Sublime supermodel Carmen Dell’Orefice has celebrated her 80th birthday earlier this year and she looks positively amazing. A stunning concentration of grace, elegance and simple, pure, classic beauty. Not that the exhibition currently hosted by the London College of Fashion’s Fashion Space Gallery will reveal a of the secrets of her never-fading beauty, but as Carmen worked throughout her 66 year career with the most important fashion photographers of their time, this is one exhibition not to miss for all the fashion/art/photography lovers.
Using photographs from Carmen’s personal archive, Carmen: A Life in Fashion documents the life and work of the world’s most enduring supermodel, from when she was just this skinny New York girl, starting to model aged only 13 in 1945, to the high fashion muse in the 1950s, to the fashion icon she is today.
Images by legendary photographers Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Norman Parkinson, Horst P Horst are on display, as well as for the first time photographs of Carmen by Ali Mahdavi, especially commissioned by the London College of Fashion to celebrate Carmen’s 80th birthday.
David Downton commented, “Carmen is a born image maker and an expert editor of herself, as you can see in this exhibition. In an industry built on hype, hyperbole and the lure of passing fad Carmen’s astonishing 66 year career is testament not only to her beauty, but to her wit, wisdom, professionalism and unshakeable resolve.”
The exhibition was launched on Tuesday 15th November with a private view at the gallery, followed by a private party at Il Bottaccio on Wednesday 16th, the first day of public opening.
Laurie Guillem
Carmen: A Life in Fashion / 16 November 2011 – 14 January 2012 / Fashion Space Gallery: London College of Fashion – 20 John Princes Street, London W1G 0BJ / Free entrance / www.fashionspacegallery.com