Someone counted and, apparently, Irving Penn created 163 covers in total for Vogue. He was still an amateur photographer while working on the first one. Would he have become an icon, haven’t been given that chance back then?
Alexander Liberman, the Art Director of the magazine, is the first one to notice the American’s potential. Penn, working as a cover designer at Vogue, shows him contact sheets with ethnographic photos he shot during his stay in Mexico (1941-1942). Encouraged by his superior, he takes on a challenge of creating a shoot for the upcoming issue. ‘Fall fashion still life’ is a warm-toned composition of a few different items – gloves, leather belt, women’s handbag and a print of citrus fruits among others. The picture makes the cover of the magazine on October 1st 1943. And that’s how it all starts.
