>> Irving Penn, one of the fashion industry's most influential photographers, died this morning at his home in Manhattan, according to a friend.  He was 92.

Penn started out in 1937 as an unpaid design assistant at Harper's Bazaar, but it wasn't until he was hired as assistant to Vogue's art director Alexander Liberman in 1943 that his career started taking off.  His first assignment involved designing Vogue's covers: He sketched out several designs, but none of the staff photographers would oblige, so at Liberman's behest, he photographed them himself. His very first color photograph for Vogue, a still life of a gloves, belt and pocketbook, became a cover — October 1, 1943.  His photographs appeared on over 150 Vogue covers over the next 50 years.

His perfectionism comes through in his work — Liberman related a story of when Penn was asked to take a picture of glasses falling from a serving tray.  He apparently insisted that Baccarat crystal be used for authenticity's sake, and went through several dozen shattered glasses before the final picture met his standards.

In 1947, Penn was asked to make a group portrait of the twelve most photographed beauties of that era.  At that session, he met Lisa Fonssagrives, a few years older than he and credited by some as the first supermodel.  They fell in love and were married in 1950. The two collaborated together, producing what become some of Penn's most memorable pictures — including “Rochas ‘Mermaid Dress,’ Paris” and “Woman with Roses, Paris” — on his first assignment to photograph the Paris collections for Vogue. "I didn't know Balenciaga from a baseball player," Penn told Vogue in 2007. "But she was a real pro. And she was not offensive about teaching me."  Their marriage lasted 42 years, until she passed away at 80 in 1992.

>> The title of "first black supermodel" has been handed out to Beverly Johnson, the first African American woman to score the cover of Vogue, or Donyale Luna, who Vogue named model of the year in 1966, but Naomi Sims, who died of cancer Saturday, at 61, held her own right to the title. 

Halston referred to her as "the first [black supermodel]" in 1974: "She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers.”  When modeling agencies turned her down in the late '60s, she went straight to photographers, finally convincing Gosta Peterson to capture her for the cover of The New York Times Magazine's Fashions of the Times supplement in 1967; the image is now appearing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Model as Muse" exhibit.  Sims sent out the image to ad agencies, and within a year, she was earning $1,000 and had a national AT&T TV commercial campaign wearing Bill Blass.  

She paved the way for the likes of Pat Cleveland, Beverly Johnson, gave up modeling after five years in favor of pursuing what became a multimillion dollar beauty empire, and thought of her race as an advantage: "It’s ‘in’ to use me, and maybe some people do it when they don’t really like me. But even if they are prejudiced, they have to be tactful if they want a good picture.”

>> The print casualties aren't done: the Women's Summer issue of T magazine will appear as a 24-page "bonus section" of the New York Times Magazine this Sunday instead of its usual stand-alone issue, and now word comes that French style magazine Mixte announced it's folding — the forthcoming June 2009 issue will be its last. Vogue Paris fashion director Emmanuelle Alt is an alum of the cult magazine, and its vividly colored covers (a few of our recent favorites below) and innovative spreads will be sorely missed.
*image: source, source

>> Los Angeles-based, self-taught photographer Shawn Mortensen passed away last night, and there's been an outpouring from the industry — Paper's Kim Hastreiter was "shocked" and saddened, and Dazed & Confused was "devastated" to hear the news.  43-year-old Mortensen was originally discovered by i-D founder and editor-in-chief Terry Jones, who "recognized his ability to interpret the streets," and his portraits and editorial work have been scattered among i-D, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview, and British Vogue.  He's also covered the fashion stages of London, Paris, and New York. At the time of his death, he was working on a series of artwork to debut in June, as well as a collaborative photo-based T-shirt line.

Below, a gallery of his work.
*image: source, source, source

>> Under unknown circumstances, Ford model Randy Johnston passed away October 11.  The 20 year-old from Connecticut is currently being memorialized on Ford's web site, and his resume was highlighted by a turn as Dior Homme campaign model under Hedi Slimane for Fall 2007.  He also appears in the November 2008 issue of i-D with Lara Stone.  May he rest in peace.