Classic Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is a brilliant, savvy magazine which has had a lot of great covers and even better interviews. In fact, no one does avant garde and controversial better. It is a glossy extravaganza of ads and money, Annie Leibovitz and a stellar celebrity galaxy. They’ve produced issues that are definitely archive worthy; like the infamous issue where they interviewed Jennifer Aniston and probed for answers on the divorce of the century between herself and the dubious Brad Pitt. A scant few years later, they were anything but bashful when preening after scoring a gorgeous cover, breathtaking pitures and a juicy interview in July of 2008 with the new Mrs. Brad Pitt, the ever beautiful and voluptuous lipped Angelina Jolie. (Did I mention how we loved it, by the way?) Vanity Fair is after all unbiased, and all is fair in love and war. (We love that, too!) It is a media outlet that is a very fine reflection of our pop culture; it maybe even defines who we are as a western culture, civilized and polished, all glossy and airbrushed and well financed in order to be considered perfect and worthy and accomplished. If one would look back on our society 100 years from now and gather information based only on the content of a Vanity Fair magazine, I think they’d be very amused and entertained to say the least, at how much pandering we were obsessed with and how star struck we were on a whole. Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a rant, it’s more of an unbiased observation. I am right there with the best of them enjoying the pantheon of the stars in the entertainment constellation and the great past time of wanting more. I think it is amazing how little we’ve changed as a civilization. Celebrity is the new nobility, and now anyone can be king or queen, no matter their station in life. If you have the heart of a social climber, and the grit and the fangs to get you to the top, a meteoric rise to stardom is not impossible if you’re hungry enough. Vanity Fair is such a fitting name for a magazine that showcases the lifestyles of the rich and famous and what you need to get there. However, before Vanity Fair the magazine, there was another piece of literary success that chronicled the fictitious life of perhaps the most prolific social climber and one of the most important heroines of the Victorian era. Tune in later and I’ll tell you what and who.