"Definately not the girl next door..."
In an era which witnessed the rise of consumerism, and a huge shift in the socio-ecoomics of the Western World, the rise of the supermodel truly became ensconced within popular culture. The likes of mass media, television, films and even rock n' roll stars who dated them, the model became 'The Face' of a new certain type of woman. If you anaylsed the way in which this effected the endless levels of the public consciouss, we could be here forever. However, there were a dozen supermodels of the 1950's, epseically in America, which rose to such heights of popularity that they have become synonymous with the era's style and "look".
One of these supermodels was Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba, who composed the first two letters of her three given names to reinvent herself as 'DOVIMA'. All she needed was just one name to signify her status and importance in the world of fashion and advertising. Her story is like many of the supermodels of their day, but one that ended in tragedy.
Images by Tony Vaccaro 1957.
Born in the Jackson Heights neighbourhood of Queens, New York in 1927 to a mixed background, Dovima came to the world amidst the Great Depression and the world of the flappers. Her father was a Polish-American policeman and her mother was Irish, thus giving her a somewhat European grace to her image and discipline. However, in her childhood she suffered rheumatic fever and after being bedrideen, it was widely rumoured she crated this persona of 'Dovima' as an imaginary friend. Regardless, she was known for being seen dressing and strutting around in her mothers clothes - hinting at a future career of bringing this model like persona to the forefront.
Selection of Vogue & Harpers Bazaar covers featuring Dovima.
Dovima never thought of herself as photographic, and she was quaoted as saying 'I never thought myself of as a beautiful woman. As a child, I was a gangly, skinny thing and I had this ugly front tooth.' However, many of the photographers who she worked with later in her career would dismiss this self-deprecation, with her most favoured, the legendary Richard Avedon saying: 'she the most unconventional and remarkable beauty of her time'. And he was right. Dovima was of her time. This sort of regal heir graced around her, wrapping itself like a cashmere scarf, giving her this allurement which photographers like Avedon, Irving Penn and Horst P. Horst admired.
All photos by Horst P. Horst, from 1947 - 1954 for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar ©.
Dovima's discovery is one much like many of the original supermodels. Married to her first husband of Irish descent, Jack Golden, whom she met whilst he was a border at her parents house, they were at the Automat when they walked out onto the sidewalk in Manhatten and a woman approached them. She worked for Vogue and asked Dovima if she woukd like to model some photos. A little unsure but due to the potential money she could earn, Dovima accepted. The next day she met the iconic master Irving Penn and began doing some test shots. At Vogue they called her the Mona Lisa Model, as she had this mysterious allure about her and kept her mouth closed due to her insecurity about her front tooth. When she signed up with Ford models, Jerry Ford said 'She was the super-sophisticated model in a sophisitcated time. Definitely not the girl next door'. Just one of the many quotes that was publicized about Dovima, giving her this star quality and attraction that made headlines in all the fashion magazines of the day. As soon as Vogue published her photos, her fame and attention swept acros the country and soon the couturiers of Europe beckoned.
Dovima With The Elephants, by Richard Avedon at the Cirque D'Hiver in Paris, 1955. Photographed for Harpers'z Bazaar in the first commercial dress designed by Yves Saint Laurent for Dior. One of, if not THE most iconic fashion photograph's of all time.
As I declared in the first post on supermodels, on Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, it usually takes one photo that cements a supermodels legacy and power. A particular image that holds true to not only fashion, and photography itself, but the woman in front of the camera - and gives significance to a generation. You could say that Dovima's most iconic photo is one of the most expensive photos, famous, and iconic that has ever been taken.
Harper's Bazaar was doing a story on Parisian couture in 1955, and focusing on the new man behind Dior, at the time - Yves Saint Laurent. He had this new idea for fashion, he was fresh. young and different, and Harper's Bazaar wanted to not only juxtapose this new talent with a sophisticated model, but also in a somewhat unique setting against a backdrop of fun and animals. So they hired Richard Avedon to take her to the Crique D'Hiver in Paris and photographed her with the mighty strength of the Elephants. This image truly put Dovima in the spotlight and Avedon too, and they both became synomous with each other. The power this image held came to fruition, when it was sold at auction in 2010, more than 50 years later - for a whopping $1,151,000: proving that true style lasts forever.
