Bea Feitler

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Bea Feitler (Beatriz Feitler) was a Brazilian designer and art director best known for her work on Harper’s Bazaar, Ms., Rolling Stone, and the premiere issue of the modern Vanity Fair. She was born on February 5, 1938, in Rio de Janeiro to Jewish parents who had fled Nazi Germany, and she died on April 8, 1982, in Rio de Janeiro at age 44.

Feitler studied at Parsons School of Design in New York. After graduating in 1959, she briefly studied painting in Rio and helped start Estudio G in Brazil, a studio that focused on posters, album covers, and book design. She returned to the United States in 1961 and joined Harper’s Bazaar as an art assistant, becoming co‑art director with Ruth Ansel within two years. Her collaboration with photographers helped shape the magazine’s look during the 1960s. In 1965 she and photographer Richard Avedon staged the first major fashion shoot with a Black model, a move that sparked public backlash.

In 1972 Feitler left Bazaar to help launch Ms. magazine with Gloria Steinem and served as its first art director until 1974, creating an experimental, colorful visual style. From 1974 to 1980 she taught design at the School of Visual Arts and did freelance work for major brands and artists, including album jackets for the Rolling Stones and campaigns for Dior, Diane von Furstenberg, and Calvin Klein. In 1975 she began a six‑year run with Rolling Stone, invited by Annie Leibovitz, during which she redesigned the magazine’s format twice.

Her final project was the premiere issue of the revived Vanity Fair. Feitler had been undergoing cancer treatment and died before the issue was published.