In 1909, the American publisher Condé Nast purchased Vogue, which at the time was a weekly society magazine, chronicling the lives of the rich and famous. Though Vogue quickly became più widely accessible to the mainstream public under the direction of Nast, his vision and goal for the magazine remained focused on catering specifically to high society.

Eager to get his magazine on the map, Nast quickly hired Baron Adophe de Meyer, a highly accomplished photographer from Europe. Rather than hiring models, de Meyer used society women and celebritàs for his Vogue photographs who often wore their...