. You can easily purchase a copy. Before you order, look at the Rizzoli video provided below.

   Another reason I decided to devote some time to Flair has to do with the fact that the copy I examined is dedicated to an unknown American soldier. Here is the explanation offered by Ms Cowles in the introduction:

“Many years ago, I received an anonymous letter which reads as follows”:

Dear Fleur Cowles,

    I have just been drafted to be sent to Vietnam. I don’t believe in war. I don’t believe in this one.  I shall probably be killed and if not, I shall probably just stand up and let it happen.

   I have nothing in this world worth leaving to anyone but my twelve issues of your magazine, FLAIR. They are on their way to you.

“The following pages have all been reproduced from the gift of this unknown American soldier -- to whom I now dedicate this book.”

Sources:

  To see what I have attempted to describe, view this short video: “The Best of Flair: The Magazine That Became an Art Form".

  For more covers such as the one above: “5 Covers of Flair: The Most Beautiful Magazine You’ve Never Heard Of,” Alex Beggs, Vanity Fair, Sept. 2014.

  “Fleur’s Flair,” Dan Piepenbring,  Paris Review, Jan. 20, 2015.

  

 Fleur Cowles died in 2009. “Fleur Cowles, 101, Is Dead: Friend of the Elite and the Editor of a Magazine For Them,” Enid Nemy, The New York Times, June 8, 2009.

She was quite interesting; have a quick look at her Wikipedia entry.

Here are some examples of the content found in The Best of Flair:

There is a section called “It’s About Time” which was a regular feature that allowed writers to complain. There are contributions from Margaret Mead, Simone De Beauvoir and Barbara Ward.

Michener has a travel piece on Hawaii and in the literature section you will find: Mary Hemingway, “Life with Papa”; Tallulah Bankhead, “On Satchmo” and

Tennessee Williams , “The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin.”

There is a piece by Gypsy Rose Lee talking about her carnival experiences and Jean Cocteau writes, “ A Letter to Americans.”

The last section - “Smile and Farewell” contains cartoons about the hole in the cover that was a characteristic of Flair and which was referred to as the ‘cover cut-out.’