Mothers Day Special: Baby, It’s You!

The Dionne Quintuplets — Five of a Kind, 1938

Before everyone had cameras, the baby picture was the purview of Mom and Dad. Among so many other things, we have them to thank for remembering to capture us as we once were: smaller, rounder, goofier, balder. (Although, in some cases, less bald.)

"Diaper backward spells repaid," the distinguished social critic Marshall McLuhan once observed. And who are we to argue with that? 

Today, in honor of Mother's Day, we've gathered some of our favorite images from an earlier era — before apps and tags, when pools had nothing to do with Flickr. Some came to us with the scalloped edges redolent of the early Sixties, while others arrived indelibly tinged with the citrus hues from the earth-tone-Seventies. People from all over the world sent in school snapshots, dog-eared wallet photos, and faded Polaroids, all offering solid evidence of the degree to which we all made atrocious wardrobe choices. (Come to think of it, maybe that was Mom and Dad's purview, too.) Throughout the images that follow are striking similarities between then and now — a preserved jawline, an enduring smirk — and just as many surprising differences. (See "balder," above.)

Every last one of us began as a tinier version of what we are now, and if ever there was a moment to stop and consider that fact, today is it: the day we remember our dear Mothers, who sacrificed their sleep and their waistlines and so much more.

Thank you, mothers of design people. And Happy Mother's Day to all.


Antonio Alcalá


Sean Adams


Deborah Adler


Keira Alexandra


Mariana Amatullo


Gail Anderson


Paola Antonelli


Allison Arieff


Eric Baker


James Biber


John Bielenberg


Michael Bierut


Teddy Blanks


Gaby Brink


Tim Brown


Stefan Bucher


Ralph Caplan


Allan Chochinov


Seymour Chwast


Beatriz Cifuentes


Elaine Lustig Cohen


Nancy Sharon Collins


Denise Gonzales Crisp


Liz Danzico


Nathalie Destandau


Stephen Doyle


William Drenttel


Arem Duplessis

Elliott Earls


Tina Roth Eisenberg


Mark English


Nancy Essex


Louise Fili


Karin Fong


John Foster


Milton Glaser


Barbara Glauber


Carin Goldberg


Bryony Gomez-Palacio


Ric Grefé


Stanley Hainsworth


Sylvia Harris


Jessica Helfand


Steve Heller


Gary Hustwit


Alexander Isley


Meena Kadri


Ethel Kessler


Chip Kidd


Alex Knowlton


Alexandra Lange


Julie Lasky


Nancy Levinson


Debbie Millman


Kali Nikitas


Derry Noyes


Clive Piercy


Emily Pilloton


Rocco Piscatello


Hank Richardson


Laurie Rosenwald


Jason Santa Maria


Louise Sandhaus


Paula Scher


Adrian Shaughnessy


Bonnie Siegler


Brian Singer


Nancy Skolos


Andrew Sloat


Matt Soar — Photo credit: David Ward, Studio Six and a Half


Erik Spiekermann


Todd St. John


John Thackara


Massimo Vignelli


Khoi Vinh


Carol Wahler


Josh Wallaert