Classic Vanity Fair covers

Angelina Jolie on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, in June 2005 (left, photographed by Annie Leibovitz), and October 2011 (photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, styled by Jessica Diehl).

Launched by Conde Nast Publications in late 1913, Vanity Fair magazine became a trailblazer in the art of celebrity photography, publishing iconic images of figures from the movies, business, literature, politics and society circles.

Editor Graydon Carter writes of America at the time of the Great War, when the magazine made its debut: "For the first time, the nation saw itself encircling the planet - not just as a Great Power (whose benefits and consequences were debated even then) but as an entrepreneurial powerhouse and cultural dynamo. And Americans had attitude: they were willing to build people up but also cut them down to size. They applied a sense of humor - broad, sophisticated, sly, rambunctious - to everything. This was the environment from which Vanity Fair sprang."

The magazine continues that attitude 100 years after it began.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

In 1913 the first issue of Vanity Fair, titled "Dress & Vanity Fair," appeared. It was a cross between a fashion magazine and a publication devoted to cosmopolitan society, art, literature and business.

Confusion over the target audience - Would men care about frilly clothes? Or women about cars and golf? - soon led to a name change (to just Vanity Fair).

The August 1925 cover of Vanity Fair. Illustration by Miguel Covarrubias.

Type treatments for the magazine's name varied form issue to issue in the early years.

Since its earliest days, Vanity Fair celebrated celebrity, including Hollywood idols such as Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford (left, photographed by Nickolas Muray for the December 1922 issue of Vanity Fair).

"Photography right from the beginning was an essential element of what Vanity Fair was," Graydon Carter, the current editor of the magazine, told CBS News.

Courtesy of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film

In 1923 Edward Steichen was hired as Vanity Fair's chief photographer. During his 14 years at the magazine, Steichen revolutionized the art of celebrity portraiture, in a way creating a new genre of photography.

Left: Greta Garbo, as photographed by Edward Steichen in 1928, and published in the October 1929 issue of Vanity Fair.

"She was complaining about just the terrible hair she had that day," Graydon Carter told CBS News. "And she pushes it back like this. And Steichen just says, 'Hold it like that,' and takes the picture. And that is the iconic image of Greta Garbo."

The February 1932 Vanity Fair cover features Greta Garbo, by illustrator Miguel Covarrubias.

"The Return of the Prodigal" (illustrator unknown) depicts Depression Era income disparity on the October 1933 cover of Vanity Fair.

"Maybe Omaha" (illustrated by Charlot), the September 1935 cover of Vanity Fair.

The February 1936 cover, titled "Bali Beauty," by artist, ethnologist and art historian Miguel Covarrubias, who had lived for an extended period in Indonesia.

This was the last cover of the "Jazz Age" Vanity Fair, before the magazine suspended publication.

Although Vanity Fair had suspended publication, Conde Nast maintained the copyright of its name by including it within the cover or spine of Vogue magazine, which it dubbed "Vogue, Incorporating Vanity Fair" (inset).

Left: Models Helen Bennett, Muriel Maxwell and Bettina Bolegard, photographed by Horst P. Horst, for a Vogue/Vanity Fair copy.

In the early 1980s, following the death of Conde Nast head Samuel I. Newhouse Sr., his son, Samuel I. Newhouse Jr., sought to bring back Vanity Fair.

At left is a dummy cover for the April 1982 prototype Vanity Fair, featuring a Richard Avedon photograph of dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov surrounded by splashes of color. Copies were sent to potential advertisers, and by the following year Vanity Fair Was back on the stands.

Woody Allen as Groucho, photographed by Irving Penn (originally for Vogue magazine), appeared on the December 1983 issue of Vanity Fair.

A photograph by artist David Hockney made the cover of Vanity Fair, June 1983.

President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, photographed by Harry Benson, for the June 1985 cover of Vanity Fair.

"It was a perfect time," said Carter, of the magazine's rebirth during the Reagan Era. "It was just the beginning of what I would like to call the Age of Money. The people with money were more showy with the money, which is sort of not great for society, but it's very good for journalists maybe, because it gives you something to write about."

Diana, Princess of Wales was a popular subject for Vanity Fair covers.

