Seeking to pursue his interest in photography, Beaton sent photos to editors and fell in with the Bright Young Things, London's bohemian crowd. He was eventually hired as a staff photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue, where he developed a unique style of posing sitters with unusual backgrounds. Beaton published his first collection of works in 1930 with The Book of Beauty, and his fame grew to the point where he was tapped to photograph the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth in 1939.
Beaton recorded the fighting in England, Africa and the Middle East for the British Ministry of Information during World War II, his famous photo of a hospitalized 3-year-old air-raid victim named Eileen Dunne gracing the cover of Life magazine. He resumed shooting portraits of the rich and famous after the war ended, but also spent more time nurturing his passion for costume and set design. Proving highly adept in this field, Beaton won Tony Awards for his costume work for My Fair Lady (1957) and Coco (1970), and nabbed Oscars for Gigi (1958) and the big screen adaptation of My Fair Lady (1964).
Beginning in the 1960s, Beaton released a series of diaries that documented his relationships with royalty and celebrities over previous decades. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972.