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Lot Essay
Fleur Cowles (1908 - 2009) began her career as a columnist for the The World Telegram but is best remembered as a style icon, pioneering editor and socialite. In 1946 she married Gardner Cowles of the Cowles Publishing Empire and was highly influential in the redesigning of Look magazine, where she became associate editor, and sought to appeal to a female readership. As a present, Gardner Cowles gave her the opportunity to create her own magazine, Flair, in 1950. She herself said 'unlike most wives who choose yachts, horses, jewels (which I never wanted), I preferred the costly luxury of creating a magazine'.
Although the magazine only ran until 1951, it was lavish and progressive with pop-outs, textured paper, scents and pull-outs, and Cowles commissioned leading artists of the day. Amongst the contributors to Flair were her friends Lucian Freud and Salvador Dalí; Dalí was also the subject of her biography The Case of Salvador Dalí (Boston, 1959).
Although the magazine only ran until 1951, it was lavish and progressive with pop-outs, textured paper, scents and pull-outs, and Cowles commissioned leading artists of the day. Amongst the contributors to Flair were her friends Lucian Freud and Salvador Dalí; Dalí was also the subject of her biography The Case of Salvador Dalí (Boston, 1959).