William (Bill) Helburn (b. 1924) is an American fashion photographer, and contemporary of Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Francesco Scavullo, and Lillian Bassman. He was at the top of his profession from the early 1950s through the 1960s, with bylined covers and editorial images in the pages of Harper's Bazaar, LIFE, McCall's, and many other magazines.
Classic beauties taken by William Helburn in the 1950s and 1960s
Helburn also worked extensively in advertising, contributing memorable pictures to campaigns designed by such legendary art directors as Gene Federico, Robert Gage, Helmut Krone, and George Lois.
Throughout his career Helburn strove to grab the viewer's attention, contextualizing his models in images that jumped off the page. Helburn's first work in photography came at the close of World War II, when he was part of the team that processed the first pictures of the atom bomb exploding over Hiroshima.
Inspired soon after by then-partner Ted Croner's encounter with model Lisa Fonssagrives posing naked on skis, Helburn entered the fashion world in 1947, shooting neophyte models like Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren, while studying graphic design with legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch.
Helburn became a successful director of TV Commercials in the early 1980s. He left the industry a decade later to raise his children, and currently resides in New England.
These stunning photos are part of his work that Helburn shot famous beauties in the 1950s and 1960s.
Joanna McCormick, photo by William Helburn, 1951
Dorian Leigh, photo by William Helburn, 1955
Suzy Parker poses lying in a bed with white linens, cosmetic advertisement for Revlon, New York, circa 1955
'Dovima Under the El' ('Dior Creates Cosmopolitan Drama'), photo by William Helburn, 1956
Norman Norell and Dovima wearing his Roman-striped version of his famous sequin evening gown, photo by William Helburn, LIFE, October 8, 1956
The 1930s evening dresses, cocktail dresses, and party dresses were long, sleek and sexy. The design hugged every curve of the body creating the ultimate feminine silhouette. Many dresses were decorated with small groups of beaded flowers or rhinestones around the neckline. Slip dresses had light flowing fabric, gathered with a decorative rhinestone brooch at the shoulder.
Many 1930s Art Deco evening gowns were inspired by Grecian and Egyptian goddesses with extensive draping on a column silhouette. Sleeveless and often backless the gowns exposed as much skin as possible without looking too risque. Modesty was still important in this Golden Age of Old Hollywood cocktail parties.
These gorgeous photos that captured classic beauties wearing evening gowns in the 1930s.
The 1950s bridged the gap between the reserved and conservative styles of the late 1940s and the fun and quirky looks that would define 1960s fashion. Hemlines grew shorter, waistlines wandered up and down, before disappearing completely, and the West seemed obsessed with making up for wartime limitations with excessive glamour and consumerism.
Though not as diverse as many of the decades that would follow it, the 1950s saw a great deal of change in style from beginning to end. With WWII – and the rationing and sensible styles it brought – having coming to an end, the fashion world struggled to find a new look for the world in which it found itself.
Fashion, then, went in two distinct directions. On the one hand, the fashion houses promoted more conformity in how people should dress and look, with elegant but simple styles. On the other hand, teens were responsible for the creation of rebellious subcultures that created unique styles of their own, like Teddy Boys, Greasers, Hepcats, and even Beatniks.
Elena Statheros is an actress, known for Married with Children (1986), Switch (1991), and Melrose Place (1992). These fabulous photos of her taken by Southern California-born photographer Peter Duke that defined fashion styles of the 1980s.
“Photographs are tools of persuasion, and I specialize in making the champions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness look good. Elena was ready to shoot anyway... She is one of the best models ever...”
History of swimwear traces the changes in the styles of swimwears over time and between cultures, and touches on the social, religious and legal attitudes to swimming and swimwear.
The '50s was truly the decade of swimwear glamour! Most women however stuck with the one piece swimwear. Except celebrities and pin-up girls, women in this period rarely wore a daring two piece bikini.
Anyway, swimwear is really the best costume to show the beauty of a woman. Here below are 15 classic beauties who knew to rock a swimsuit in the 1950s.
