Born 1916 as George Allen Aarons in Manhattan, New York, American photographer Slim Aarons noted for photographing socialites, jet-setters and celebrities.
At 18 years old, Aarons enlisted in the U.S. Army, worked as a photographer at West Point, and later served as a combat photographer in World War II and earned a Purple Heart.
After the war, Aarons moved to California and began photographing celebrities. In California, he shot his most praised photo, Kings of Hollywood, a 1957 New’s Year’s Eve photograph depicting Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart relaxing at a bar in full formal wear. Aaron’s work appeared in Life, Town & Country, and Holiday magazines.
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| Left to right: Countess Dolores Von Furstenberg, C. Z. Guest, Marilyn Monroe photographed by Slim Aarons in the 1950s |
Aarons never used a stylist, or a makeup artist. He made his career out of what he called “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.”
In 1997, Mark Getty, the co-founder of Getty Images, visited Aarons in his home and bought Aarons’ entire archive.
Aarons died in 2006 in Montrose, New York at the age of 89.
In 2017, filmmaker Fritz Mitchell released a documentary about Aarons, called Slim Aarons: The High Life.
Here below is a collection of fabulous photos that Aarons shot classic beauties during the 1950s.
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| Audrey Hepburn talks with Mrs Grover Magnin (centre) and another guest at a party in San Francisco, circa 1950 |
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| Countess Elizabeth Caroline von Furstenberg-Hedringen, more casually known as Betsy von Furstenberg or ‘Madcap Betsy’, a stage and screen actress, 1951 |
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| Lauren Bacall is giving her son Stephen a good night hug, 1951 |
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| Bill Babb, Thomas Beecher, model Carolyn Phillips, Mrs Rabb and model Jean Adams are enjoying guitar music on a terrace in Acapulco, Mexico, 1952 |
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| Fleur Cowles points to photographer and designer Cecil Beaton at a New Years party, on New Yorks Park Avenue, 1952 |
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