On the day of the shoot, Gigli and his team faced the challenge of coordinating and posing the women in the windows. This required precise timing and communication, as the women were positioned across multiple floors and windows of the brownstones. Gigli used a walkie-talkie to direct the models, adjusting their poses to create the perfect visual balance. The photograph was taken using a large format camera, capturing the richness and detail of the scene. Perched from the fire escape of his studio, he was able to capture action happening across five floors. The final product proved to be something surreal, reducing the living, breathing women to brightly colored toys in a doll house. Assembling the 43 women for the photograph was no small feat. Gigli sought models, actresses, and even his wife to participate in the shoot. Each woman was dressed in elegant, colorful attire, highlighting the diverse beauty and charm of New York City’s inhabitants. Gigli’s attention to detail and eye for aesthetics ensured the women complimented the brownstones’ classic architecture, resulting in a stunning and harmonious composition. In 1960, photojournalist Ormond Gigli assembled 43 women, dressed them in refined, colorful garb, and situated them in 41 windows across the facade of the classic New York City brownstones. Years later, the image ended up being his most famous artwork.

The day before the buildings were razed, the 43 women appeared in their finest attire, went into the buildings, climbed the old stairs, and took their places in the windows. Gigli’s career took off in 1952 when a LIFE editor hired him to do a series of celebrity portraits and to cover the Paris fashion shows. He garnered attention when one of his pictures was published in the center spread of the magazine. It started a fashion photographer career of more than four decades. The richness of the photograph stems from the ability to appreciate it in different ways: either as a whole, as a rhythmic composition of color and form, formed by the pattern of windows, human figures, and colorful dresses; or the viewer is drawn to explore its various parts, each woman presenting a different point of the interesting story (Gigli’s wife is on the second floor, far right and the demolition supervisor’s wife is on the third floor, third from left). I’m actually on the fire escape on the second floor – we had large fire escapes, almost like a balcony or something – I’m set up there with my camera and I’m directing. 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, without anybody on them can fall down.

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The next morning I was in the studio, on East 58th Street between First and Second Avenue, and had the feeling that it wasn't going to work out. Then my assistant came in and said: "Ormond, you'd better get the camera up on the fire escape. There are people filling up the windows and more coming in taxis." All of a sudden it was happening. In the world of photography, some images transcend time, leaving an indelible mark on history. One such iconic photograph is Ormond Gigli’s “Girls in the Windows,” taken in 1960. This captivating image showcases 43 elegantly dressed women in 41 windows across the classic New York City brownstone facade. Over the years, this striking photograph has become Gigli’s most celebrated work. Gifting fine art photography for birthdays or parties is an original and thoughtful idea. Art, in addition to being a gift of quality, imperishable and poetic, adapts to everyone. The GADCOLLECTION Gallery offers a wide choice of original art photographs, numbered and signed by the artists, to be found here . Ormond Gigli – Demolition begins at what is now 320 East 58th Street, New York, 1960 “Girls in the Windows” Over the Years Ormond Gigli, a renowned photojournalist, meticulously planned and executed this extraordinary project. The idea came to him when he noticed that the beautiful brownstone buildings across from his Manhattan studio were scheduled for demolition. He envisioned capturing the elegance and sophistication of these architectural gems before they disappeared forever. With a clear vision, Gigli embarked on a mission to create a visual masterpiece.

There is a well-used adage that says there are reasons for everything. This is certainly true for why Ormond Gigli’s photograph, “The Girls in the Windows” is one of the most beloved pictures in photographic history. It achieves what a great fashion photograph has the potential to do. It effortlessly and gracefully merges the worlds of fashion and fantasy to create a photograph that transcends time and captures the imagination of collectors with its freshness, spontaneity, and uniqueness. Daydreaming His career took off in 1952. He was working at this moment for the Rapho photo agency, when a LIFE editor enlisted him to do a series of celebrity portraits in replacement of Robert CAPA. This very same year LIFE assigned Ormond GIGLI t... Fine art photography makes an ideal gift for friends, relatives, and family. Indeed, offering a photo is not just making a present of an object but opening a window on r... In the end, Ormond gathered 43 women clad in their best formal wear and no two figures looked exactly alike; the posture and outfit each woman assumed alludes to what her personality might be like outside the confines of the photograph. Gigli was born in New York City in 1925. As a teenager, his father offered him his first camera. He graduated from the School of Modern Photography in 1942 and served in the Navy as a photographer during World War II. He spent some time living the bohemian life in Paris.

Time.com

He hadn’t the money to pay for professional models – or an access to a budget for a picture that had no sponsorship. I had a great staff there [at my studio], so I’m discussing it with my studio manager – if we could get the frames out of the windows, we could shoot a girl in each window. So I had my studio manager go to talk the head demolition guy, and he said “yes, but you have to put my wife in the shot!” Ormond is cantilevered out on the fire escape of his studio – shooting with a wide angled lens. Here was a chance to realize his dream. In his desire of breathe to life and energy into a building that would soon be gone, he created a picture that 60 years later is as vibrant and original as it was when it appeared behind the ground glass of his camera lens. Intent on capturing the beauty of the buildings before it was gone for good, the artist set to work on crafting the perfect image to memorialize the neighborhood he had come to love so well. This is how Ormond Gigli recalls the story (according to Time magazine): In 1960, while a construction crew dismantled a row of brownstones right across from my own brownstone studio on East 58th Street, I was inspired to, somehow, immortalize those buildings. I had the vision of 43 women in formal dress adorning the windows of the skeletal facade.