Gypsy Rose Lee Was With It Flair Magazine July 1950 Julio de Diego

Description

This issue of Flair becomes something entirely different once you arrive at Gypsy Rose Lee’s “Was With It” chapbook, included in the issue. The piece explodes across the pages with Julio de Diego’s surreal carnival-and-railroad illustrations — concentric wheels, circus tents, locomotives, midway signage, and stark black-red-white graphics that feel closer to avant-garde poster art than magazine illustration. It is one of the great visual moments from the short-lived but legendary run of Flair, and easily among the wildest collaborations attached to Gypsy Rose Lee’s name.

Lee herself was far more than burlesque royalty. By 1950 she had become a serious cultural figure — writer, television personality, memoirist, and fixture of sophisticated New York artistic circles. Her relationship with Cuban-born modernist Julio de Diego adds another layer here, turning the feature into something intimate, theatrical, and visually unforgettable. The result feels like mid-century American carnival culture filtered through European modernism. You simply do not encounter many magazine pieces from this era that look remotely like this.

An increasingly difficult Flair issue to locate in collectible condition, especially for buyers interested in Gypsy Rose Lee, Julio de Diego, burlesque history, circus imagery, or experimental mid-century magazine design.