Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The February 1955 issue of Harper's Bazaar featuring Dovima and Sunny Harnett on the cover, photographed by Richard Avedon, is one of the most significant fashion photography documents of the entire decade. Dovima — born Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba — was by 1955 the highest-paid model in the world and Avedon's most celebrated muse, a partnership that produced some of the most iconic images in the history of fashion photography. Her elongated elegance and theatrical presence were perfectly matched to Avedon's compositional ambitions, and their collaborations for Harper's Bazaar during the 1950s form a body of work that is now studied in photography programs and exhibited in major museums. Sunny Harnett, her less frequently discussed contemporary, was equally significant within the Bazaar editorial ecosystem of the early 1950s — a model whose sophisticated bearing made her a natural counterpart to Dovima in double-model cover compositions of this type. An Avedon cover pairing these two women for the February 1955 issue represents the full convergence of the era's greatest editorial photographer with its two most accomplished cover subjects.
The confirmed table of contents reveals an interior of extraordinary cultural richness that extends well beyond the fashion photography. Tennessee Williams contributes a piece on The Rose Tattoo in Key West — his play had premiered on Broadway in 1951 and been filmed in 1955, and his presence in Harper's Bazaar reflects the magazine's consistent practice of commissioning serious literary voices alongside its fashion content. James Beard writes on Manhattan's marketplace, and A.E. Coppard contributes a story — both confirming the literary ambition that editor Carmel Snow and art director Alexey Brodovitch had embedded in the publication's DNA. The profile section documents an extraordinary cross-section of mid-century cultural life: Tyrone Power, Isak Dinesen (whose memoir Out of Africa had made her one of the most celebrated writers alive), Henry Moore at the peak of his international reputation, Cole Porter, Gian-Carlo Menotti, and Mme. Mendès-France and Lady Eden — the wives of the French Prime Minister and British Prime Minister respectively — reflecting the magazine's effortless movement between artistic culture and political society. For collectors building a documentary record of American magazine culture from 1955, this table of contents is one of the most impressive single-issue assemblages of the decade.
The Spring Preview fashion section documents the specific silhouettes and materials that defined early 1955 American fashion — shirtwaist dresses, cashmere cardigans, organdie, silk shantung, Roman lace, and the "suit jacket" fur — with the precision of a primary source that no retrospective history can replicate. The suburban fashion section and the Junior Bazaar pages extend the issue's reach from high couture to the daily wardrobe concerns of the magazine's broad readership, making this a comprehensive document of how spring 1955 fashion was communicated across social strata. Collectors who follow the Harper's Bazaar archive will recognize that Avedon cover issues from the Carmel Snow and Alexey Brodovitch era — the late 1940s through mid-1950s — represent the publication's highest collecting tier, and a Dovima-Harnett double cover is among the most significant combinations within that already elite category.
About the Publication
Harper's Bazaar was founded in 1867 and had, by February 1955, spent over two decades under the transformative editorial leadership of Carmel Snow and art director Alexey Brodovitch — a partnership that had made the magazine the most visually and intellectually ambitious fashion publication in America. Their collaborative vision, which brought European modernist design principles into dialogue with serious literary contributions and the most advanced fashion photography being produced anywhere in the world, defined the publication's identity during what is now recognized as its golden era. Richard Avedon joined the staff in 1945 and his work for Bazaar through the 1950s produced the most significant body of fashion photography of the decade. The magazine's audience was educated, culturally sophisticated, and fashion-conscious — readers who expected both visual splendor and genuine intellectual engagement from its pages.
Key Highlights Inside
- Dovima and Sunny Harnett cover by Richard Avedon: The confirmed Avedon cover pairing the two most celebrated Bazaar models of the early 1950s represents the full convergence of the era's greatest editorial photographer with his most accomplished subjects — a primary artifact of fashion photography's mid-century golden age.
- Tennessee Williams — "The Rose Tattoo in Key West": A confirmed contribution from the playwright at the height of his literary reputation, reflecting Harper's Bazaar's consistent practice of commissioning major American literary voices alongside its fashion content.
- James Beard — "Manhattan Market Place": A confirmed piece by the man who would become the most influential figure in American culinary culture — an early document of his editorial presence in the mainstream press.
- Cultural profiles — Isak Dinesen, Henry Moore, Cole Porter, Tyrone Power: Confirmed profiles of four of the mid-century's most significant cultural figures, documenting the magazine's characteristic movement between literary, artistic, musical, and cinematic celebrity.
- Spring 1955 fashion preview — shirtwaists, silks, cashmere, Roman lace: The confirmed Spring Preview section documents the specific garments, silhouettes, and materials that defined early 1955 American fashion with primary-source precision unavailable in any retrospective account.
- Mme. Mendès-France and Lady Eden profiles: Confirmed coverage of the wives of the sitting French and British Prime Ministers reflects Bazaar's effortless navigation between fashion culture and international political society.
Condition & Rarity
The listing provides a candid and unusually detailed condition assessment that collectors should weigh carefully against the issue's cultural significance. The magazine is described as acceptable condition with a good interior, front cover creases, marks on the cover and throughout the pages, possible additional marks and rips, and — most importantly — missing back pages beyond page 184, including the back cover. For a seventy-year-old publication of this cultural weight, these attributes describe a copy that has survived with its most significant content intact — the Avedon cover, the fashion editorial pages, and the confirmed literary and cultural features all fall within the preserved pages — while acknowledging honest age-related damage at the exterior and rear. The missing back pages are a condition variable that collectors should factor into their assessment relative to the issue's primary collectible value, which resides in the Avedon cover and the interior editorial content. The plastic protective covering confirms deliberate preservation of the surviving material. When evaluating any surviving copy of this issue, the condition of the Avedon cover portrait, the completeness of the Spring Preview fashion pages, and the presence of the Tennessee Williams and other literary contributions are the primary assessment criteria.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
A February 1955 Harper's Bazaar with a confirmed Avedon cover of Dovima and Sunny Harnett — supported by Tennessee Williams, James Beard, Isak Dinesen, and a Spring Preview of extraordinary specificity — is among the most culturally significant issues the publication produced in the entire decade, and surviving copies in any condition are actively sought by fashion photography collectors, Avedon scholars, and literary history enthusiasts alike. If this issue is no longer available, the full Harper's Bazaar archive at OriginalMagazines.com is the best place to continue exploring the publication's remarkable Carmel Snow era. The broader 1955 magazine collection is equally worth browsing for collectors building a comprehensive primary-source record of mid-century American publishing at its most ambitious.