Carmen Dell’Orefice is known as the oldest working model in the fashion industry. She was discovered on a bus when she was only 13 years old, and she is still working today, at age 92. Her first contact with the fashion world was a flop. After being approached by the wife of photographer Herman Landschoff while riding a bus to ballet class, Dell’Orefice saw her test photos go nowhere fast. Still, she knew she was destined for greatness, and just two years later she graced the cover of Vogue Magazine for the very first time. Last year, she was featured on the cover of Vogue Czechoslovakia, this time as the oldest working model in the world. Raised by a single mother in New York, Dell’Orefice didn’t have an easy childhood. Her family struggled financially and didn’t even have a telephone in the house. Vogue had to send runners to summon her for shoots. Her modeling work was barely enough to support the family, so she and her mother worked as seamstresses to make ends meet. In the early 1950s, Dell’Orefice married Bill Miles, who exploited her career by picking up her modeling agency checks and giving her a meager $50 allowance. They divorced and she married Richard Heimann, who left her after she decided to retire from modeling in 1958. She returned to modeling in 1978, and in just one year’s time was gracing the covers of fashion magazines again. As for the secret to her beauty, Dell’Orefice says, "One of the secrets to maintaining beauty is doing what you do for a baby, nurturing and feeding the baby with love."
