Since the mid-’90s and the Calvin Klein ads that came to define “heroin chic,” advertising has been a recurring theme in fashion ethics. Is the advertising industry to blame for our over-consumption? Do advertisers prey on our insecurities in order to sell a product? Are we being duped into tossing out last season’s winter coat to make room for this year’s hot item?

As Cathy Horyn once wrote in The Washington Post, ”Fashion advertisements are many things, but ‘real’ they are not. Although ads frequently mimic a lifestyle…their allure is based on the premise that such a world is attainable through the mere acquisition of a label. You too can be a cool English cucumber in tartan, a besotted brunette on a golden bed.”

Whether this is smart marketing or the pitfalls of capitalism is up for debate. But as a look back at advertising during the first two decades of ready-to-wear fashion will show, the fantasy/lifestyle approach is only one of many. Click on any image to launch a slideshow of ads in the “fashion bible” during the 60s and 70s.

Vogue issues featured in this slideshow:

• February 1, 1964
• November 15, 1966
• March 1, 1967
• September 1, 1972
• September 1, 1979 (UK)