National Portrait Gallery to celebrate Vogue centenary

To mark the centenary year of British Vogue in 2016, the National Portrait Gallery is to host an exhibition featuring fashion, beauty and portrait photography from the magazine’s archives.

Opening on February 11 and running until May 22, the exhibit titled ‘Vogue 100: A Century of Style’, will feature more than 280 images from photographers including Cecil Beaton, Lee Miller, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Corinne Day, Patrick Demarchelier, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino and Tim Walker.

Highlights include images of designers, from Alexander McQueen to Christian Dior, as well as celebrities such as David Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marlene Dietrich and Kate Moss.

Curated by Robin Muir, who is a contributing editor to British Vogue, the exhibition will focus on the cultural significance of many of the photographs, as well as the magazine being at the forefront of fashion and design, as well as its wider influence on the UK’s fashion scene. It will largely be photographic, but the gallery also stated that it will be accompanied by elements such as fashion illustrations and a digital room, showcasing a fashion films commissioned by Vogue.

"British Vogue has played a pivotal role in the development of photographic portraiture over the past century, commissioning leading photographers and designers to produce some of the most memorable and influential images in the history of fashion," said Dr Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery. "We are extremely grateful to Alexandra Shulman and her team for giving us unprecedented access to the treasures of the Condé Nast archive and for allowing us to present a panoramic view of this hugely important British institution on a scale that has never been seen before.”

Image: Vogue/Mario Testino