Gloria Vanderbilt is the definition of a renaissance woman. Both an anomaly and a creature of reinvention. Known as being a heiress, actress, designer, author, socialite, painter, and said to be Truman Capote’s muse for Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
"Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman who loved life and lived it on her own terms," her son, Anderson Cooper, said in an interview. "What an extraordinary life. What an extraordinary mom. What an incredible woman.”
c.1982
Vanderbilt wearing a Fortuny gown in a painting by Aaron Shikler.
c.1941
Vanderbilt age 17 wearing Howard Greer, photo by Horst P. Horst, New York
c.1954
The Actress in costume for Molnar’s play The Swan.
c.1956
Vanderbilt at home by Richard Avedon
c.1945
Vanderbilt photographed by John Rawlings for a Ponds Cold Cream advertisement in Vogue
c.1969
Vanderbilt posing in front of one of her collages, Gingham Queen Elizabeth, on the balcony of her Southampton home, photographed by Francesco Scavullo.
c.1955
Vanderbilt in a Mainbocher Dress, photographed by Richard Avedon for Harper’s Bazaar
c.1975
Vanderbilt in the living room of her United Nations Plaza apartment, photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vogue
c.1968
The Socialite’s Portrait by Fred W. McDarrah
c.1966
Vanderbilt near her former home in Connecticut. Photo by Toni Frissell for Vogue.
c.1975
McCalls debuts Vanderbilt’s magazine, called Gloria Vanderbilt Designs for Your Home.
c.1967
Vanderbilt wearing a design by Anne Fogarty
c.1957
Gloria’s self portrait that hung in the entrance of her studio
c.1955
Vanderbilt by Richard Avedon for Harper’s Bazaar
c.1962
Gloria Vanderbilt, photo by Jerry Schatzberg.
c.1953
Vanderbilt Photographed by Richard Avedon
1941
Bruce Cabot, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Rita Hayworth at the El Morocco Night Club
c.1978
A group of models bend over to display Vanderbilt-designed jeans, as Vanderbilt herself faces front.
c.1961
Vanderbilt shows off a new hairstyle made famous by the French film Last Year at Marienbad. Photographed by Paul Schutzer.
c.1975
Vanderbilt poses in the home she shares with her husband, Wyatt Cooper, and two sons, surrounded by pillows she designed herself.
c.1974
Portrait by Francesco Scavullo and cover of Town&Country Magazine
“You must always have great, secret, big fat hopes for yourself in love and in life. The bigger, the better.”
XO Mol