Who Are the "Girls in the Windows"?
The story behind the famous photograph
Hello!
I was thinking about photography the other day – and some of the famous photographs I’ve written about for Curious Minds.
Like Flip Schulke’s Ali Underwater.
Or Alfred Eisenstaedt’s The Kiss.
Those were both photographs I was familiar with, but I didn’t know the photographers – or the stories – behind them.
I started thinking about another familiar photograph … the one with a bunch of women in brightly colored dresses standing in the windows across several floors of a building.
Do you recognize it?
It feels very “Mad Men” to me, but I didn’t know anything about the photographer (or the story) behind it.
And naturally, I was curious…
The photograph with all those women standing in the windows is called “Girls in the Windows.”
And the photographer behind it was a man named Ormond Gigli.
Born in New York City in 1925, Gigli became interested in photography as a teenager.
In 1942, he graduated from the School of Modern Photography, and then served in the Navy as a photographer during World War II.
His photography career took off in 1952 when a Life editor hired him to take a series of celebrity portraits and cover the Paris fashion shows.
And then, on a summer day in 1960, Gigli came up with an idea that would change his life.
Gigli’s home studio in Manhattan was on East 58th Street, across from a dilapidated Beaux Arts building.
The building had been abandoned, and was empty when Gigli received a note that it was due for demolition.
“Looking at the design of the empty windows, an idea struck me,” Gigli told The Guardian in 2013.
“What if there were beautiful women in all of the windows?”
He sent one of his staff members across the street to speak to the demolition supervisor to enquire about doing a photo shoot before the building was demolished.
The supervisor agreed to clear out the building’s window jambs, and gave Gigli a 2-hour window (no pun intended) to stage and capture his photographic vision.
But Gigli would have to move quickly – and conduct the shoot the next day during the demolition crew’s lunch break.
And the supervisor insisted that his wife had to be included in the photograph – a condition Gigli accepted.
Gigli had just 24 hours to pull it off – with no company or brand footing the bill for the shoot.
And though he did not have the budget to pay for the dozens of professional models his vision called for, he was not deterred.
“We called up our contacts to find models. I had a good reputation, as I was working for Time and Life magazines, so it was quite easy to convince people.”
He told the agency that the models could wear an outfit of their choice, and that they would need to arrange their own hair and make-up.
For their efforts, he agreed to pay each of the models $1.1
But the models weren’t the only thing he needed to figure out.
The sidewalk in front of the building had a gaping hole, but Gigli convinced the energy company Con Edison to fill it with concrete, and then decided to cover that part of the sidewalk with a Rolls Royce.
He contacted a nearby dealership who agreed to let him borrow a car2, and asked the city for permission to park it on the sidewalk during the photo shoot.
The next day, 43 women – including models, socialites, the demolition supervisor’s wife3 and Gigli’s wife4 – showed up to pose for the picture.
Gigli positioned himself on the fire escape on the second floor in the building across the street, where he directed the shoot.
“I had a bullhorn, and I got worried after a while, so I said, ‘Don’t step out onto the ledges whatever you do!’
“Because with brownstones, the ledges, anybody on them can fall down.”
“I was concerned for the models’ safety, as some were daring enough to pose out on the crumbling sills.”
He moved them around to spread out the colors, and told them to pose as if they were “giving someone a kiss.”
Using a 4x5 Speed Graphic and a wide angle lens, Gigli shot “15 or 18 shots” of the iconic image.
It was all over before the demolition crew’s lunch break finished.
“The photography came off as planned.
“What had seemed to some as too dangerous or difficult to accomplish, became my fantasy fulfilled, and my most memorable self–assigned photograph.”
The building was demolished the next day.
‘Girls in the Windows’ first ran in Ladies’ Home Journal, then a handful of other publications.
Gigli went on to have a successful career as a photojournalist, and shared some of his most well-known work in Girls in the Windows and Other Stories in 2013.
He passed away in 2019.
Although he was known for his work with fashion and celebrities, the photo he took on that summer day in 1960 was his most famous.
“Most professional photographers dream of having one signature picture they are known for.
“‘Girls in the Windows’ is mine.”
One more thing…
‘Girls in the Windows’ first became commercially available in 1994 – and has appeared in galleries and auctions around the world since then.
And unlike other fine art photographers who only offer a limited number of copies in one or two sizes, Ormond (and his estate) have taken a different approach.5
In 2010, Gigli’s son Ogden suggested his father produce and sign hundreds of copies of the famous photograph, in a variety of sizes and photographic papers.
“It was all me, saying to my father, ‘Whatever we do, whatever editions we make, I can sell them, don’t worry,’” Ogden Gigli told The New York Times in 2023.
“I saw that we needed to have inventory for the day my father passed, and it was my belief that the appeal of this image would carry on forever.”
The New York Times reported that over the last 30 years, more than 600 signed and numbered copies have been sold, at prices that “typically range between $15,000 and $30,000.”
They estimate that the copies already sold would be in the range of $12 million, making ‘Girls in the Windows’ one of (if not the) highest-grossing photographs of all time.
If you have thousands of dollars, you can purchase a copy of the photograph direct from the estate at Ormond Gigli Photography.
Or, for $800, you can buy a signed poster.
And one more…
A group of artists in New York recreated Gigli’s image in 2020. You can read their story here.
What else is on my mind?
MORE Communication Wonders and Blunders - I’m doing my Q1 round-up, and have gathered 10 communication moments that stood out to me in February.
Say What?! — A Peloton instructor’s workout wasn’t the only thing that hit me in my core.
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If you want to improve your communication (and get all the good things that come with that), I’m your gal.
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So, if you know someone who could benefit from some help (as even the most seasoned leaders do), please get in touch and check out my website for more information.
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Stay Curious!
-Beth
Yes, it was 1960, but that is like paying someone $10 today. Curious if any of these models asked for more money (or a few signed prints?) later…
What a magical place NYC must have been in 1960. You just ask a dealership if you can borrow a Rolls for your lunch hour, and they say yes?
She’s on the third floor, third from left
She’s in the pink outfit on the second floor, far right
I think this is very interesting.
I had no idea this picture existed but wow, Beth. Thank you for introducing it to me.
I love this story and picture! But sadly the name “Gigli” reminds me of a terrible movie with Jennifer Lopez 😆