Born in Paris about 1903, Diana Dalziel was the daughter of a Scottish father and an American mother in whose home the leading artists of the day were frequent guests. In 1914 the family came to the United States to escape World War I and settled in New York City. Diana attended the Brearley School, studied ballet, and grew into the life of a debutante. In March 1924 she married Thomas R. Vreeland, a banker, with whom she lived in Albany, New York, until 1928, in London until 1936, and thereafter in New York City. She became a naturalized citizen in 1925.
In 1936 she began contributing to Harper╒s Bazaar a gaily frivolous column called ╥Why don╒t you ╔ ?,╙ which became a highly popular department. In 1939 she joined the Harper╒s Bazaar staff full time and shortly thereafter was appointed fashion editor. She held that post for 23 years, becoming one of the dominant personalities on the magazine and winning acknowledgment as one of the most perspicacious and influential observers of the fashion scene.
In 1962 Vreeland left Harper╒s Bazaar and joined the staff of Vogue, of which she became editor in chief in January 1963. Under her strong guidance Vogue soon began to reflect her own taste for the novel, the bizarre, and the outrageous. The youthful and the eccentric were featured, and the photography and design were calculated to reflect the age of youth culture, rock music, and the overthrow of traditional standards. Editorial matter in the magazine often followed her own idiosyncratic way with fashion dicta: ╥Pink is the navy blue of India.╙ In particular she created the notion of the Beautiful People (abbreviated BP╒s), a subclass of youthful, wealthy, and foot-loose members of the less exclusive international set who were supposed to set the tone of fashion, art, and society.
Diana Vreeland was removed as editor in chief of Vogue in May 1971, when the heady fashion excesses of the 1960s had passed. Later that year she was named special consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (founded in 1937 by Irene Lewisohn). There she mounted a series of exhibitions that attracted visitors by the hundred thousand: a show of the designs of Balenciaga in 1972, a show of Paris originals from 1909 to 1939 in 1973╨1974, a show of Hollywood costumes in 1974╨1975, a show of Russian costumes in 1976╨1977, a show of costumes from the Ballets Russes in 1978╨1979, and others.
A woman of striking individuality, Diana Vreeland remained the doyenne of American high fashion. Among her numerous honors are the New York Fashion Designers award in 1963, the Council of Fashion Designers award in 1984, and the Fellow for Life award from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1986. She was also decorated by France's Legion of Honor, and in 1984 by France's Ministry of Culture. She published a book on fashion, Allure, in 1980, and her autobiography, D.V., in 1984. She died on August 22, 1989, in New York City.
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