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Dorian Leigh (April 23, 1917 – July 7, 2008), born Dorian Elizabeth Leigh Parker, was an American model and one of the earliest modelling icons of the fashion industry.〔Gross, Michael. ''Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women'', 2003, Harper Paperbacks, ISBN 0-06-054163-6〕 She is considered one of the first supermodels, and was well known in the United States and Europe. ==Biography== Dorian Leigh Parker was born in San Antonio, Texas, to George and Elizabeth Parker. Her parents married when they were around 17 or 18 years old and Elizabeth promptly gave birth to three daughters in quick succession: Dorian (1917–2008), Florian (Cissie) (1918–2010), and Georgiabell (1919–1988).〔(www.parkerheritage.com ) (02 September 2015 ).〕 Thirteen years after the birth of her last daughter, Elizabeth thought she was going through menopause and was shocked to discover that she was pregnant. She gave birth to her fourth daughter, Cecilia (1932–2003), who became known as model and actress Suzy Parker).〔 (New York Times obituary )〕 The family moved to Jackson Heights, Queens soon after Dorian's birth and later to Metuchen, NJ. There, George Parker invented a new form of etching acid, production of which gave him enough income to retire.〔http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2276722/Dorian-Leigh.html〕 Dorian graduated from Newton High School in Queens, NY, in 1935 and enrolled at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. In her autobiography, Dorian claimed that she was born in 1920, and graduated from high school early, at the age of 15 in 1935, because she loved learning, and she took many classes at once since the school was supposedly overcrowded. This was not true. She also wrote that she was a 17-year-old college sophomore when she first married, when in fact, she was 20. At college, she met her first husband, Marshall Powell Hawkins, whom she married on a whim in North Carolina in 1937. They had two children: Thomas Lofton ("TL") Hawkins (1939) and Marsha Hawkins (1940).〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," Dorian Leigh, 1980, pp. 30, 31, 37.〕 The couple separated in the 1940s. Dorian then worked as a file clerk at a department store in Manhattan and as a tabulator keeping track of radio program ratings. Dorian found that she had an aptitude for math, mechanical engineering, and drawing. She began to go to night school at Rutgers and said she learned about mechanical engineering at New York University. According to her autobiography, she enrolled in the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ and received a B.S. in mechanical engineering. This was after an aptitude-testing laboratory (the Johnson O'Connor Foundation) informed her that she had a talent for engineering.〔Dorian Leigh Parker, ''The Girl Who Had Everything: The Story of the Fire and Ice Girl''. 1980.〕 Dorian worked at Bell Laboratories and then, during World War II, she was a tool designer at Eastern Air Lines (with their Eastern Aircraft division). Dorian assisted in the design of airplane wings, beginning at 65 cents an hour and ending up with an hourly wage of $1.00. After failing to be promoted because she was a woman and because of a wartime freeze on positions, Dorian quit and took a job with Republic Pictures as an apprentice copywriter. While writing ad copy for the B movies Republic rented and distributed to movie houses, she was encouraged by a Mrs. Wayburn to try modeling.〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh with Laura Hobe, 1980, page 49.〕 Taking Mrs. Wayburn's advice, in 1944 Dorian went to the Harry Conover modeling agency.〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh, 1980, page 51.〕 At 27, Dorian was not only old by modeling standards, but at barely 5'5", she was shorter than other models at the agency. Conover immediately sent her to see Diana Vreeland, the editor of ''Harper's Bazaar''. Dorian met with Vreeland and fashion photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe, who were intrigued by her zig-zagged eyebrows. Vreeland warned her, "Do not -- do not do anything to those eyebrows!"〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh, 1980, page 52.