1930s - the first "supermodel"

      "It is always the dress, it is never, never the girl. I'm just a good clothes hanger."

Lisa Fonssagrives on the Mae West Lips sofa - designed by Salvador Dali

You, of course, are young enough to believe that the age of the supermodel began with Kate Moss...or Cindy Crawford..? ...or Twiggy..? ...the Shrimp..?

Wrong, wrong, all wrong....

Lisa at Paddington in 1951 - photo by Toni Frissell

Widely recognised as the first "supermodel" (although of course the term post-dates her career) is a remarkable woman named Lisa Fonssagrives.

Born, Lisa Birgitta Bernstone in Sweden in 1911, her career as one of the western world's top models spanned three decades (1930s - 1950s). 

The multi-talented Miss Bernstone trained as a dancer, then worked as a dance teacher with the man who was to become her first husband - Fernand Fonssagrives.  

In 1936, she was spotted in a Paris elevator, invited to model hats and, before you could say 'Philip Treacy', her sculptured looks were in Vogue magazine and a new life as a model beckoned.

On the Eiffel Tower - Photographed by Erwin Blumenfeld in 1939

Since she also worked with some of the most noted photographers of the 20th century, such as Richard Avedon and Man Ray, the word 'muse' has inevitably be appended to the name Fonssagrives.  Her second husband, Irving Penn, was a gifted photographer and, not surprisingly, took some of the most striking images of her.

This photograph, by husband Irving Penn, recently sold at Christie's for $352,000

With all due respect to the supermodels of the current generation, Fonssagrives was a woman of many talents - besides being a dancer and dance teacher, she was also a photographer, a fashion designer and, ultimately, a sculptor (or sculptress, for the more traditional out there).

Perhaps it's just the filtering effect of looking at the past through the wrong end of a telescope (the distance "edits" out all but the most striking details), but it seems that so many of the "stars" of the 1930s were blessed with more than one talent (James Cagney, for instance). 

But, if you think Lisa Fonssagrives (May 4, 1911 to February 4), 1992 sounds a fascinating woman, wait till you read the stories of two other top models of the age - the Princess and the Spy.