Veruschka von Lehndorff

Countess Vera von Lehndorff-Steinort (German: Vera Gottliebe Anna Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort; born 14 May 1939), known professionally as Veruschka and Veruschka von Lehndorff, is a German model, actress, and artist who was popular during the 1960s.

Veruschka
Veruschka Countess of Lehndorff-Steinort in 2011
Born
Vera Gottliebe Anna Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort

(1939-05-14) 14 May 1939
Königsberg, East Prussia
Modeling information
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1]
Hair colordark blonde[1]
Eye colorblue / grey[1]
AgencyThe Lions (New York) [2]

Early life

Veruschka was born Vera Gottliebe Anna Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort on 14 May 1939, in Königsberg, East Prussia, now known as Kaliningrad, Russia.

She has three sisters: Marie Eleanore "Nona" (b. 1937, married Jan van Haeften and Wolf-Siegfried Wagner (b. 1943), son of Wieland Wagner and great-grandson of composer Richard Wagner), Gabriele (b. 1942, married Armin, Edler Herr und Freiherr von Plotho), and Katharina (b. 1944, married Henrik Kappelhoff-Wulff).

She grew up at Steinort, an estate in East Prussia, which had been in her family for centuries. Her mother was Countess Gottliebe von Kalnein (b. 1913-1993). Her father, Count Henrich von Lehndorff-Steinort, was a German aristocrat and army reserve officer who became a key member of the German Resistance, after witnessing Jewish children being beaten and killed. When Veruschka was five years old, her father was executed for allegedly attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the 20 July Plot. After his death, the remaining family members spent their times in labor camps until the end of World War II. By the end of the war, her family was left homeless. As a young girl, she attended 13 schools.

Rise to fame

She studied art in Hamburg and then moved to Florence, where she was discovered at age 20 by the photographer Ugo Mulas and became a full-time model. In Paris, she met Eileen Ford, head of the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency. In 1961 she moved to New York City, but soon returned to Munich. For some time she was with the Stewart Modeling Agency at 405 Park Avenue in New York where she reigned as the girl with the most covers on the wall when you walked in. She had also garnered attention when she made a brief five-minute appearance in the 1966 cult film Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.

Veruschka appeared on the cover of Life magazine's August 1967 issue and various times on all four major Vogue magazines' (American, Italian, French and British) covers throughout the 1960s.[3] She once worked with Salvador Dalí and photographer Peter Beard, who took her to Kenya. At her peak, she earned as much as $10,000 a day. In 1975, however, she departed from the fashion industry due to disagreements with Grace Mirabella, the newly appointed editor-in-chief of Vogue. In a 1999 interview, Veruschka said about their disagreements, "She wanted me to be bourgeois, and I didn't want to be that. I didn't model for a long time after that."[4]

In 1969, she attended the Woodstock festival.

She appeared as one of 28 women under the banner We've had abortions! (Wir haben abgetrieben!) on the cover page of the West German magazine Stern on 6 June 1971. In that issue, 374 women publicly stated that they had had pregnancies terminated, which at that time was illegal.[5]

Occasionally Veruschka still appears on catwalks. She was a guest model in the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2000 in Australia. In October 2010, at the age of 71, she modeled for Giles Deacon's showing for the fall run of London Fashion Week.[6] She appeared in the Resort 2018 lookbook for Acne Studios in 2017. [7]

Veruschka provides vocals on several tracks on the 2010 album Mimikry by ANBB, a collaboration of Blixa Bargeld and Alva Noto.[8]

Filmography
  • Blowup (1966) - Herself
  • Veruschka: Poetry of a Woman (1971)
  • Salomé (1972) - Myrrhina
  • Evil Thoughts (1976) - Mario Manani's Lover
  • Flesh Color (1978) - Anna
  • Milo-Milo (1979) - Barbara
  • Bizarre Styles (1981) - Prophet
  • Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (1984) - Dorian Gray
  • Vom Zusehen beim Sterben (1985) - Herself
  • The Bride (1985) - Countess
  • L'Orchestre rouge (1989) - Anna Maximovitch
  • Veruschka – Die Inszenierung (m)eines Körpers (2005) - Herself
  • Casino Royale (2006) - Gräfin von Wallenstein
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References
  1. Veruschka von Lehndorff's profile at Fashion Model Directory
  2. https://models.com/models/veruschka-
  3. Valenti, Lauren. "Happy Birthday, Veruschka! The '60s Supermodel's Best Beauty Looks of All Time". Vogue.
  4. Belverio, Glenn (18 May 2009). "Looking Back at my Interview with Veruschka". A Shaded View on Fashion. Archived from the original on 14 December 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  5. Deutschland, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik. "Gerade auf LeMO gesehen: LeMO Objekt: Druckgut Stern "Wir haben abgetrieben!"". www.hdg.de (in German). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  6. Kristin Larson (7 October 2010). "First Supermodel Walks Runway". lifestyle.msn.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  7. Stephanie Eckardt (8 June 2017). "At 78, Veruschka Just Stole Resort Season as the Face of Acne Studios". wmagazine.com. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  8. DNC. "Tiny Mix Tapes Review of Mimikry by ANB". www.tinymixtapes.com. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
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