Born 1920 as Lucy Douglas Cochrane in Boston, Massachusetts, American stage actress, author, columnist, horsewoman, fashion designer, and socialite C. Z. Guest achieved a degree of fame as a fashion icon. She was frequently seen wearing elegant designs by designers like Mainbocher. Her unfussy, clean-cut style was seen as typically American, and she was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1959.
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| C.Z. Guest in the 1950s |
In 1985, Guest designed a small fashion collection consisting mainly of cashmere sweaters that was introduced at a show of the Cuban-born American designer Adolfo, well known for dressing Nancy Reagan and Babe Paley, among others. In 1986, she expanded her design work to include a limited line of sportswear sold under license, and, in 1990, she came out with a fragrant insect repellent and other garden merchandise.
Guest died in 2003, in Old Westbury, New York, at the age of 83. Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of young C. Z. Guest in the 1950s.
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| C.Z Guest in blonde lace dress with molded bodice by Trigère, photo by Louis Dahl-Wolfe, 1950 |
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| C.Z. Guest in floral dress and jacket by Mainbocher, photo by Clifford Coffin, 1950 |
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| C.Z. Guest in what Diana Vreeland called "...one of the most beautiful dresses I have ever seen", by Mainbocher, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper's Bazaar, 1950 |
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| C.Z. Guest in a suit by Mainbocher at the Villa Artemis with one of her pet dogs, photo by Cecil Beaton, March 1951 |
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| C.Z. Guest is wearing a beautiful silk dress with beaded and embroidered bodice by Herbert Sondheim, photo by Avedon, Vogue, October 15, 1951 |
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| C.Z Guest wearing a party dress of white Italian pique that ties back in three satin bows by Hattie Carnegie, photo by Cecil Beaton, February 8, 1952 |
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| C.Z. Guest holding a poodle under her arm in front of a parked car in Southampton, New York, photo by Bert Morgan, circa 1953 |
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| C.Z. Guest photographed by Cecil Beaton, 1953 |
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| C. Z. Guest in oatmeal tweed suit by Mainbocher, photo by Irving Penn, Vogue, March 15, 1954 |
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| C.Z. Guest poses with an umbrella in Palm Beach, Florida 1954 |
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| C. Z. Guest beside the Grecian temple pool of her ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, in Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, circa 1955 |
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| C. Z. Guest beside the pool of her ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, in Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, circa 1955 |
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| C. Z. Guest beside the pool of her ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, in Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, circa 1955 |
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| C. Z. Guest reclines on a garden chair in front of the Grecian temple pool on her ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, circa 1955 |
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| C.Z Guest and her son Alexander Michael Douglas Dudley Guest in front of their Grecian temple pool on the ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, Palm Beach, 1955 |
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| C.Z Guest is wearing a boy-leg sun-suit at her home Villa Artemis in Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, 1955 |
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| C.Z. Guest at her home Villa Artemis, Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, 1955 |
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| C.Z. Guest at her home Villa Artemis, Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, 1955 |
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| C.Z. Guest at her Palm Beach ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, photo by Slim Aarons, Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1955 |
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| C.Z. Guest poolside at Villa Artemis, Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, 1955 |
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| C.Z. Guest with her dogs in front of the Grecian temple pool on her ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, Palm Beach, Florida, photo by Slim Aarons, 1955 |
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| C.Z. Guest with one of her dogs at her Palm Beach ocean-front estate, Villa Artemis, photo by Slim Aarons, Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1955 |
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| C. Z. Guest in white shorts, standing by her Palm Beach swimming pool, with white poodle, posing on black pool-side sphinx, 1956 |
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| CZ Guest is wearing a Tiffany necklace by Jean Schlumberger with a gray flannel dress and ranch-mink waist length "barrel" jacket, both by Mainbocher, photo by Stephen Colhoun, Town & Country, December 1956 |
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| C.Z.Guest, photo by Cecil Beaton, September 1957 |
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| C. Z. Guest, in a Mainbocher evening dress, at her New York City penthouse, photo by Lord Snowdon, Vogue, 1959 |
