Queen Magazine, January 1966: Duffy, Yellow and a James Wedge Hat

Magazines are among the most fragile records of fashion: they were made to be read and then put aside, and complete issues are not always kept. This issue of Queen, dated 19 January 1966, brings together the work of four photographers, among them Duffy, and a fashion story in yellow that opens with a hat by the milliner James Wedge.

Queen

The magazine was founded in 1861 by Samuel Beeton as The Queen, a periodical for women of society. In the late 1950s it was bought by Jocelyn Stevens, who transformed it: he introduced a new, younger style of picture journalism and, from 1962, the title became simply Queen. Through the 1960s it was one of the magazines most closely associated with London's new fashion and culture. In 1970 it merged with the British edition of Harper's Bazaar to form Harpers & Queen.

Duffy

Brian Duffy was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a fashion illustrator before turning to photography. He worked for British Vogue and Elle, and with David Bailey and Terence Donovan he was one of the young photographers whom Norman Parkinson called the "Black Trinity". Their direct, informal style changed British fashion photography in the 1960s. Duffy later photographed the cover of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane. He died in 2010.

The issue

According to The Archivary's description, this issue includes a fashion story by Duffy with models in yellow outfits, the first image showing a hat by James Wedge. Wedge, born in 1939, trained at the Royal College of Art and worked as a milliner in London in the early 1960s, before turning to fashion design and photography; the Victoria and Albert Museum holds one of his hats.

The issue also features work by the photographers Norman Eales, Marc Hispard and Frank Horvat, so that a single number of the magazine gathers several different approaches to the fashion image.

The object

The Archivary describes the magazine as the issue of Queen dated 19 January 1966, complete and in very good condition considering its age, with a faint mark to the top edge of the cover and sticker residue on the back cover.