Beauty in 80 years

This woman was born in New York in 1931. June 3, 2011 First it was exactly 80.

She grew up in poverty - the mother raised her alone, and during the war and immediately after it, even in prosperous by our standards the US was not sweet. Sometimes the mother even had to take my daughter to a boarding school for a few weeks, or even months: money for something to feed the child, critically lacking. A shy girl dreamed of becoming a ballerina, but transferred rheumatism crossed this opportunity.



Model Carmen began quite by accident: One day, when 14-year-old girl was riding in a bus with lessons to her young woman sat down and offered to try yourself as a model. The husband of a stranger, who shot for Harper's Bazaar, did test shots, and soon received a letter from his mother Carmen with photos, stating that her daughter - a very nice polite girl, but unfortunately, it is not photogenic.

dnako godfather Dell'Orefays had another opinion about the photo. He showed them to his friend Carol Phillips, beauty-editor of Vogue, which, in turn, gave the chief editor of pictures - Diana Vreeland. Less than a week later, Erwin Blumenfeld already filmed Carmen in her first photo shoot, published in Vogue 17 pages.



Dell'Orefays signed a contract with the magazine, according to which she earned 7, $ 50 per hour, and began working with the most outstanding photographers of the period: Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, Horst P. Horst. A year later, in 1946, she graced the cover of Vogue, and soon appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar. Her fees rose to 60 dollars per week (equivalent to a thousand dollars today).

So 15-year-old Carmen contain start their own family. Ahead were three unsuccessful marriage, birth of a daughter, a successful career and its inevitable decline, when the "age approached».



After her divorce from her third husband and more than ten-year hiatus in the work of Carmen was at a crossroads. She was 47 years old - the age, which (as it was thought) no longer allows you to work in the fashion industry. She did not try, but the success came to her roundabout routes. At a party Carmen met her friend, photographer Norman Parkinson, who suddenly asked her to try to do a photo shoot. You know, - he said - you damn attractive old bag. Carmen while just beginning to turn gray, and decided instead to dye your hair, lighten them, highlighting the gray hair.

So in the fashion world, the image of a completely different Dell'Orefays: mature, independent, sexy and ... gray!

In 1993 Dell'Orefays debuted in film, playing a small role in "The Age of Innocence" by Martin Scorsese. This was followed by the appearance in a number of films and TV series.

In 2000, Carmen defile on the show John Galliano for Christian Dior. After that, she went out in the Guinness Book of Records as the "podium model with the longest career." Then there were the appearance on the show Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermes, Donna Karan and Moschino.

And now Carmen successfully continues to work as a perfect example of that old age and beauty - the concept is quite compatible.