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Louise Dahl-Wolfe, one of Harper’s Bazaar’s pre-eminent photographers, created this image in 1950. She did not party with fashion editors. The magazine did not publish pictures of her mingling with the models. Dahl-Wolfe in her professional prime was quite plump and no beauty. But she created beautiful pictures that transcend time and place. To her editors and art director, that’s all that mattered.
 

 

 

 

 

Karen Lehrman is the author of The Lipstick Proviso: Women, Sex, & Power in the Real World.