Stunning Fashion Photography in the 1950s by Roger Prigent

A student of Richard Avedon, Roger Prigent first came to the United States from France shortly after the Second World War to visit his sister, who’d spent the war as a pharmaceutical researcher in Washington. On his return to France, he became a photo-reporter for newsmagazines like Paris Match and during his extended holiday in New York, he met Lilian Bassman, the former art director of Harper’s Bazaar who’d become a Bazaar photographer.

1950s fashion photography by Roger Prigent

Bassman needed an assistant, and so Prigent stayed put. At the time, her studio was filled with friends like Richard Avedon, whose simple photographic style appealed to him. “When I met him,” Prigent said of Avedon, “it was like meeting the Pope.” When he was asked to shoot the lines of a fledgling designer as a one-time side job, he emulated Avedon, and it caught the attention of Vogue.

Coupled with his French accent and charming demeanor, it gave him a ticket into the fashion jet set. Prigent was soon sent to Paris to shoot couture for French Vogue and ended up casting his photographs at the home of a famous decorator, Gérard Mille, who lived with his brother Hervé, a media heavyweight, in an apartment decorated with 1930s-style pieces. “It was a beautiful apartment. I didn’t even know that people could live that way,” Prigent remembered. “There was this woman in black who sat there with them while I took my pictures and kept on saying, ‘But these look like maid’s dresses! These are like maid’s dresses! Who’s this Dior?’” That evening, he learned it was Coco Chanel. The Mille apartment was like a send-off for Prigent, and as his career as a photographer took off.

These stunning fashion photos are part of his work that Roger Prigent took from the 1950s.

Model wearing a yellow lace creamy satin gown by Harvey Berin and Karen Stark, 1952

Shoes, 1952

Model is wearing a pale blue chiffon nightgown by Carter's, 1952

Barbara Mullen wearing an outfit by Claire McCardell, Vogue, September 1952

Maria Reachi wearing her hair swept back in a flowered-garlanded chignon. Her lipstick is 'Pink Geranium' by Charles of the Ritz, Vogue, June 1952

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35 Charming Photos of ’50s Ladies in Dresses

During the 1950s, women wore dresses like we wear t-shirts and jeans today. A 1950s dress was a closet staple and came in a wide variety of colors and two primary silhouettes. Shoulders were narrow and soft. The waist had to be tiny and pulled in — a “wasp” waist. A tight bodice came to the natural waist or slightly higher, where the skirt took over.

The skirt is where the two silhouettes of the 1950s emerged. The full swing skirt and the tight pencil skirt. They were complete opposites but both were worn equally by women in the 1950s.

1950s dress fabrics were endless and made a dress more casual or elegant depending on where it was worn. Cotton was used for leisure wear. Wool and linen were popular for day, as were the new synthetics rayon and polyester. Tweed, like wool and acetate blends, was in vogue for fall in the mid-1950s. Silk shantung could be used to make a dress a little bit more dressy for dinners out.

Colors went from light and girly to bold. Pastels were very popular in all clothing, and dresses were also done in jewel tones like royal purple, ruby red, navy, and emerald green.

These charming photos captured portraits of beautiful ladies wearing dresses in the 1950s.

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40 Fabulous Photos of Actress and Model Ingrid Boulting in the 1960s and ’70s

Born 1947 in Transvaal, South Africa, actress and model Ingrid Boulting moved to England, aged 9, and trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Ballet School in Richmond. At Ballet School, aged 15, she was photographed by Bob Willoughby and appeared on the cover of Queen magazine (October 1962) as a student ballerina.

Boulting embarked on an acting career at the Oxford Playhouse, had minor roles in British films, and later became a fashion model in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She also became a Biba shop poster subject in a memorable photograph by Sarah Moon.

In 1976, Boulting starred in The Last Tycoon, the last film directed by famed director Elia Kazan, written by Harold Pinter based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Hollywood novel The Last Tycoon, and produced by Sam Spiegel.

Take a look at these fabulous photos to see the beauty of young Ingrid Boulting in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Stunning Black and White Photography by Jeanloup Sieff

Born 1933 in Paris to parents of Polish origin. Jeanloup Sieff’s interest in photography was first piqued when he received a Photax plastic camera as a birthday gift for his fourteenth birthday. He recalled his holidays in Polish winter resort of Zakopane as a period when photographing newly met girls he got really hooked on photography.

Portraits of classic beauties taken by Jeanloup Sieff in the 1960s

In 1953, Sieff attended the Vaugirard School of Photography in Paris, later on moved to the Vevey School in Switzerland, and in 1954, he was already working as a freelance reporter, leaving aside his brief interest in cinema.

In 1956, Sieff began shooting fashion photography, and in 1958, he joined the Magnum Agency. His work for them made him travel to Italy, Greece, Poland and Turkey. He settled in New York for a number of years in the 1960s, where he worked for Esquire, Glamour, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, becoming extremely popular in America.

