Vintage Mag Hag

Fashionable Décor

People often ask me where I got my collection of 1950s & 1960s Vogue & Harper’s Bazaar magazines. Really the secret is not that much of a secret: I spotted a small plug for the Paper Pursuits website in an issue of Domino a few years ago. The website sells several publications that range in age — some dating back to the 1920′s — but my faves are the graphic punch covers from the late 50s-late 60s, like these fab finds:

And they aren’t just for women, either. I’m in love with these old GQ covers found on Conde Nast’s online store — also a great resource for cover art prints, albeit with a heftier price tag ($195+). Aren’t they just so Mad Men?

Paper Pursuits’ prices for full issues range from $45-145, depending on how rare an issue is, whether or not it features a celebrity (I’ve seen Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot to name a few), and its condition. Some of the page illustrations are worth it alone – great fashion sketches – and often the old ads are to die for! My collection is growing, slowly but surely:

I’ve had different arrangements up at different times, depending on what color schemes I’m currently digging. Here’s what made the cut for now, in my white/black/warm gray/orange office:

It’s fun, flexible, and cheap! I photocopied these so as not to ruin my originals, and bought ready-made frames and mattes. As my daughter now says (arms up)…ta-da!!