Left: The October 1985 issue, photographed by Bill Graham. Right: July 1997, photographed by Mario Testino.

Annie Leibovitz photographed singer-dancer Michael Jackson for Vanity Fair's December 1989 cover.

Annie Leibovitz's photograph of a very pregnant Demi Moore, graced the August 1991 issue of Vanity Fair. The magazine was banned in many stores - and would later be named the second best magazine cover (after Rolling Stone's portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) of the past 40 years.

Madonna is one of the most popular of Vanity Fair's cover subjects. Clockwise, from top left: January 1986 (Photographer: Herb Ritts); April 1990 (Helmut Newton); May 2008 (Steven Meisel); November 1995 (Mario Testino); and April 1991 (Steven Meisel).

Tina Turner, photographed by Michel Comte, for the May 1993 cover of Vanity Fair.

Brad Pitt has appeared several times on Vanity Fair's cover, including February 1995 (left, photographed by Annie Leibovitz), and in December 2001 (photographed by Herb Ritts).

"Sex is a very important part of, like, getting magazines off the shelf and into your living room," said Graydon Carter. "And beautiful, attractive people are more pleasing on a coffee table over a 30-day period than not-so-beautiful people."

Uma Thurman, photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the January 1996 cover.

George Clooney, as photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the December 1996 cover of Vanity Fair.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, on skis, on the cover of the June 1997 issue of Vanity Fair. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Tom Cruise, from the June 2000 issue of Vanity Fair. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Bruce Weber photographed actor Heath Ledger for the August 2000 cover of Vanity Fair.

Mario Testino photographed Catherine Zeta-Jones for the January 2001 cover of Vanity Fair.

The 2001 fold-out cover "Legends of Hollywood," from Vanity Fair's annual tribute to idols of the silver screen Hollywood. The actresses were actually photographed in three different locales - Los Angeles, New York and London - and the three images digitally joined together.

From left: Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Vanessa Redgrave, Chloe Sevigny, Sophia Loren, and Penelope Cruz.

Hollywood's leading men have also been paid tribute, as in this 2003 fold-out cover starring Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Ewan McGregor, and Matt Damon.

Vanity Fair continues its fascination with royalty, with Mario Testino's photograph of Prince William of Wales for the September 2003 cover.

Sometimes classic images of the past were used as the Vanity Fair cover, such as Bud Fraker's photo of Audrey Hepburn (for the May 2013 issue), and Bert Stern's Marilyn Monroe photo for the October 2008 issue.

Celebrities of Washington, D.C., have almost become as familiar to the pages of Vanity Fair as celebrities of Hollywood. In February 2002 the magazine featured a fold-out cover of the key figures of the Bush White House. Photographer Annie Leibovitz asked those present to project "resolve."

From left: Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney, President George W. Bush, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House chief of staff Andrew Card, CIA director George Tenet, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Fashion designer Tom Ford conceived of the cover for Vanity Fair's 2006 Hollywood issue, shot by Annie Leibovitz and featuring Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley. A third, unnamed actress bowed out of the shoot once the clothes came off, so Ford stepped in to, it is said, maintain the composition.

Johnny Depp, as photographed by Francois-Marie Banier for the July 2009 cover.

Lady Gaga, on the cover of Vanity Fair's January 2012 issue. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Jennifer Lawrence, photographed for Vanity Fair's February 2013 issue by Ellen Von Unwerth.

Actress Kerry Washington (photographed by Norman Jean Roy, styled by Jessica Diehl), on the August 2013 cover of Vanity Fair.

The book, "Vanity Fair 100 Years," features highlights from a century of coverage, from the Jazz Age editions to its rebirth in the 1980s.

For more info:
"Vanity Fair 100 Years: From the Jazz Age to Our Age" - Edited by Graydon Carter (Abrams)

Left: Kaye Upton graces the 100th anniversary issue of Vanity Fair magazine. Make a wish!

For more info:
"Vanity Fair 100 Years: From the Jazz Age to Our Age" - Edited by Graydon Carter (Abrams)
100 Years of Vanity Fair (Conde Nast)
vanityfair.com

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

CBS News 24/7