Born 1928 in Stirling, Scottish model Myrtle Crawford started modeling in a small way. She joined the Jean Bell modeling agency, sharing a flat with another top model of the day, Susan Abraham.
At 36-19-36, Crawford’s hourglass figure was highly fashionable in the early 1950s. She worked with many celebrated photographers of the day, including John French and Norman Parkinson. On the catwalks of Paris she also modeled for Christian Dior and other famous fashion houses.
Crawford was also one of the Aero girls, whose portraits, painted in oils by accomplished artists, were used in an eye-catching campaign to advertise Aero chocolate, the bubble-filled bars marketed in the early 1950s as “The chocolate for her”.
Crawford’s modeling career was brief but glamorous: She traveled frequently, and was well-paid, earning £5 a day at a time of post-war austerity when many were managing on £5 a month. In 1953, she married Capt John Acland and gave up her modeling career; but having trained as an architect and being a talented artist, she took up painting, studying at the Reading School of Art.
Crawford died in 2013 at the age of 85. Take a look at these fabulous photos to see the beauty of Myrtle Crawford in the early 1950s.
Yesterday Today 