By 1940 fashion leadership from Europe completely disappeared as a result of the war and the New York fashion community had only itself to depend on insofar as the creation of fashion and the necessary publicity. The war also forced many European fashion photographers to move to New York, who in turn generated a need for fashion models. Attached is an article about the man who saw to it that the N.Y. fashion industry would never run out of models:
“They sip your favorite coffee, drive your dream car, display the latest fashions, show you how to cook a waffle: they are potent forces in the scheme of American advertising. Their faces and figures adorn the covers of countless magazines…often they develop into stars of the cinema. They come from all over America to an office on Park Avenue, New York, where a quiet, discerning man named John Robert Powers appraises their charms and schools them for the job of selling sables to society or groceries to the great American housewife.”
Beginning in the mid-Twenties and spanning the years leading up to the late Forties, John Robert Powers (1892 – 1977) created and maintained the first modeling agency in New York City (if not the world) and during the Forties, the Powers Agency grossed over five million dollars a year. Attached are nine photos of the most popular fashion models he was representing in 1941; a unique breed of woman known at the time as “Powers girls”.
In 1951 this lass was consuming a good deal of time at the rival Conover Agency…
Lovely Faces Were Also Employed to Promote Religious Faith, Click Here and read about that…
Click here to read more articles about 1940s fashion models.
Read about the attack of the “actress/models”!
From Amazon:
Model: The Ugly Business
of Beautiful Women