All photos by Richard Avedon, Dovima's favourite photographer and one who she worked with for over a decade. ©
In the 1950s Dovima soon became The Face of what women wanted out of fashion, and could appeal to the masses. She didn't need to do nude photgoraphy, or have any controversial moments to cement her legacy - she had an ability to show graceful ease and poise with just a single photo, and bridge the gap between the normal working class of Brooklyn with the hierarchy of haute couture. However, she didn't take life too serious, nor her career, and in 1957 she was approached by Director Stanley Donen to appear in the latest Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire musical - Funny Face.
In this film she plays a ditzy and hilarious model called Marion, who is the covergirl favourite of the Kay Thompson's fashion magazine 'Quality'. The whole film is a somewhat comedy about the fashion world, but also a tribute to it. Avedon even did the photography and cinematic titles for the film, giving it that true sophistication it needed to stop it being silly. The film's story itself mirrors Dovima rise to stardom, when Audrey's character is found in a Manhatten shop and photographed by Fred Astaire - his role loosely based on that of Avedon. She then goes onto become the toast of society, Paris and New York, and becomes a celebrity. Dovima, on the other hand, has a somewhat minor role in the film - however, the comedy comes from her voice more than anything . With a strong Jackson Heights twang, tt was over the top but still really funny and enjoyable to watch even now.
On the set of Funny Face, photographed by Richard Avedon with Audrey Hepburn.
In terms of her importance within the world of modelling itself, Dovima went onto become one of the highest paid models of her day. Known for being "Dollar a minute girl" she was making $60 an hour for Ford Models, but due to stiff competition with other famous models of the time, like Barbara Mullen, Suzy Parker, and Anne St. Marie, in the late 1950's her popularity seemed to wain. When she married her second husband, Allan Murray, she had a daughter called Alison in 1958, begining a new family away from the camera. Unfortauntetly, her marriage did not last and sadly in 1963 they divorced and she became penniless. He took all her money and squandered it, leaving her with nothing.
"The idea of beauty stood for the extension of the aristocratic view of women as ideals. They could be dreams, something of a surreal object to look up to. Dovima fits those proportions well." Richard Avedon said about working with Dovima. These two images fit that description perfectly.
As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and with no money Dovima had to try and find work in television. She appeared in famous shows such as 'My Favourite Martian' and 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E' but that career was swiftly over as it began. She even thought about becoming an agent for models, which she did try, but that too was unsucessful. In the 1970s with no other option she had to move from New York and live with her retired parents in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She then took up a job at the most unlikely of place's - a Pizza Parlour. It is sad to think the woman who dominated couture and magazines for over a decade, the model with the Elephants that epitomized fashion for a whole era, had her career end so tragically and became that of a mere waitress. Though she got married again in the 1980s, she was widowed by her husband and she herself began to get ill.
In May, 1990, Dovima died of liver cancer. Her death shocked the fashion world, but moreso due to how she had left the spotlight, and seem to have faded into obscutity. When details emerged of how her husbands had left with her with no money, and the sensibilities of saving a new career and Plan B away from the world of modelling did not happen, it proved that in the fashion world you could be used up and spat out like it was nothing.
Dovima in colour, by various photographers in the 1950s.
Though finances played a part in her retirement, and having a family, she was also quoted on saying why she retired as saying: 'I didn't want to wait untill the camera turned cruel'. Referencing how many supermodels came and went, and many whom lasted only a few years untill the fashion world got bored with them. Something that has occured for almost 90 years. Unfortunately that is how the word of fast fashion accepts these muses and it is only in lucky situations where a model can retain her status and popularity into their later life - for example the likes of Twiggy and even Kate Moss (who through controversy has still remained famous and adored).
Dovima was one of The Faces of her generation - like Avedon said, an idea - a surreal object whom became untouchable yet attractive to millions of women. She was an idea of the sophisticated woman who could travel the world and look chic anywhere, anytime and unafraid of how . When I personally look back at her legacy and iconic images, I see the epitome of 1950s elegance, I see that idea of a new woman for her generation. That lost era and time where style, fashion, popular culture and true sophsitication all merged and became one. That is not the case now, as we are in this new age of non-binary, political correctness, avant garde craziness. However, Dovima still shows that her popularity and status is still remembered now, and looked up to. Her face appears regularly in coffee table books on designers such as Balencaiaga, Dior and others whom she worked with. She also appears in photography exhibitions, and as stated before, her image has been sold for millions.
But it will be her standing in a beautifully simple Yves Saint Laurent dress, with a silk ribbon wrapped around her waist, at the circus, with a herd of Parisian elephants, photographed by Richard Avedon that will remain her most enduring and remembered image.
Dovima
1927 - 1990.
"She was the last of the great elegant, aristocratic beauties..."