Dovima with Opera Glasses, Corday, William Helburn 1961
Opera Box with Dovima, Bob Taft, Tom Charles & Victor Cutrer, William Helburn, 1961 via
Dovima with Opera Glasses (1961)
Category Archives: Dovima
Dovima and the Leopard by Richard Avedon (1950)
Dovima by Richard Avedon (1955)
A Collection of Vintage Photos Featuring Dovima
Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba (1927 – 1990), later known as Dorothy Horan, and best known as Dovima, was an American model during the 1950s.
Born in New York City, Dovima was discovered on a sidewalk in New York by an editor at Vogue, and had a photo shoot with Irving Penn the following day. She worked closely with Richard Avedon, whose photograph of her in a floor-length black evening gown with circus elephants—”Dovima with the Elephants” —taken at the Cirque d’hiver, Paris, in August 1955, has become an icon. The gown was the first evening dress designed for Christian Dior by his new assistant, Yves Saint-Laurent.
Dovima was reputed to be the highest-paid model of her time. She had a role in Funny Face (Paramount, 1957) as an aristocratic-looking, but empty-headed, fashion model with a Jackson Heights whine.
Dovima gave birth to a daughter named Allison on July 14, 1958, in Manhattan. Allison’s father is Dovima’s second husband, Allan Murray.
She died of liver cancer on May 3, 1990 at the age of 62.
Diana Vreeland, Dovima and Richard Avedon, 1950s via
Lillian Bassman, Dovima in New York, 1954 via
Dovima in Christian Dior Suit and Hat, photographed by Richard Avedon, 1955 via
Richard Avedon, Christobal Balenciaga, Dovima in cloche – Cafe de Deux Magots, Paris 1955 via
Henry Clarke, Dovima wearing Lanvin dress, 1955 via
Richard Avedon & His Amazing Stylish Muse Dovima
Dovima (1927-1990) was reputed to be the highest-paid model of her time. Richard Avedon (1923 – 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that:
“his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America’s image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century”
Dovima was the muse of Richard Avedon who depicted her, in a legendary photograph posing in a Christian Dior evening dress with elephants from the Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, in 1955.
In 2010, a record price of £719,000 was achieved at Christie’s for a unique seven-foot-high print of the photo. This particular print, the largest of this image, was made in 1978 for Avedon’s fashion retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and was bought by Maison Christian Dior.
Richard Avedon, Dovima with elephants,
evening dress by Christian Dior, Cirque d Hiver, August 1955 via
Richard Avedon, Dovima with elephants,
evening dress by Christian Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, August 1955 via
Dovima, dress by Claire McCardell, Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt, January 1951 via
Richard Avedon, Dovima dress by Claire McCardell, Egypt, January 1952 via
Richard Avedon, Dovima, evening dress by Jacques Fath, Paris, August 1950 via
Dovima with Sascha (1955)
Dovima with Sascha, Paris, 1955
FROM THE BYGONE 
