the elements of style; This month Rizzoli publishes the first book ever to examine the history of Vogue.(Book review)

Byline: Megan O'grady

Lisa Fonssagrives in a harlequin dress and hat. A luxuriantly dishabille Charlotte Rampling. A constellation of eighties supermodels in Chanel biker jackets. These images and more can be found in the voluminous pages of In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine (Rizzoli),

by Alberto Oliva and Norberto Angeletti. "We wanted to really go in-depth, from how the magazine was born to how the editorial formula was developed and how it is produced today," says Oliva, who, with Angeletti, spent five years researching and writing the book, the first of its kind. "Along the way we discovered that Vogue wasn't just a witness to the evolution of fashion and art but a protagonist within it."

In many ways, the story of Conde Nast's transformation of a small society journal into the fashion magazine of record is the story of fashion itself: the demise of the corset and the advent of the mini, the dominion of French couture and the rise of Seventh Avenue, the delirious fantasy of the high baroque and the ascetic elegance of minimalism. Bringing readers the latest from the runway, as well as the definitive parties and grandest interiors of the day, Vogue-under the stewardship of only seven editors in chief in more than 100 years of publication-has showcased generations of glamorous women, whether embodied by Richard Avedon's exuberantly leaping Veruschka or a Sargentesque Nicole Kidman, immortalized by Irving Penn around the time of her Oscar win.

Capturing it all were pictures that pushed the envelope, beginning with the first color photograph to appear on a magazine cover: Edward Steichen's radiant ...