Long before the wonders of modern technology allowed us to flash forward to fashion’s future the moment it went down the runway, buyers would make the transatlantic crossing for salon presentations of the spring Mode by French houses like Worth, Poiret, Patou, and Chanel each February, and this magazine’s intrepid staffers would join them in the serried ranks of chairs. Until photography gradually outpaced illustration, outlines of new styles (rendered in pen-and-ink or, sometimes, watercolor) appeared in the special March and April “Paris Openings” issues. These sketches, shown here in illustrations from our archives spanning from the teens to the late 1950s, offered first intimations of Jeanne Lanvin’s straight-lined frocks or Christian Dior’s wasp-waisted New Look. Voici la mode, Mesdames, pour les années: from pages to pixels, Vogue offers the first look—and the final word.
