Joan Olson was born in Minneapolis in 1929 and entered beauty contests while still a high school student. She later began modeling in LA while at USC. During her time as a princess in the Pasadena Rose Queen Royal Court, she had to wear brown lipstick for TV and said it looked awful – the 40s were a simpler time in technology.
Olson quit college when her career took off and went first to New York, where she worked for Ford, before moving to Paris. The five-foot-five-inch model concentrated mainly on photography. For her height, she was considered a ‘junior.’ Tippi Hedren, Ivy Nicholson, Brynne Johnson, Barbara Stetson, and June Ross were close friends of hers in the modeling business. Art Kane and Ray Slowinski, two prominent photographers, were married to June Ross and Brynne Johnson.
Below are some glamorous photos of young and beautiful Joan Olson as a model in the 1950s.
