Marie Helvin (born August 13, 1952 in Tokyo, Japan) was one of the first supermodels. She was one of the best-known faces of the 1970s and 1980s and was married to photographer David Bailey in the 1970s.
Helvin was born in 1952, in Tokyo, Japan, where her American GI father of Norwegian American and French American descent, had married a local interpreter of Japanese descent, and was brought up in Hawaii from the age of four. She was approached by a model scout on a visit to Japan with her mother and signed up as the face of Kanebo cosmetics at 15. She moved to London, where she worked for designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Versace and Valentino, and married photographer David Bailey when she was 19, having met him when he chose her for a photographic session for Vogue. Together Bailey and Helvin produced a memorable book of nudes titled Trouble and Strife in 1980. The marriage lasted ten years.
In the 1980s, Helvin left mainstream modelling to broaden her career, working for television and radio, covering subjects from books to travel, which in turn led to major television, radio and advertising campaigns, such as for Yves Saint Laurent and Olympus cameras, built around her personality and lifestyle. She launched her own collection of body/swimwear range in 1990 and went on to produce seasonal collections which sold worldwide. She published two books, made a health and fitness video, appeared on television and presented several programmes including GMTV's series Helvin on Hawaii, which featured her philosophies on health and beauty. Helvin remains in the forefront of the fashion industry, appearing as a judge in Britain's Next Top Model, and with appearances in British Vogue and the US W magazine, features in Sunday Times Style and You magazine, and a retrospective in Harpers Bazaar. She recently appeared on her 7th British Vogue cover.
Her autobiography was released in Autumn 2007 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and will be published in paperback in September 2008 by Phoenix. The Sunday Times has called the book "funny, naughty, sexy, revelatory".
Most recently, Helvin returned to Japan to present a look at fashion and innovation in modern Japan in "Marie Helvin's Tokyo", part of the "Luxury Life" series on CNBC.
