The archetype of the powerful fashion editor was cemented in popular culture by the book and subsequent movie The Devil Wears Prada, which featured a character who was named Miranda Priestly but was inspired by legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
While none of her former assistants wrote thinly veiled novels about her, Carmel Snow was the Miranda Priestly of an earlier era. Snow led the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar for nearly a quarter century, from 1934 to 1958. If her name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because the idea of an iconic magazine editor was a relatively new one back in her day. In a 2005 biography about Snow titled A Dash of Daring, fashion photographer Richard Avedon talked about why Snow wasn’t more of a household name. “She was older, right?” he said. “And she died before stardom was the thing.”
But Snow was enough of a power player that LIFE photographer Walter Sanders made her the subject of a photo essay which, viewed today, looks like storyboards for The Devil Wears Prada (minus the focus on the assistants, who remain unidentified). But other fashion stars who show up in the frames include Cristobal Balenciaga and Coco Chanel (in some photos wearing scene-stealing headwear). Another notable figure in the images is Diane Vreeland, who worked under Snow at Harper’s Bazaar and would later become editor-in-chief at Vogue. If today Vreeland’s name resonates somewhat more than Snow, it’s both because she is more recent and her platform, Vogue, has only gained in prominence relative to Harper’s Bazaar.
And, not to oversell the importance of LIFE, but it didn’t help that Sanders’ photos of Carmel Snow were shot for a story that never ran.
Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, met with Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, met with Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, 1953.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, met with Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow (center), editor of Harper’s Bazaar, and the magazine’s fashion editor, Diane Vreeland (left), at work in the magazine’s offices, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow (left), editor of Harper’s Bazaar, and the magazine’s fashion editor, Diane Vreeland (right), at work in the magazine’s offices, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow (center), editor of Harper’s Bazaar, at work in her office, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow. (seated at desk), editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, worked on the layout of an upcoming issue, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, works on an upcoming issue, 1952.
Man holding a newspaper beside Carmel Snow, December 1952
Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, works on an upcoming issue, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carmel Snow (second from left), editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, at work with designer Cristobal Balenciaga (second from right), 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga and Carmel Snow, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, looked at a model during fashion designers meeting, December 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga and Carmel Snow, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, shopped together in New York City, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga pointed out something to Carmel Snow, editor of Harper’s Bazaar in an unidentified shop in New York City, 1952.
Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
