Victorian von Hagen, daughter of a prolific explorer, anthropologist, and author, wrote a self-portrait for a Brooklyn newspaper in 1940. She wrote, “I’m Victoria. I am four feet eight inches tall, and I will be 11 years old on July 13th. My hobby is writing stories and poems.” She would remain a prolific writer throughout her life – from those early poems (with lots of rhymes about ‘spring’ and ‘sing’) to furious complaints about the American education system.
Following her marriage to the archaeologist Jacques Bordaz, von Hagen focused on applying technological methods to archaeological data. In addition, with her cartoon-couture features, she became a famous fashion model, regularly working with Nina Leen, Clifford Coffin, and Erwin Blumenfeld and appearing on the cover of Vogue. In addition to her appearances on TV shows like ‘The Big Pay-Off’ and ‘Big Surprise’ also won significant amounts on TV game shows.
Von Hagen divorced Bordaz and moved to Paris, where she found success as a mentor and academic writer. In the nineties, she regularly contributed to newsletters on analytical cellular pathology.
