“It is simply not modern to be unaware of or uninterested in what is going on all around you,” she wrote to Edna Woolman Chase, her mentor, in a kind of manifesto. In a time of crisis, Withers argued, a fashion magazine would be remiss turning its back on politics. Born in 1905 into a free-spirited, intellectual family, Withers was educated at in Oxford and worked in a bookshop and, briefly, at a publishing house, before taking a post at Vogue. Sartorially she lead by example, her own fashion rotation consisting of three suits and some blouses for work, one wool dress for evenings, and trousers and sweater off-duty. “Subtraction,” she told readers, “is the first of fashion rules.”

Source: New York Times June 18, 2020 19:30 UTC