L'Officiel Presents A Selection Of Some Of Its Most Impactful And Well-Loved Covers

On the occasion of its centennial anniversary, L’Officiel presents a selection of some of its most impactful and well-loved covers

- Tori Nergaard & Piper Mcdonald

Fashion magazines demand to be judged by their covers. A mysterious alchemy of glossy photography, inspired styling, and graphic design that somehow perfectly captures the zeitgeist, the magazine cover is at once timeless and also a precise reflection of right now. The fashion magazine – so often erroneously seen as merely superficial – is a significant window into the current cultural mood. Throughout its storied 100 years of publication, L’Officiel has produced more than 1,000 covers that, when viewed together, are a crash course not just in the history of fashion but also our modern moment. As each decade develops its own unique stylistic personality – drawing on fashion trends from previous cycles while forever searching for what’s new, and always reflecting shifts in social attitudes – L’Officiel ’s covers, issue by issue, build a framework through which to understand the nature of the fashion system, changing trends, and society itself. From its early days as a chronicle of the burgeoning fashion industry in Paris, to its current position at the center of global culture, art, celebrity, and design, L’Officiel has always had its finger on the pulse of the present while eagerly anticipating the future. The covers of L’Officiel are significant markers of bygone eras in fashion, each encapsulating a shared moment in our cultural history and creating a visual timeline of a century of style. Please enjoy our highly subjective selection of our favorite covers by decade.

July 1921