So let's check out her career! Here are some EARLY pics.
From 1962! Man, does she look incredible or what!
Yeah, she was in a HECK of a lot of print ads in the 60s, like the above and below...
Of course, she was probably more well known in the 60s for her appearance in teen mags than anything else. She was, literally, a heroine to millions of young teens in the 60s. Here are just a FEW samples....
And here...
That's one Seventeen cover, but there are about 100 more to chose from. Man was she dominant in the day!
Naturally, we know Colleen best from the Big Book catalogs, and it is a testament to her career that she modeled in the catalogs after she had made it big otherwise...
A classic Colleen pose from 1971. She had the unique ability to hit that serious, high fashion look and yet maintain that sweet innocence that was the mark of the K Clubbers and their associates. She was the perfect transition model from the 60s to the early 70s, but wait even with that she is not done yet!
A smiling Colleen, I'm always looking for those pics. She normally went for the high fashion, serious poses, but she looks absolutely fabulous when she flashes that big smile!
Classic Colleen catalog posing, beautiful, such an iconically pretty gal! Both of the above pics are from 1976, near the end of her career.
Karen and Colleen in a gorgeous pic, precious. These gals rocked it big time back in the day (4)!
A final pic for this first post featuring Colleen. For this I picked a personal favorite. Here, she looks so soft and sweet and SEXY!, YEAH! (Oh yeah, she was a hottie!).
Colleen retired in 1978 but made a brief comback in 1980. After that, she retired for good. Later, she made two more public apperances. The last one being on the Oprah show in the mid-90s. Oprah related how Colleen was her favorite model growing up.
Colleen in 2008.
footnotes:
(1) For those of you who are new to this site, "K Club" is term that I use for four of the main catalog models in from the 70s: Kay Campbell, Karen Bruun, Colleen Corby, and, of course, Kathy Loghry. All of their names begin with a hard K sound, hence the name.
(2) I'm sure some of you astute readers are thinking "Hmmm, he has done three K Club Special posts highlighting the careers of a different K Clubber. I wonder who is only one left?" And I'm also sure that these same astute readers are thinking "Hey, each of these K Club Special posts are spaced about 6-7 weeks apart, and well, what-do-you-know! in 6 weeks is the one year anniversary of this blog!" I'm sure it is all just a coincidence.
(3) There are a TON of pics of Colleen out there on the internet especially compared to the other K Clubbers. In addition, she has a couple of fan sites out there already. So I tried to include some original pics here for all you Colleen fans.
(4) Please look at this pic closely again, it is pure art! One of the things I've learned in doing this blog is how incredible some of the photos were from those old catalogs. The look of Karen and Colleen playing off of each other is absolutely brilliant! (yeah, this photo rocks it!). I hope this blog does a little to preserve these classic pics before they are lost to time.
Love these photos of Colleen! Such a beautiful model! By the way, I owned that "smock top" that Kay is wearing in the blouse photos. Lucky me!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that smock rocks! (sorry, couldn't help it).
DeleteColleen actually was in the catalogs pretty much from the beginning of her career. I know she appeared in a Montgomery Ward catalog in 1961 and in the teen section of the Sears catalogs as early as 1962. Her last appearance in a Sears or Penney's catalog was in 1979. That's 19 years of catalog work! She was in some commercials too, including a Cover Girl commercial (in, I think, the late Sixties) that featured her by name.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct! Thanks for the clarification. I guess the way I phrased it was incorrect. I should have said "continued to model in catalogs after she made it big otherwise". Of course my focus is on the early to mid-70s (occasionally straying outside that time frame) so I don't have too many of her early, early catalog pics - perhaps I'll find some for future posts!
DeleteI love the picture of colleen and Karen...find one with Kathy, Colleen, Kay and Karen...how that will be Special! Enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteI have only been able to find three pics so far with all four of them together, and I have yet to find a pic of just those four (no other models included). I've published two of them on a previous post of sleepwear. There are lots of pics with any combination of three of them, but all four is pretty rare.
DeleteI was shocked by how ordinary she looks now. I don't expect her to look like she was years ago, but I would of NEVER recognized her today.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hear ya. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have published that pic (although it is available on other websites.) I have run accross pics of some of the other catalog models from the 70s that are recent, and I've decided to not publish them - don't want to upset anyone.
DeleteColleen is 68 years old, her sons are grown, and she has come through her husband's cancer and death. She's still beautiful; I think she looks fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comments! It's good t know that she is doing well!
DeleteI love vintage dresses from the Seventies. Here I am in one of my favorite vintage dresses: https://www.flickr.com/photos/10379538@N05/6816097273/
ReplyDelete