On June 1, 1926, Norma Jeane Mortenson was born in Los Angeles. The woman who would become Marilyn Monroe is now one of the world’s most enduring pop culture icons—not only for her inimitable fashion sense, but for the mysteries that surrounded her personal life and tragic death on August 5, 1962.
While Monroe is best known today for her dazzling on-screen turns in films like Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she first made a name for herself in the late 1940s thanks to her magnetic modeling presence, participating in photoshoots with some of the greatest photographers of her age.
Here, Vogue looks back at 15 rare shots of the icon in sunny Los Angeles, making her modeling debut as a young redheaded pin-up full of ambition and charm. As we enter the balmy days of high summer, may it inspire your vacation style this year—and beyond.
