Robin Muir, Vogue 100, book review

In 1968, as a commission for British Vogue magazine, Cecil Beaton photographed David Hockney at work (above). The artist was finishing a double portrait of the author Christopher Isherwood and his partner Don Bachardy. Looking on are Hockney’s muse and lover, Peter Schlesinger, and the model Maudie James.

This is one of hundreds of images in Vogue 100, published to mark the centenary of the magazine. In more than 2,000 issues, British Vogue has acted as cultural barometer, putting fashion in the context of the larger world in which we live.

First published in 1916, when the First World War made transatlantic shipments of its American parent impossible, it was an immediate success, and over the following 10 decades it continued to mirror its times.

Decade by decade, Vogue 100 celebrates the greatest moments in fashion, beauty, and portrait photography.

The book focuses on the faces that shaped the cultural landscape: from Matisse to Bacon, Freud and Hirst, from Dietrich to Paltrow, from Rudolph Valentino to David Beckham, from Lady Diana Cooper to Lady Diana Spencer.

An exhibition, Vogue 100: A Century of Style, sponsored by Leon Max, is at the National Portrait Gallery, from 11 February to 22 May.

Vogue 100, by Robin Muir. National Portrait Gallery, £35