Thursday, November 20, 2008

Saucy


Janice Doreen Dickinson (born February 15, 1955) is an American supermodel, fashion photographer, actress, author and agent.

Dickinson was born in Brooklyn, New York, although she was raised in Hollywood, Florida. She is the oldest of three girls, who all suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their father. Her mother abused drugs to disassociate herself from the goings on within the family. As a teenager Dickinson became obsessed with pouring over the fashion magazines in the local supermarkets, dreaming of another life, an escape.

In the early 1970s, Dickinson moved to New York City and began to pursue work as a model. Her career didn't immediately take off and she was sent to Paris to gain experience and further develop her portfolio. Her "exotic looks" became one of her most prominent features in securing her notoriety within the European modeling industry.

Dickinson returned to New York in 1978. She spent the next several years working steadily and partying often, reportedly interacting with celebrities such as John Belushi, Andy Warhol and Truman Capote as she danced the night away at Studio 54.

It was at this time Dickinson began a romantic relationship with Mike Reinhardt, who was one of the top photographers of the time. They collaborated together on many projects, which resulted in several Vogue magazine covers. After many tumultuous years together they broke up. Dickinson was subsequently replaced by Christie Brinkley as Reinhardt's muse.

In the late 1970's Janice's career hit its peak, receiving campaigns with Revlon, JVC, Calvin Klein, Versace and countless magazine covers, Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan among them. However, due to substance abuse issues, Dickinson's career began to falter in the late 1980's leading to Dickinson's successful reinvention as a photographer based in Los Angeles.

In 2002 Dickinson wrote her memoir, No Lifeguard on Duty, which became a sensational bestseller, offering a cautionary tale about the dangers of living the high life.

Dickinson has been married three times. Her former husbands are Ron Levy, Alan B. Gersten, and Simon Fields, by whom she has a son, Nathan Fields (born May 5, 1987). She has a daughter, Savannah Dickinson (born February 23, 1994), by former boyfriend, Michael Birnbaum. She currently resides in Beverly Hills, California.











































7 comments:

Anonymous said...

omg she looks sooo different now! she was so gorgeous then! now she just seems a bit, well, fake :(

xoxo
La C

this wheel's on fire said...

she certainly had a tough childhood, but she is so gorgeous!!

Meital (Betty) said...

WOW, she was so pretty! she totally lost her natural beauty...

Lexie said...

she is quite beautiful; i love that you posted old magazine covers ... it is so neat to see how simple graphic design used to be.

ryder said...

we were talking about that too! not just how simple graphic design was but also how it was a real art form and they just don't make 'em like they used to.

WendyB said...

Awesome photos. She was so beautiful. There was something very soft about her face. She was supposedly insane then, too, though. People had a hard time getting her to keep her clothes ON. That's what cocaine will do to you....Too bad :-(

Grace said...

I adore me some Janice Dickinson. It's just hard to believe those modeling pictures of her when paired with what she looks like now. What a transformation.