Irving Penn, One of Fashion's Most Influential Photographers, Dead at 92

fashionologie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:47:18 -0700

>> 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 Picture of Dorian Leigh

fashionologie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:51:15 -0700

>> If a five foot, five inch woman tried to be a model these days, she'd hardly be taken seriously. Sixty-odd years ago, it was a different story . . . at least for Dorian Leigh, it was.

Ms. Leigh, who passed away earlier this week at 91 after battling Alzheimer's, was widely considered one of the world's first supermodels. In fact, her life was full of firsts: she was one of the first models to be known by name, and after her own modeling career, she opened what is called the first modeling agency in Paris.

Though Dorian started her career late — when she was 27 in 1944, she met with Diana Vreeland, told her she was 19, and landed a Harper's Bazaar cover right then and there — she appeared on seven Vogue covers in the 1940s, and claimed to be earning a whopping $300,000 a year.

She played muse to numerous bold name photographers: Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Irving Penn — the last of whom she had an affair with, and may have been the inspiration for Holly Golightly in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. But she didn't take her job too seriously, declaring in 1953: "I'd rather have a baby than a mink coat."
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