Dorothy Griffith: The Forgotten Supermodel of the 1950s

Dorothy Griffith was one of the remarkable fashion models who helped define the elegance of 1950s haute couture, yet today her name is largely forgotten. In this fashion history documentary, we return to the world of Paris couture in the late 1950s, when models worked very differently from the celebrities and supermodels who followed them. Through rare vintage fashion photography and Dorothy Griffith’s work for designers including Pierre Balmain, we explore the extraordinary discipline behind 1950s modeling and the women whose faces became familiar while their names often disappeared from fashion history. The couture model of the 1950s was expected to understand silhouette, proportion, fabric and movement. Inside the Paris couture salons, she presented clothes to private clients in an atmosphere far removed from the spectacular fashion shows of today. Her role contained a strange paradox: she had to be memorable enough to make a dress unforgettable, yet restrained enough never to become more important than the clothes. Dorothy Griffith’s photographs capture this vanished world beautifully. They reveal not only the architectural silhouettes and refinement associated with 1950s fashion, but also a profession that was about to change dramatically. Within a few years, models themselves would increasingly become personalities, celebrities and eventually supermodels. Griffith belonged to the generation just before that transformation—a generation of women who helped create some o