Diana Vreeland

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Diana Vreeland (July 29, 1906 in Paris, France – August 22, 1989) was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion.

She was born Diana Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell), the eldest daughter of a British father, Frederick Young Dalziel and an American mother, Emily Key Hoffman, a socialite who was a descendant of George Washington's brother as well as a cousin of Francis Scott Key. Vreeland had one sister, Alexandra. She also was a distant cousin of Pauline de Rothschild.

Diana's family emigrated to the United States of America at the outbreak of World War I, and moved to 15 East 77th Street in New York. On March 1, 1924, she married Thomas Reed Vreeland, a banker, at St. Thomas's Church in New York. A week before her wedding, it was reported in The New York Times that her mother, Emily, had been named correspondent in the divorce procedings of Sir Charles Ross and his second wife, Lady Patricia. The ensuing unfortunately-timed society scandal estranged Diana and her mother.

After their honeymoon, the newlyweds moved to Albany, New York and raised their two sons – Frederick (later U.S. ambassador to Morocco) and Thomas, Jr. – staying there until 1929. They then moved to 17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, London, previously the home of Wilkie Collins and Edmund Gosse. During her time in London, she danced with the Tiller Girls. Like Syrie Maugham and Elsie de Wolfe, other society women that ran their own boutiques, Diana operated a lingerie business near Berkeley Square whose clients included Wallis Simpson and Mona Williams. While living in London, she lived a luxurious life. She enjoyed playing tennis with Gertrude Lawrence in Regent's Park every morning.

She often visited Paris, where she would buy her clothes, mostly from Chanel, whom she had met in 1926. She was presented to King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace on May 18, 1933.

She also befriended photographer Cecil Beaton, composer Cole Porter, art critic Sacheverell Sitwell, artist Christian Berard, and writer Evelyn Waugh. Of Waugh she later recounted "I adored his books. I mean Vile Bodies – wasn't it great? He was writing about a whole society that existed in London – wonderful looking girls and wonderful fellas, some of them grew up to be somebody, some of them just didn't, but at that particular moment they were just marvellous. They were so crazy, they were rather wild – crazy as only the English can be. That's the London I walked into – it existed from I guess about 1927, 1928, right through to about 1935 -- and then it was pretty much over."

In 1937, her husband's job brought them back to New York, where they lived for the remainder of their lives. She is no relation of Mark Vreeland of Nevada/California

Her publishing career began in 1937 as columnist for Harper's Bazaar. Over the next 25 years she worked closely with Louise Dahl-Wolfe and became Fashion Editor for the magazine. She joined Vogue in 1962, where she was editor-in-chief until 1971, when she was fired. During her tenure at the magazine she discovered Andy Warhol. Her husband died in 1967. She became consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1971.

It has been written that her shoes never touched the pavement and she (and her husband) had all their shoes specially crafted in Budapest "where they make the best shoes". Her husband had a butler employed to break in his shoes until they felt like butter when he first wore them. She was also alleged to have been in her office at Vogue, and upon hearing the clack, clack, clack of some young office clerk's high heels on the floor, asked someone what the noise was. When told it was a woman's heels, she replied: "Fire her. I will not tolerate such distraction."

Playwright Mark Hampton wrote a play about Vreeland called Full Gallop; it was based on Vreeland's memoirs. The play starred Mary Louise Wilson.

Vreeland was portrayed in the film Infamous (2006) by Juliet Stevenson. She was also portrayed in the film Factory Girl (2006) by Ileana Douglas.