Doris Day, the Academy Award-winning singer of “Que Será, Será” and a Golden Age of Hollywood movie icon, died on Monday (May 13, 2019), at 97 from complications of pneumonia, according to her foundation. Day had an enormously popular entertainment career, and is one of the top ranked female box-office stars of all time. She was one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Day was born Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff, on April 3, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Day’s life's work – music, films, and animal advocacy – comprise an enduring legacy. She began her professional singing career at age 15, and she had her first hit, “Sentimental Journey,” with Les Brown’s band. That tune, and her signature “Que Sera Sera,” were her biggest hits.
During her three decades of work in film, Day starred in nearly every genre, not just as a singer/dancer but as an actress with superb comic timing, a natural talent for interpreting a role and a gift for evoking emotion. Her 39 films – many still incredibly popular and shown frequently today – stand as a testament to her talent.
While Day was honored with many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 2008, she never won an Oscar, and many film critics and fans have decried the Academy’s overlooking Day’s talents.
“My public image is unshakably that of America’s wholesome virgin, the girl next door, carefree and brimming with happiness. An image, I can assure you, more make-believe than any film part I ever played,” Day told A.E. Hotchner in her memoir, Doris Day: Her Own Story.
Day’s music continues to attract new fans worldwide. The 2011 release of “My Heart,” a compilation of songs never before released, went to No. 1 in the United Kingdom.
By the mid-1970s, she withdrew from the limelight to focus on animal rights and set up the Doris Day Animal League and Doris Day Animal Foundation. In a 2012 interview with “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross, Day admitted that she had about 30 dogs at one point.
“All my life, I have never felt lonely with a dog I loved at my side, no matter how many times I’ve been alone,” she said in her memoir.
As a staunch advocate for animals, she briefly came out of retirement to host a cable TV pet show called “Doris Day’s Best Friends,” which included an emotional reunion with three-time co-star Rock Hudson shortly before his death in 1985.
During her career and retirement, Day always seemed to adhere to the philosophy of her biggest hit, “Que Será, Será,” which she initially opposed as a “kiddie song” but which became her signature tune.
“Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be; The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera, What will be, will be.”
A poodle skirt is a wide swing felt skirt of a solid color displaying a design appliquéd or transferred to the fabric. The design was often a coiffed poodle. Later substitutes for the poodle patch included flamingoes, flowers, and hot rod cars. Hemlines were to the knee or just below it. It quickly became very popular with teenage girls, who wore them at school dances, and as everyday wear.
The skirt originated in 1947 in the United States, and has been popular since the '50s. They were a brief trend that has made an iconic '50s costume ever since.
Girls and teens started the trend by wearing felt circle skirts with an applique of a pink poodle on a silver leash. Other poodle skirt themes included cute animals, funny sayings, cars, cartoon characters, and martini glasses. Poodle skirts were paired with blouses or knit tops, cardigan sweaters, bobby socks and saddle shoes.
Here below is a cool photo collection that show young women in poodle skirt since the 1950s.
“The sassy woman in the saddle shoes is my grandma Lois.” Lisa Warninger, who submitted the photo to The Sartorialist, said. “This photograph was probably taken in the 1940s in Yakima, Washington. Lois always spoke her mind and was sharp as a whip.”
A fantastic photo! The pose, the crooked smile, the two-tone shoes, the haltered crop top. She does indeed look like a sharp woman who speaks her mind. The ice cream sign behind them is great too! (The Giant Killer was a sundae with multiple scoops of ice cream, from between 8 and 16. It was covered with bananas, hot fudge, caramel, pineapple, nuts marshmallow topping, cherries, and whipped cream.)
Brigitte Bardot is a French dancer, model and actress who became an international icon in the 1950s and ’60s with films like And God Created Woman and Contempt.
Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 to wealthy bourgeois parents, and at the age of 15 she posed for the cover of Elle (May 8, 1950).
Roger Vadim, an aspiring director, was impressed and shrewdly fashioned her public and screen image as an erotic child of nature—blond, sensuous, and amoral. In two motion pictures directed by Vadim—Et Dieu créa la femme (1956; And God Created Woman) and Les Bijoutiers du claire de lune (1958; “The Jewelers of Moonlight”; Eng. title The Night Heaven Fell)—Bardot broke contemporary film taboos against nudity and set box office records in Europe and the United States.
Below is a collection of 30 stunning color photographs of a very young Brigitte Bardot in the 1950s:
