We love trailblazers!  Check out an excerpt from Let’s Bring Back that takes a look at the first model to do it big, Suzy Parker, who passed away in 2003:

In the 1950s, Parker became the first fashion model to earn a then-staggering $100,000 per year; she and her sister Dorian Leigh are considered by many to be the world’s first supermodels, along with Lisa Fonssagrives. As one of Parker’s obituaries noted, “[she] had the hautiest of cheekbones and nobody angled an elbow better, but when she shook out her red hair she suggested a cool Hollywood glamour – Rita Hayworth on the rocks.”

The flame-haired Parker graced the covers of dozens of magazines around the world; an early photo spread of Parker in a bikini (then as new a notion as the idea of a “supermodel”) caused a international sensation. She is said to have inspired the beatnik-turned-reluctant-model character played by Audrey Hepburn in legendary fashion film Funny Face (1957).

“We didn’t use the term [supermodel] then, but she certainly qualified for being a supermodel, and if the term had been around I’m sure we would have used it: She was absolutely phenomenal,” said Edie Locke, former editor-in-chief of Mademoiselle magazine.

Image: Life Magazine

Tagged as: 50s, Audrey Hepburn, First Super Model, Sexy, Suzy Parker