Happy Birthday, CARMEN DELL'OREFICE!

On June 3, 2010, internationally famous fashion model Carmen Dell'Orefice celebrates her 79th birthday!

You may have first spotted her on the cover of Vogue in the 1940’s...or as the Heaven Scent model for Elizabeth Arden. Perhaps you remember her as a Breck Girl in the 50’s... or as a beautiful face in the Revlon White Sable advertisement. You may even have seen her body in the Vanity Fair lingerie campaign. Or maybe, just maybe, you’ve only recently caught sight of the stunning phenomenon that is Carmen.

Carmen is a world-renowned model, who is a mother, actress, author and lecturer. She has been modeling for 64 years, prevailing beautifully within an industry where longevity is generally not part of the vocabulary.

Carmen was born in New York City in 1931 to Giuseppe Dell’Orefice, a symphony violinist and his wife Margaret, a Hungarian dancer. She proved to be a talented young ballerina and won a scholarship with the Ballet Russes. Unfortunately, her budding career was curtailed by a bout of rheumatic fever when she was 12 years old. She was bedridden for a year and never regained her rising ballet star status, although she came to excel in both painting and swimming. At age of 14, she was discovered by a woman on a bus - a chance meeting that led to a contract with Vogue. In her first month as a model, she was featured in seven photographs throughout the magazine. The following year, she was selected by Horst P. Horst as his ideal beauty. From 1945 to 1948, Carmen worked exclusively for Vogue and the legendary art director Alexander Lieberman was her mentor. Erwin Blumenfeld photographed her first Vogue cover in 1947 when she was the tender age of 16.

In a business where most careers are finished by 30, Carmen has achieved a great distinction becoming a symbol of maturity, beauty and style for American and European women. She is a fine example of professional longevity, grace, courage, heart, balance and joie de vivre. Her appeal to women who are aging is enormous. Carmen has appeared on the covers of more magazines than any other supermodel.

Aside from her genetic gift of beauty, she has managed to slow down the aging process with attitude, discipline and knowledge. She flaunts what she believes are her prime time years. She acted in Woody Allen’s 2001 film The Curse of The Jade Scorpion and also received Best Supporting Actress at the New York International Video & Film Festival playing opposite Abe Vigoda in Tea Cakes or Cannoli and appeared in 2002’s The Guru.

Carmen is also a philanthropist. She has participated in innumerable AIDS research projects, in addition to activities to benefit breast cancer research. She has volunteered her time at the Strang Clinic for more than two decades and has posed for posters for the American Cancer Society. She has also worked with Evelyn Lauder’s Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Nina Hyde Breast Center and for an event to benefit Gilda’s Club, a breast cancer support group formed in memory of Gilda Radner.

She was also the recipient of the 1996 AIDS Humanitarian Award given by the United Foundation for AIDS. Carmen is a national spokesperson for the Osteoporosis Foundation.

Carmen is the mother of a daughter, and she spends her free time painting and cooking, and maintains a health regimen of yoga, vitamins and anything she wants to eat or drink, in moderation. Whatever she does, her first priority is education and knowledge, practice, discipline and humor. She is articulate, passionate and responsive, with the ability to inspire and engage women of all ages.

(Contributed by Ford Models)

In honor of this special occasion, a Portfolio Album of over 125 photos has been created to showcase Carmen's modeling career from the 1940s through the 1960s. Here are a just a few of her exquisite photos:
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=90426

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October 15, 1947 Vogue Magazine - Photographer: Erwin Blumenfeld
Carmen commented*, My first Vogue cover. How I hated the way I looked!

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November 1, 1948 Vogue Magazine - Photographer: John Rawlings
Carmen commented, My second Vogue cover. I loved it. I was 17 and looked 35.

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October 1957 Bazaar Magazine - Photographer: Richard Avedon

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May 1958 Bazaar Magazine - Photographer: Gleb Derujinsky

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July 1959 British Vogue Magazine - Photographer: Norman Parkinson

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1959 Bazaar Magazine - Photographer: Gleb Derujinsky

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September 15, 1946 Vogue Magazine - Photographer: Erwin Blumenfeld
Carmen commented, My favorite Blumenfeld photograph. He inscribed it, "For Carmen, great actress."

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December 15, 1946 Vogue Magazine - Photographer: Irving Penn
Carmen commented, Little Red Riding Hood from the Penn fairy-tale series, with Jose Ferrer as the Wolf.

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1940's Hats by Mr. John

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July 1952 Vogue Magazine - Photographer: Arik Nepo

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September 1957 Bazaar Magazine - Photographer: Richard Avedon
Carmen commented, The picture...adorned the wall of the Metropolitan Museum during the Avedon retrospective in 1982.

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May 1961 Bazaar Magazine - Photographer: Lillian Bassman

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1954 Revlon Queen of Diamonds Ad - Photographer: Richard Avedon
Carmen commented, One of the most widely distributed Revlon ads spread over two pages in full color.

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1961 Vanity Fair Ad - Photographer: Richard Avedon
Carmen commented, Through the years with Vanity Fair. Ten lovely years at $300 an hour in a campaign that was supposed to end my career.

On the contrary, her illustrious career continues to this day to the delight of her fans all over the world. Happy Birthday, Carmen!

*All of Carmen's comments are from the book Staying Beautiful by Carmen and Alfred Allan Lewis (Harper & Row, 1985).

Susan Camp
Senior Editor & Archivist

A most wonderful day.....la, la, la......
Charles Marinaro

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Carmen, Many, Many Happy Returns of the Day!!

Julie in WA

Happy Birthday, Carmen! Best wishes!

Happy Birthday, Carmen! Thank you for being so beautiful for us! Cordially, Colleen412