Irving Penn, Woman in chicken hat (Lisa Fonssagrives Penn), 1949

Feathers are popular in film costumes and fashion photography because of their graphic qualities and the playful, seductive touch touch they bring to the person wearing them.

Irving Penn, Girl drinking wine (Mary Jane Russell), 1949

They are often used to bring out a certain characteristic of the woman wearing them by portraying her wearing a certain type of feathers. The same goes for these two pictures by the famous American fashion photographer Irving Penn. In the picture Woman in chicken hat we see his wife, model and muse Lisa Fonssagrives Penn who is playfully portrayed wearing a hat with chicken feathers. In the other picture Girl drinking wine Mary Jane Russell, one of Penn’s other muses, is drinking a glass of wine. Her headdress with feathers emphasizes the airy and elegant character that marked the fashion of the 1950s.