Girls in the Windows

New York City has frequently captured the zeitgeist of the age through its sense of fashion, whether such fashionable trends were being showcased through the influential pages of its renowned magazine publications, such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue or Cosmopolitan, or through the irresistible dynamism of its continually changing culture, New York City is synonymous with fashion.
 
Therefore, it is fitting that one of the fashion world’s most celebrated  photographs would owe its creation to the spirit of this influential city, as well as the instinctive artistic sense of renowned New York photographer Ormond Gigli.

In 1960 the seasoned Time and Life Magazine photojournalist, who had been chiefly known for his photographs of leading celebrities of the stage and screen, noticed a construction crew preparing to demolish a brownstone building directly across from his Manhattan studio.

Quickly, Gigli arranged to immortalize the building through a photo session that would be a feast for the senses of fashion devotees, by constructing a glamorous scene of women positioned within the frames of 43 windows of the elegant building. 

Gigli is reported to have utilized a wide angle lens with his 4x4 Speed Graphic camera in this shot. The Speed Graphic was also known as a press camera during its hay day, in the early to mid portions of the 20^th century. 

The inspired photo session would produce “Girls in the Windows”, one of the most acclaimed fashion oriented photographs in history.