Interview of Linda Morand by Emerald Alexander - July 2008 How did miniMadMOD60s get started? About three years ago, I was toying with the idea of making a video about facial exercise and putting it on an infomercial. I was working on a business plan and was advised to mention that I had been a top model for awhile in the Sixties. After receiving my proposal, the investor did a Google search on me. Nothing came up but two walk-ons I had in a few movies, mostly just for fun because I knew the directors. He actually said that for a top model there was nothing at all about me on the web. It was almost embarrassing. Luckily I had my yellowing tearsheets, to prove that I was telling the truth. As I looked through my scrapbooks and the loose magazine pages I noticed that they were getting fragile with age. I thought about having them scanned and put onto a CD so that I could preserve them. But it got me to thinking. Why shouldn't there be a website about the great models of the Sixties, Seventies and before? These girls who were all over the covers of Vogue and Bazaar and doing ten page spreads inside. If there had been a web then, they would all have been all over the Internet. Today, if a company or even a person does not have a web presence they are often overlooked. How did you get the idea to launch a website? I did a Google search for the Sixties Models.. Hardly a thing was there, I was able to come up with Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy, Veruschka, Lauren Hutton, Susan Blakely and a few super models who had remained in the public eye by becoming television and movie personalities, or who married rock stars. The only thing about Dolores Hawkins, one of the greatest supermodels of the Fifties and Sixties, was her part in "Adventures in Paradise." And even if their names were well known there was very little of their work archived. I just could not stand to see all those glorious days forever forgotten. I put my video project on hold and began this independent research project. So far besides miniMadMOD60s, nothing else exists about some of the very great models that graced the covers of the top magazines and were in major cosmetic campaigns. Nowadays if you are not found on the Internet you are not really that relevant. Even now, you can search for any of their names and our site is the only one that comes up. Even if they had dozens of Vogue and Elle covers and were the toast of two continents. One Sixties model did have a tremendous amount of data online. It was Colleen Corby. She had a fun, informal fan site, that had attracted several hundred followers. I joined the group and introduced myself in 2006. The advent of a "real Sixties model" caused a little stir and I was able to answer a lot of questions and contribute pictures of myself and my friends and colleagues. How did you build the archives? People had started sending in pictures of Colleen's peers, like Terry Reno and other interesting Sixties models. Many started sending in pictures of me. Soon a few other Sixties models "came out." and helped the site gain in credibility. It was really a fan-site, celebrating that happy image of Colleen Corby and her entourage that colored the coming of age of the Sixties Generation. (see Angora Sox's story about Colleen) There were two really outstanding members: A person called "ModelHistory" and Patty Holmes, with incredible memories for faces. Each continued to scan and send in many pictures of other top models, and still do. There was an album started for "Models Without Albums" and "Mystery Models" "Models Composites" and "The Sixties Look" etc. Soon these were overflowing as images came pouring in. It was clear that these girls needed their own albums. It was agreed that I would splinter off and create a separate group with a website dedicated to all the models, from Vogue and Bazaar and all the other international fashion magazines and open it up to the international models. The two sites would promote each other. Some of the Colleen members joined too. I made the most prolific ones managers. Slowly, only by word of mouth, with no advertising, the miniMadMOD60s has grown and grown. We have had to open a new group, miniMadMOD60s 2 to handle the overflow. Angora, from the Colleen site has added many artistic impressions of the models. See Angora Gallery Have other Sixties Models contacted the website? Yes, little by little, as people began to realize that our website, obscure though it may have been, was legitimate, several models and/or their families began to contact us. Several prefer not to reveal themselves to the public. Others are happy to help and lend their support to this endeavour to preserve our work and the work of our model colleagues. I was urged to start a real website. Several models have granted us exclusive interviews. I am happy to say that Willy van Rooy, Joan Thompson, Sue Murray and Terri Smith have been very helpful. We have been contacted by Sunny Griffin, Mona Grant, Jaan Stephens, Gail Reaben, Kecia Nyman and several other Sixties models. Their input has been invaluable. The family members of some deceased models have contacted us and given us wonderful pictures Many of the models have found their old friends including myself. I have been in contact with Wallis Franken's daughter, Cathee Dahmen's daughter and Agneta Frieberg's sister. We have also communicated with Charly Stember's daughter and Denise Hopkins' daughter. There are many others who have only revealed themselves to me.. I found my long lost best friends, Susan Brainard and Sara Vane, two girls I worked with in Paris. Now I am meeting top photographers, stylists, make-up artists and editors through the site. The great Model Card publisher, Peter Marlowe joined us. He has thousands of images of model composites, which are a great source of information. We have been contacted by the family members of such great models as Susan Blakely, Sondra Petersen and Joann Webb. How big are the Archives? We now have about 25,000 images at last count. Our goal is not to sell anything or to judge who was the best model but just to celebrate them all and make their images freely available to anyone who wished to glimpse back to those golden days. The pictures look ever so much better when properly scanned at a high resolution then in a scrapbook with the edges crumbling. So many models and their family members have contacted me privately and on the site to say how grateful they are to see their work celebrated here. Many had lost their portfolios over the years or had never seen some of the pictures we have found. Back issues of magazines are becoming more and more rare as the years go by and very expensive to obtain. What is your goal with miniMadMOD60s. What we all have tried to do with miniMadMOD60s is to continue to create an anthology so that each model, her friends and family as well as her fans, has an overview of the highlights of her career. However, some who worked prolifically have only a few pictures and other lesser known models have a hundred pictures. This is because the site is contributed to by dozens of independent members from all over the world, who are partial to certain models. These members have not been sought, they have found us through interest and word of mouth. miniMadMOD60s is now being noticed by talented and creative people. I am happy to say that the forum is visited from time to time by many noted models, other fashion personalities from the Sixties as well as modern fashion aficionados, professional and amateur. Artists, designers and stylists pore over our archives for inspiration and a lesson in the history of design and fashion photography. Many contact me. I am particularly happy when young people and artists are inspired by the Sixties and all the wonderful pictures we have made available to everyone. What are your plans for the future? I am now working on a book and a documentary about the Sixties Fashion era. And I am sponsoring some young artists who have been inspired by our models, including renowned paper doll artist Gregg Nystrom and young teen-age fashion designer and illustrator Ross van Der Heide. |
| Model Friends and Families Found After Forty Years Linda Morand Brings Sixties Models Together Again |
An International Independent Research Project |
| Linda Morand Today |
| Discovered by Eileen Ford in 1966, Linda Morand had a successful career as a model in New York, Milan and Paris. She is now a Fashion Historian and Archivist |
| "Seventeen Queens" Colleen Corby and Terry Reno |
| 60s Inspired Paper Dolls by Gregg Nystrom |
| Sixties Inspired Art by Ross van Der Heide age 13 CLICK TO SUPERSIZE |
