Flair (1950), conceived and edited by Fleur Cowles, is remembered as one of the most ambitious and artistically daring magazines ever printed. Published monthly for a single year, it combined the finest traditions of luxury publishing with avant-garde design: die-cut covers, foldouts, bound-in booklets, tipped-in illustrations, textured papers, and vivid color printing. No magazine before or since has matched its combination of editorial depth, experimental form, and lavish production.

This archive presents high-quality reproductions of covers, interior spreads, special inserts, and typographic compositions from the magazine’s twelve issues. Whenever possible, pages are restored as seamless spreads, preserving the visual flow intended by the original art directors and avoiding the distortions normally caused by tightly bound vintage copies. The result is a level of clarity and continuity rarely available online.

Flair gathered a remarkable cast of contributors — including Salvador Dalí, W.H. Auden, Simone de Beauvoir, Eleanor Roosevelt, Tennessee Williams, Saul Steinberg, and many of the most important illustrators and photographers of the period. Its design aesthetic shared affinities with both modernist editorial work and the decorative arts surrounding mid-century culture. Connections to contemporaneous visual languages can also be traced through related collections such as the Portfolio Archive and the interwar design heritage documented in the NYC Art Deco Interiors Archive.

The magazine was produced with a budget far exceeding conventional publishing standards, which ultimately contributed to its brief life. Yet its influence has been enduring: Flair set new expectations for what a magazine could be — a hybrid of book, gallery, and cultural atlas. Its bold integration of text and image continues to inspire designers, editors, and typographers worldwide.

The Flair Archive offers a comprehensive visual record for researchers, students, designers, and collectors interested in mid-century publishing, experimental editorial design, and the creative networks that shaped post-war culture. Additional commentary, contextual notes, and high-resolution spreads will be added over time to expand the historical framework surrounding this extraordinary publication.