So Last-Year: Vogue postcard set

Sian was kind enough to give me her Vogue postcard set, featuring beautiful covers from the history of US Vogue. I've already spent hours flicking through the designs, playing guess the photographer, year and model and - most importantly of all - deciding on my favourites. At the moment, it's the five above.

Going clockwise, the images are by: Erwin Blumenfeld, October 1952; Horst P. Horst, June 1940; George Hoyningen-Huene, December 1932, and then another Horst P. Horst, this time from July 1939.

And in the middle is Jean Shrimpton, looking fresh faced and lovely, shot by William Klein for the April 1963 issue. I also watched the Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel documentary this week and, among its stellar line-up of talking heads, I particularly enjoyed Bailey guffawing about how Vreeland welcomed them to New York (of course also the subject of the We'll Take Manhattan programme). The film makes clear how much Vreeland loved the 1960s, embracing the idea and figures of the youthquake that caused so much consternation amongst some of the establishment. Her eye and particular taste is evident even in the Vogue covers that date from her time on top, especially as she was one of the first editors to use celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Barbra Streisand, as models.

That's now the established norm. But is it something we should be thankful to Vreeland for? As you can probably see from the selection above, it's the pre-celebrity, pre-'Vogue' branding covers that remain my favourites.