It was Linda Evangelista who once said she'd never get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day but not when Vogue comes calling. Everyone scrambles out of bed sans make-up. Ditto photographers, politicians, actors and celebrities of all hues. Thus making for a rich back catalogue of images stretching as far back as a century in this milestone exhibition, Vogue 100: A Century Of Style at the National Portrait Gallery.

It has captured the zeitgeist, the X factor, the style trends, chronicled the way we have lived for a century, even longer across the pond in America where it first appeared on the newsstands in 1892, the brainchild of its proprietor Conde Nast.

Vogue 100 A Century of Style
First Vogue cover designed by Helen Thurlow in September 1916 on show at the exhibition Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
Display stands showcasing Vogue covers at the entrance to the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
An overview of one of the main galleries featuring a selection of Vogue covers from 1916 Bolaji Babafemi

Frivolous, moi?

Vogue may be the self-styled fashion bible but you ignore its significance at your peril as its serious mainstream competitors realised during the Second World War when the magazine's official war correspondent, Lee Miller, broke some of that period's biggest stories and the images that illustrated its horrors, witnessing the moment Hitler's alpine retreat was set on fire. The style and substance of Margaret Thatcher and other influential power brokers of the different decades have also been featured and dissected on its pages.

The zeitgeist

Vogue has also had the knack for being the bellwether for all manners of trends, from the androgynous to the grunge through to the supermodel phenomenon. Even Hollywood has been seduced by its charms with a film parody of the magazine, The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep no less.

Some questionable cover choices have graced the publication over the decades too including the likes of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (American Vogue), and Tamzin Outhwaite and Ulrika Jonsson.

However, one inclusion certainly divided opinion, that of Coleen McLoughlin nee Rooney. So stunned was the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, at the criticism towards the choice of footballer Wayne Rooney's wife for inclusion in the magazine that she was forced to respond to the magazine's subscribers. She said: "Rarely has so much rubbish been published as there has been about Coleen McLoughlin's forthcoming appearance in Vogue.

"The real story of the shoot is as follows. We had been thinking about who was intriguing at the moment and Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin's names came up as a couple who were constantly in the news. Wayne is indisputably a footballer of momentous talent, whose skills had impressed even the 90% female staff of Vogue, while Coleen was, nearly single-handedly, keeping the luxury goods business going."

Vogue 100 A Century of Style
A Kate Moss silhouette is seen at the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
A portrait of late fashion designer Alexander McQueen looms large at the Vogue 100 exhibition Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
Claudia Schiffer rides pillion in a Vogue magazine shoot on display at the Vogue 100 exhibition Herb Ritts
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
A Vogue centrespread featuring Cara Delevingne displayed at the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
A cameraman works against the backdrop of images exhibited at the Vogue 100: A Century of Style at the National Portrait Gallery, London Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
Rarely seen black and white prints of the Beatles on show at the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery Peter Laurie, 1964. Conde Nast Archive London
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
The iconic Supermodels cover by Peter Lindbergh featuring Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista,Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington Bolaji Babafemi
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
Supermodel Linda Evangelista won't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day, except for Vogue in this portrait by Patrick Demarchelier The Conde Nast Publications Ltd.,
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
Limelight Nights featuring model turned editor Grace Coddington shot for Vogue by Helmut Newton, 1973 The Conde Nast Publications Ltd.,
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
David Hockney, Peter Schlesinger and Maudie James photographed by Cecil Beaton The Conde Nast Publications Ltd.,
Vogue 100 A Century of Style
Fashion is indestructible shot for Vogue in London during WWII by Cecil Beaton, 1941 The Conde Nast Publications Ltd.,

Will it still be around in 2116?

Will Vogue still be around in printed format in another hundred years? In the age of pervasive digital media and an explosion of influential fashion bloggers, even the almighty style bible has had to modernise to survive, going digital in 1996 with Vogue.co.uk.

The exhibition's curator, Robin Muir, who spent six years scouring through the magazine's archive of about 2,000 issues is confident there will be another centenary of Vogue. He says: "If you are asking if Vogue will still be around as a magazine in the digital age, yes, I'm sure people love to have this beautiful production of bound slab on their coffee table, of course without question."

Vogue 100: A Century Of Style is on until 22 May 2016 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.