Mary Jane Russell was a top American model of the 1950s, along with Dovima and Jean Patchett. Often photographed by Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Irving Penn she graced the covers of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar throughout the Fifties.
Born Mary Jane Walton in New Jersey in 1926 she studied art in New York when she met her future husband Edward Russell. While he was serving in the Air Force he courted her by sending her hand-drawn cartoons of the places he was visiting. They married on his return from the war on 21 December 1946 – they chose that date because it was the longest night of the year. How fabulously romantic is that?!
Despite being much shorter than a lot of models and just 5’6″ she was signed by Ford Models in 1948. She broke an unspoken rule within the fashion industry, which declared that a model could only work with a photographer on two occasions and she became a favourite muse of photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe and later Irving Penn.
She continued modelling until she retired in 1961.
