Lisa Fonssagrives was born Lisa Birgitta Bernstone on 17 May 1911 in
Sweden Uddevalla. She moved from Sweden to
Paris to train for ballet (after participating with choreographer Astrid Malmborg in an international competition) and worked as a private dance teacher with
Fernand Fonssagrives, She would say that modeling was "still dancing". Before Fonssagrives came to the United States in 1939, she was already a top model. Her image appeared on the cover of many magazines during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, including
Town & Country,
Life,
Time,
Vogue, and the original
Vanity Fair. She was reported to be "the highest paid, highest praised, high fashion model in the business". Fonssagrives once described herself as a "good clothes hanger". She married American photographer
Irving Penn in 1950 and became his muse. After her modeling career ended, she designed a
leisurewear clothing line for
Lord & Taylor. In 1995, a retrospective exhibition of her work was held at
Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Irving Penn donated photographs to the museum in her memory. The
Elton John photography collection auction, held by
Christie's on 15 October 2004, sold a 1950 Irving Penn photograph of Fonssagrives for $57,360. ==References==