92-year-old model: Discovered at age 13, became Salvador Dali’s muse and proves age is no taboo

Indeed, they look amazing in these one-of-a-kind couture outfits, but it makes us wonder: Are only young people considered beautiful? What happens after 40, 50, 70? Is there a certain age after which one cannot become a model? Fortunately, this seems to be changing quickly, as runways and fashion magazines often show “real” people aging and still managing to do so.

At 92, she is the oldest working model

Carmen Dell’ Orefice is one of them. She is the definition of elegance and grace, so it’s no wonder she still works as a professional model. And in fact, at 92 years old, she is considered the oldest working model!

How she started her modeling career

She was first discovered at the age of 13 when she was approached by the wife of photographer Herman Landsschoff. However, the first pictures were deemed unsuccessful.

Carmen finally began her modeling career at age 15 when her godfather introduced her to Vogue in 1946. Her first contract earned her $7.50 an hour, which in today’s money would be $126.41 .

Unfortunately, this was not enough to support her family financially, so Carmen and her mother also worked as seamstresses. But due to lack of money, the young model was so malnourished that photographers had to put pins in the back of her dresses and even fill her curves with toilet paper.

In fact, to save money on bus tickets, every time Vogue sent her employees to inform her about a photo shoot, she went to work on roller skates.

Vogue cover, muse of Salvador Dali

Finally, Carmen’s hard work paid off and in October 1947 she appeared on the cover of Vogue. Soon, she became a favorite of many photographers and appeared in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar. In fact, it was even Salvador Dali’s muse.

Little did he know that this success would not last long. In the early 1950s, Carmen married her first husband, Bill Miles. Although she had a daughter, Laura, her marriage was abusive and Bill took advantage of Carmen financially, giving her only a small allowance from her fat wages.

She later married photographer Richard Heimann, but unfortunately their marriage ended when Carmen decided to retire from modeling.

The big comeback in modeling

In the late 70s, Carmen again found herself in financial trouble and decided the time was right to return to modeling, despite the prevailing ageism in the industry. While everyone was trying to look younger, Carmen embraced her age: “When I was 40, I was 40. I didn’t want to be 20. I always did my job – to reflect the look of the respective year. That’s exactly why I’ve always felt great standing in front of the camera,” he says.

The second time turned out to be even more successful, as many fashion companies jumped at the chance to work with Carmen. So she worked for Trget, Rolex, Anna Sui, Guo Pei, Thierry Muggler and made her big comeback in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar – it was as if she had never left modeling.

At the age of 91, Carmen did a daring photo shoot where she stripped completely for New You magazine. The campaign was widely celebrated online, with commenters praising her confidence, revealing that it inspired them to feel more comfortable with their bodies, despite their age. Just as good wine gets better with time, so do people.

Her beauty secret

But what is her secret? Carmen reveals that is self-love. “Men and women should take care of and love themselves. One of the secrets to maintaining beauty is to do what you do for a baby – take care of it and feed it with love. This is what we must do to ourselves: to take care of him, to love him and to give this energy to ourselves.”