Edited with text by Robin Muir. Preface by Hamish Bowles.
From high-concept couture to portraits and magazine editorials, Beaton's fashion photographs receive a fitting tribute in the form of this glamorous, elegant volume
A virtuoso in capturing beauty, glamour and star power, Cecil Beaton was an extraordinary force in the 20th-century British and American creative scenes. Renowned as a photographer, fashion illustrator, costume designer and writer, his impact spans the worlds of fashion, photography and design. From his early snapshots of the Bright Young Things and his breakthrough as Vogue's star photographer at just 24 years old, to his portraits of royals, celebrities and models and culminating in his award-winning turn as a costume designer, Beaton created an oeuvre of glamour, resilience and creativity that continues to captivate audiences today. Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World, the catalog accompanying the exhibition of the same name at the National Portrait Gallery, London, is the first publication to delve into Beaton's groundbreaking fashion work, spanning from 1922 to 1963. The book documents designs from Balmain, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Chanel and more. This pivotal aspect of his career would lay the foundation for his later successes. A chronological exploration of his most triumphant years includes his most iconic portraits of Greta Garbo, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Mona Williams, Elizabeth II and many more, together with his rarely seen watercolors, collages and even outtakes. Cecil Beaton (1904–80) was both a member and photographer of Britain's Bright Young Things. He began working for British Vogue full-time in 1927 and over the succeeding decades became known for his portraits of fashion models and royalty. In the 1950s and 1960s, he won four Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for his costume designs.
"A Symphony in Silver" (Baba Beaton) by Cecil Beaton, 1926. From 'Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World.'
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Cecil Beaton’s “The Second Age of Beauty is Glamour,” shot for the February 1946 issue of British Vogue, is reproduced from Holiday Gift Staff PickCecil Beaton’s Fashionable World—published to accompany the exhibition on view through January 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. A beautifully produced monograph featuring portraits, magazine editorials, fashion photography, war reportage and illustrations by Britain’s celebrated renaissance man about town, this oversized volume features a lovely Swiss binding, more than 250 color and black-and-white reproductions and a wealth of pithy Beaton quotations that contextualize the images. “My pictures became more and more rococo and surrealist,” he wrote in the third volume of his diary, The Happy Years, published in 1972. “Society women as well as mannequins were photographed in the most flamboyant poses, in ecstatic or mystical states, sometimes with the melodramatic air of a Lady Macbeth caught up in a cocoon of tulle…” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.75 x 11.75 in. / 288 pgs / 76 color / 180 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $70 ISBN: 9781855148055 PUBLISHER: National Portrait Gallery AVAILABLE: 11/18/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by National Portrait Gallery. Edited with text by Robin Muir. Preface by Hamish Bowles.
From high-concept couture to portraits and magazine editorials, Beaton's fashion photographs receive a fitting tribute in the form of this glamorous, elegant volume
A virtuoso in capturing beauty, glamour and star power, Cecil Beaton was an extraordinary force in the 20th-century British and American creative scenes. Renowned as a photographer, fashion illustrator, costume designer and writer, his impact spans the worlds of fashion, photography and design. From his early snapshots of the Bright Young Things and his breakthrough as Vogue's star photographer at just 24 years old, to his portraits of royals, celebrities and models and culminating in his award-winning turn as a costume designer, Beaton created an oeuvre of glamour, resilience and creativity that continues to captivate audiences today.
Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World, the catalog accompanying the exhibition of the same name at the National Portrait Gallery, London, is the first publication to delve into Beaton's groundbreaking fashion work, spanning from 1922 to 1963. The book documents designs from Balmain, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Chanel and more. This pivotal aspect of his career would lay the foundation for his later successes. A chronological exploration of his most triumphant years includes his most iconic portraits of Greta Garbo, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Mona Williams, Elizabeth II and many more, together with his rarely seen watercolors, collages and even outtakes.
Cecil Beaton (1904–80) was both a member and photographer of Britain's Bright Young Things. He began working for British Vogue full-time in 1927 and over the succeeding decades became known for his portraits of fashion models and royalty. In the 1950s and 1960s, he won four Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for his costume designs.