Jeanloup Sieff was a practitioner of the photographic art of high fashion, and avowed a fidelity to the frivolous and superficial. His legacy places him in the top rank of fashion, portrait, and art photographers. He won a number of prizes, including the Prix Niepce, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in Paris in 1981 and the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1992. He photographed many celebrities, among them Jane Birkin, Yves Montand, Alfred Hitchcock, Jacques-Henri Lartigue,Yves Saint-Laurent, and Rudolf Nureyev. Dancers and nudes were two recurring themes in his works.

Sieff died in Paris in 2000 at the age of 66. His daughter, Sonia Sieff, is a well known photographer also. These stunning black and white are part of his work that he took from the 1960s.

Ballet, Paris Opera, 1960

Claire Motte, Paris, 1960

Denise Serrault, 1960

Monique Dutto, 1960

Pierre Cardin and Ina Balke, 1960

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Beautiful Portrait Photos of an American Bride in the Mid-1970s

The 1970s were a unique and eclectic time to get all dressed up. On one hand, there was a clear continuation of popular ’60s trends. The 1970s wedding dress continued where the 1960s finished; with long, floaty gowns and wide romantic sleeves. Dresses were designed with layers of polyester chiffon, creating large capes and handkerchief edged details.

They were generally high necked with front bibs, covering the bride’s modesty to contrast with the sometimes sheer skirts and sleeves. Many chose to cover up completely choosing historical looks such as the Tudor maid.

These beautiful photos from buddymedbery captured portraits of a bride named Karen (Crown) Medbery from Columbia, South Carolina in 1975.

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Gorgeous Photos of Marilyn Monroe Wearing a Gold Lamé Dress, 1953

These gorgeous photos of Marilyn Monroe were taken by Gene Kornman. She wore a gold lamé dress designed by William Travilla for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

This dress, at the time, was deemed too risky and only appears in the film for a few seconds. Marilyn had just gone through a scandal due to posing nude in 1949, and the studio didn’t want any bad press or negative attention. She did, however, wear it to the Photoplay Awards the same year.

Travilla designed Marilyn’s costumes for 7 other films as well. He was reported saying several times that she was among one of his favorites to dress because of her perfect figure. With this dress, he particularly liked her breasts, saying she had: “the best breasts in Hollywood.”

Not because of the shape or size, but for the positioning. They were more wide-set than most women and it allowed him to explore a lower cut for the cleavage.

(Photos © Gene Kornman)

40 Beautiful Photos of ’50s Couples in Their Prom Outfits

As Americans gained more money and leisure time in the 1950s, proms became more extravagant and elaborate, bearing similarity to today’s proms. The high school gym may have been an acceptable setting for sophomore dances (soph hop), but junior prom and senior balls gradually moved to hotel ballrooms and country clubs.

Competition blossomed, as teens strove to have the best dress, the best mode of transportation, and the best looking date. Competition for the prom court also intensified, as the designation of “prom queen” became an important distinction of popularity.

In a way, prom became the pinnacle event of a high school student’s life, the ultimate dress rehearsal for a wedding. These beautiful photos captured portraits of ’50s couples in their prom outfits.

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Charming Vintage Photos of ’50s Shoe Styles

Fashion in the 1950s brought the world out of the conservative war years and into the dazzling ’50s. Dresses were bigger, accessories richer, hairstyles taller, and shoes.…well, plainer. With so much new emphasis on the rest of women’s fashion, 1950s shoe styles became understated accessories. Instead of bold patterns and piles of fancy adornments, shoes were basic classy single color pumps, flats, wedgies, and loafers.

1950s shoe styles

Black and brown were the main choices for day wear, while brighter colors were acceptable for summer sportswear or house slippers. Shoes also coordinated perfectly with an outfit’s accessories by matching purses, gloves, belts, and even jewelry perfectly.

The 1950s shoe styles were varied, but almost all came down to fitting into one of these popular silhouettes.

Model's legs are showing Paradise shoes, NoMend stockings, and a Juilliard tweed skirt, 1950

Pink velvet pump by Rayne, 1950

Shoes by Roger Vivier for Christian Dior, 1950

Vogue, May 1951

1952

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Group Portraits of Women’s Ice Hockey Teams From the Early 20th Century

Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere, primarily bandy, hurling, shinty and lacrosse. Arguably the games most influential to the early design of ice hockey were early forms of an organized sport today known as bandy, a sport distinctly separate from ice hockey. These games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules developed, such as shinny and ice polo, but would later be absorbed into a new organized game with codified rules which today is ice hockey.

Women’s hockey teams started forming early in the 20th century, though there wouldn’t be a professional league for a long time. Women still played casually hockey for fun, and so before long, they started getting organized.

The first formal women’s match happened in Ontario in 1891; however, women’s teams didn’t really get going until the 1910s and 1920s when college teams started to form in the US and especially in Canada. Below are some vintage photos of women’s ice hockey teams from between the 1900s and 1920s:

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