DRESSED FOR WAR

Magnificent Dressed for War works on many levels as an evocation of an uncommon time as a celebration of an uncommon woman as pure unalloyed fun Lucy Davies Daily Telegraph Dressed For War The Story of Audrey Withers Vogue editor extraordinaire from the Blitz to the Swinging Sixties is the untold story of our most iconic fashion magazine in its most formative years in the Second World War It was an era when wartime exigencies gave its editor Audrey Withers the chance to forge an identity for it that went far beyond stylish clothes In doing so she set herself against the style and preoccupations of Vogue s mothership in New York and her often sticky relationship with its formidable editor Edna Woolman Chase became a strong dynamic in the Vogue story But Vogue had a good war with great writers and top flight photographers including Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton who loathed each other sending images and reports from Europe and much further afield detailing the plight of the countries and people living amid war torn Europe Audrey Withers deft handling of her star contributors and the importance she placed on reflecting people s lives at home give this slice of literary history a real edge With official and personal correspondence researched f