When Max Factor first launched his makeup line in the 1920s, only those onstage or onscreen—or of ill repute—wore it. But it wasn’t long before every woman wanted to add a touch of glamour to the grit of her everyday life. Women had just received the right to vote, and that endorsement was followed with a need to challenge societal views of women’s appearances as well. Women like Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein created beauty salon empires with products that were as accessible as they were empowering. Coco Chanel is responsible for putting women in pants. Elsa Schaparelli mixed high society with fashion and art, while Madame Vionnet innovated the bias cut to flatter the figure. These designers revolutionized women’s silhouettes, style, and established women in the front line of the fashion business. During this period, Anita Colby was the highest paid model, appearing on billboards and in magazines. She earned $50 an hour, modeling as a sideline to selling ads for Harper’s Bazaar. The Society Girl era of modeling really began when Vogue produced its first color cover in 1932. To be the cover girl became the ultimate prize, and modeling began to be seen as a career rather than a side job.
But the line between actress and model began to blur. Actresses like Vivien Leigh, Ava Gardner, and Marilyn Monroe could smolder onscreen or in the front row, though fashion was craving its own stars. By the time Christian Dior’s New Look line debuted in 1947, fashion had become news and designers wanted their own muses and models to bring their designs to life. The fashion illustrations like those of Erté and Rene Gruau that were popular during the post-WWII years now seemed outdated, as Paris salon shows went from being sketched to photographed, attracting private clients and inviting the press. Photographers Cecil Beaton and Irving Penn at Vogue and Richard Avedon at Harper’s Bazaar were proving to the world that girls were more than just a pretty face. It was their lenses that turned modeling into a business, and model agencies and the model were born.
