Dorian Leigh - Modeling Career

Modeling Career

Taking Mrs. Wayburn's advice, in 1944 Dorian had professional photos taken and went to the Harry Conover modeling agency. 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!" Vreeland asked Dorian to return the next day, to be photographed for the cover of the September 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 and that she already had two children.

Dorian's parents thought modeling was not respectable, so Dorian Leigh Parker 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 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, she warned Dorian she would "ruin her." Indeed, Vogue never used Dorian again, and Karen became a Vogue photographer.

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.

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 ever, Fire and Ice. In this two-age 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 sequins on it, and it took so long to create that only the front of the dress was finished in time to be photographed. The back was non-existent and held in place with safety pins. Dorian also had a silver streak 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. This ad was accompanied by a provocative quiz written by Kay Daly. The ad became an enormous success, winning Advertising Age's "Magazine Advertisement of the Year" award.

Around 1947, Dorian was introduced to Roger Mehle by her sister Cissy. He was divorced from Aileen Mehle who later became the famous gossip columnist known as "Suzy," which coincidentally was Dorian's sister's name (Suzy Parker). Cissy was married to an army officer and Mehle was the youngest Navy commander 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. 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 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. 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 model weekly, instead of the model having to wait to be paid directly by the client.

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.

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 Ford's 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 with 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 Mehle on March 27, 1949. The couple had a house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania but rarely saw each other. Mehle's 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, "I would rather have a baby than a mink coat."

The previous summer in Paris, she had met the Spanish athlete Alfonzo 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 Mehle. Portago was also married, to an older, American showgirl named Carroll McDaniel (who later married Milton Petrie). 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 Mehle would divorce her and take full-custody of their daughter Young. Only weeks later, at the end of the summer, Fon told Dorian that Carroll was pregnant with his second child. Dorian returned to the United States and divorced 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.

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." Despite Chanel's warning, Dorian got pregnant by de Portago again, even though he was still married. 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.