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Rating: 
Summary: Grab it!
Review: Get this book. Do anything you have to in order to own it. I paid $250 at the Art Institute of Chicago because I was afraid I would miss out...again. This is a collector's piece if you got the first edition. If not, don't hesitate. It is interesting, intriging, thought provoking, ahead of it's time....and not just for 'creative' types. Something good for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Grab it!
Review: Get this book. Do anything you have to in order to own it. I paid $250 at the Art Institute of Chicago because I was afraid I would miss out...again. This is a collector's piece if you got the first edition. If not, don't hesitate. It is interesting, intriging, thought provoking, ahead of it's time....and not just for 'creative' types. Something good for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: The return of Flair
Review: I first became acquainted with Fleur Cowles' revolutionary 'Flair' magazine during my childhood in the fifties. At that time the publication impressed me with its cultured blend of cosmopolitan sophistication and innovative design, although it didn't escape me that its pages also included a great deal of elitism, snobbery and self-congratulatory arrogance. Although I wasn't fortunate to keep any of the original issues, the magazine became a significant influence in the development of my literary and artistic tastes and in my life-long quest for beauty and elegance. For that I was grateful. So it was a joy to learn that a best-of compilation put together by Fleur Cowles herself had finally appeared. The original 1996 printing sold out before I could manage to acquire a copy and when Rizzoli recently published a second run I quickly got one. This edition has a foreword by writer-socialite Dominick Dunne. Now, is it really worth the rather steep price of [price]? Well... I think that for that kind of money the publishers could have managed to provide us with something much more substantial, for example: a slipcased set containing facsimile editions of all twelve original issues, rather than this comprehensive but ultimately limited look. A complete reprint would have given us the full impression of the range and period feel of a unique magazine, and at this price I think that they could have well afforded to do it. I understand that part of the reason for this expensive price tag is the snob appeal that has always been a part of the Flair mystique and that perhaps this offering is to be regarded as literary caviar for the more discerning (and well-off) among us. On the plus side I must say that the large-format book is lavishly printed, that the articles are indeed very well selected - containing not quite all but much of the best of the short-lived magazine - and that the presentation is very handsome indeed. Several of the covers are reproduced with their distinctive die-cuts and embossing and the book is housed in an elegant cloth-covered box. I still think it could have been more reasonably priced but there it is. Caviar lovers, enjoy it before it disappears again!
Rating: 
Summary: Fleur's flight of fancy.
Review: These facsimile pages from the twelve issues of Flair are a celebration of Fleur Cowles zest for creativity in the arts. The 338 pages must have been a challenge for the Hong Kong printers, they had to cope with various foldout pages, die-cut holes, different paper stock and bind in several short pages, two concertina foldouts and five sixteen page booklets.Sumptuous though the book is I feel that Flair is resting in its reputation. To my mind, having worked as a publication art director, the photos, typography and layouts are very conservative and do not show any particular innovative design. Other magazines and designers were much more creative in the fifties, 'Fortune' with Will Burtin, 'Glamour' with Cipe Pineless, 'Harper's Bazaar' with Alexey Brodovitch and 'Vogue' with Alexander Liberman. Certainly the covers with their die-cut holes (sadly only six of the twelve are included) and the bound in booklets were unique to consumer magazines at the time but I think that Flair should be remembered as a magazine concept rather than a magazine full of creativity. Fleur Cowles writes a short piece about the origins of Flair (handwritten in gold on dark blue paper) but does not give enough detail (I believe each issue involved several printers and binders) and as there were only twelve issues a list of all the articles should have been included. Another reviewer has commented that the high price (reassuringly expensive?) and the cloth covered box the book comes in reflects snob appeal, I agree but I'm still pleased to have a copy.
Rating:
Summary: dazzling!
Review: This is the most extraordinary book I've ever owned! I missed out when it was first published as a limited edition and I vowed that if it ever came back,I would grab one. Bravo to Rizzoli Publishers for re-issuing this hard-to-find classic!
Rating:
Summary: dazzling!
Review: This is the most extraordinary book I've ever owned! I missed out when it was first published as a limited edition and I vowed that if it ever came back,I would grab one. Bravo to Rizzoli Publishers for re-issuing this hard-to-find classic!
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