〕 Vreeland asked Dorian to return the next day, to be photographed for the cover of the June 1944 issue of ''Harper's Bazaar'', her very first modeling assignment. Conover told her to tell them she was 19 years old. Later they were shocked to discover her real age (27), and that she already had two children. Dorian's parents thought modeling was not respectable, so Dorian used only her first and middle name during her career. When Dorian became an enormous success though, they thought it was acceptable that their youngest daughter, Suzy, use the Parker last name when she also became a famous model. Their other daughter, Florian, also had modeling photos in ''Vogue'' and ''Harper's Bazaar'', but quit when she married a man in the military, and was living in Oahu when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. Florian was considered the ultimate beauty among the Parker girls. Dorian instantly became busy with modeling assignments, landing on the covers of major magazines such as ''Vogue,'' ''Harper's Bazaar,'' ''Paris Match'', ''LIFE'', and ''Elle.'' Because of her schedule, Dorian's two children were sent to live with her parents in Florida, while she was based in New York City and traveling to Europe. In 1946, Dorian appeared on the cover of six American ''Vogue'' magazines. She worked with famous fashion photographers Irving Penn, John Rawlings, Cecil Beaton, and Paul Radkai. On one assignment, she argued with Paul's wife Karen Radkai, who wanted to take many extra, and free photos of Dorian for her portfolio. (Karen wanted to be a ''Vogue'' fashion photographer like her husband.) When Dorian balked at having to pose for Karen without being paid, Karen warned Dorian she would "ruin her". Indeed, ''Vogue'' never used Dorian again, and Karen became a ''Vogue'' photographer for many years.〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh, 1980, page 62.〕 Dorian easily transitioned to working with ''Harper's Bazaar's'' new, young photographer, Richard Avedon. Avedon would become one of the most famous photographers in history. While living in her apartment in New York, a young author, Truman Capote visited a friend in an apartment next to hers. Capote was fascinated by Dorian's lifestyle of non-stop men, coming-and-goings, and having a store across the street handle her phone calls (since there were no answering machines back in the early 1950s). He struck up a friendship with Dorian, and called her "Happy-go-lucky." Capote's character Holly Golightly in his famous 1958 novel Breakfast at Tiffany's is said to be largely based on Dorian's life, as well as socialite Gloria Vanderbilt's. Dorian also became well known for her advertising work for Revlon. Revlon began full-page,national, color advertisements around 1944. Dorian's first ad was for "Fatal Apple". This was followed by "Sheer Dynamite", "Ultraviolet", "Fashion Plate", and "Cherries in the Snow". In 1952, when she was 35 years old, Richard Avedon photographed her for Revlon's most famous advertising campaign, ''Fire and Ice.'' In this two-page advertisement, Dorian is wearing a very tight, silver sequined gown wrapped in a huge red wrap that was copied from a Balenciaga original. The dress had hand-sewn silver sequins on it, and it took so long to create that only the front of the dress was finished in time to be photographed for the ad. The back was non-existent and held in place with safety pins. Dorian also had a silver streak put in her black hair. The original ad had Dorian holding her hand in front of her breast. The agency considered the photo too risqué, and the ad was re-shot.〔"Fire and Ice: The Story of Charles Revson- the Man Who Built the Revlon Empire," by Andrew Tobias, 1976, page 124.〕 This ad was accompanied by a provocative quiz written by Kay Daly. The ad became an enormous success, winning ''Advertising Ages "Magazine Advertisement of the Year" award.〔"Fire and Ice," by Andrew Tobias, 1976, page 122.〕 Around 1947, Dorian's sister Cissy introduced her to Roger Mehle. He was divorced from Aileen Mehle, who later became the famous gossip columnist known as "Suzy". Cissy was married to an army officer and Mehle was the youngest Navy commander and fighter Ace during WWII. In August 1948, Dorian was two months pregnant when she married Mehle. Dorian's bridemaids were her teen sister "Suzy" Parker and Suzy's teen model friend Carmen Dell'Orefice.〔"Model," by Michael Gross, 1995, page 86.〕 Dorian's two older children, who were being raised by her parents in Florida, came to live with the couple in Pennsylvania. During her marriage to Roger Mehle, Dorian became fed up with Harry Conover's agency. Conover's phones were often busy and it took a very long time for the clients to pay the models for their work.〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh, 1980, page 65.