cover image The Fifties in Vogue

The Fifties in Vogue

Nicholas Drake. Henry Holt & Company, $12.98 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-0324-6

Drawing from the editorial and advertising pages of the British, American and French editions of Vogue of the 1950s, British freelance writer Drake offers a pedestrian retrospective of postWW II fashion and culture. A British import, the book's reminiscences about that country's comedians, radio and television programs, and the bohemian Chelsea Set may elude American readers; and the foreword by Vogue's ""wonder-girl,'' actress Hepburn, is a sop. Marilyn Monroe, Queen Elizabeth II, the then Jacqueline Kennedy, Richard Burton, Paul Newman, Elvis Presley, Groucho Marx and Maria Callas grace this volume, but many of the pictures are grainy, and the few color reproductions have a washed-out look. Nostalgic Vogue devotees will enjoy far better Josephine Ross's dazzling Beaton in Vogue. (May)