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1930s Vanity Fair typography

By only

Thursday August 7, 2008

In 1929, Vanity Fair magazine, the jewel in the crown of Condé Nast’s publishing empire, made typographic history. Influenced by Modern design trends throughout Europe, especially the Bauhaus, art director Dr. Mehemed Fehmy Agha introduced Paul Renner’s Futura – and also did away with all capital letters in headlines on columns and feature articles. The result was at once jarring and elegant – illustrating the capital M of Modernism, through the sole use of lowercase letters.