〕 Dorian then decided to start her own modeling agency called the "Fashion Bureau". She came up with the idea of the "voucher system." With this innovative system, the modeling agency would pay the models weekly, instead of the models' having to wait to be paid directly by the clients. Often it took companies weeks, months, or even years to pay models for their work. One day at a photographer's studio, Dorian met a young fashion stylist named Eileen Ford. Ford asked how Dorian's modeling agency worked, and then decided to start an agency of her own. Eileen, along with her husband Gerard W. Ford, started what would become one of the most prestigious modeling agencies in the world, Ford Models. Eileen Ford died in July 2014. Dorian closed her agency when she married. She then telephoned Eileen Ford and told her that she would join the Ford Agency if they also signed her 15-year-old her sister, Suzy Parker, sight-unseen. Suzy Parker, 15 years younger than Dorian, had already been working for the Huntington Hartford agency making $25 per hour. Dorian told Ford she believed Suzy should be making $40 per hour. The Ford's agency was only two years old so they were anxious to represent a famous model like Dorian. They agreed to meet Dorian and Suzy for lunch. Dorian was thin, had an extremely small waist, and had black hair and bright blue eyes. The Fords were shocked during their initial meeting to see that Suzy was almost six inches taller than Dorian, had a very large frame, and had bright red hair, freckles, and green eyes. In the 1950s, Suzy would become even more famous than Dorian, and would go on to be a movie and television actress. Dorian gave birth to her daughter, Young Eve Mehle, on March 27, 1949.〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh, 1980, page 69.〕 The couple had a house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania but rarely saw each other. Roger Mehle's naval career stationed him in Atlantic City, and Dorian commuted to New York City and Paris for modeling work. Dorian also began to work more often in Europe with Richard Avedon. In 1952, Dorian also played the part of a model in the play ''The Fifth Season.'' Her job as model, mother, and actress was featured in ''Look'' magazine's June 2, 1953, cover story. By then, Dorian had appeared on the covers of more than 50 magazines. On the ''Look'' cover, Dorian is quoted as saying, "I would rather have a baby than a mink coat." The previous summer in Paris, she had met the Spanish athlete Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca, Marquis of Portago (Alfonso de Portago). Dorian's children again were sent to live with her parents in Florida. Alfonso ("Fon"), was 11 years younger than Dorian. She was still married to Roger Mehle. Portago was also married, to an older, American showgirl named Carroll McDaniel (who later married Milton Petrie) and became philanthropist Carroll Petrie, who died at age 90 on January 15, 2015. Portago also had a three-year-old daughter with Carroll (Andrea de Portago), who would grow up to be a photographer and model. Fon told Dorian that years before, he had seen her "Ultraviolet" Revlon ad in a drugstore in Spain and was captivated. Dorian and Fon were both reluctant to divorce their spouses, but carried on an affair all summer in Paris and Biarritz. Dorian became pregnant by him, but chose to have an abortion because she feared Roger Mehle would divorce her and take full-custody of their daughter Young Eve. Only weeks later, at the end of the summer, Fon told Dorian that Carroll was pregnant with her second child. Dorian returned to the United States and divorced Roger Mehle on November 24, 1954 in Mexico. Fon then "married" Dorian in Mexico right away, but since de Portago was not divorced, the marriage was not legal.〔"The Girl Who Had Everything," by Dorian Leigh, 1980, page 99, 113, 115.〕 Dorian continued her affair with Fon even though his wife Carroll gave birth to their son Anthony de Portago around 1954. Coco Chanel, Suzy's great friend, told Dorian that she was "throwing her life away on an idiot."〔"Model," by Michael Gross, 1995, page 111.〕 Despite Chanel's warning, Dorian got pregnant by de Portago again, even though he was still married to Carroll. To avoid a scandalous, illegitimate pregnancy and gossip columnists in the United States, Dorian left her three other children with her parents in Florida, and fled to Paris and Switzerland. In Switzerland, Dorian spent time with Charlie Chaplin's large family before giving birth to her son Kim Blas Parker on September 27, 1955. Dorian did not tell her parents about this child, and instead lied and told her family that she was in a tuberculosis clinic. Dorian and de Portago continued an on-and-off relationship in 1956 and 1957. Suzy in the meantime, was furious that Dorian had lied to her parents and was not taking care of her three other children. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dorian Leigh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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